The HA-2A headphone amplifier lets you enjoy your favourite music through your choice of headphones, with the rich detail and musicality of vintage vacuum tubes and the visual beauty of VU meters.
It may look compact and simple, but Cayin has devoted its renowned engineering, decades of audio equipment manufacturing experience, and carefully selected performance-based components to bring this amplifier to the market.
Vintage Vacuum Tubes
HA-2A includes the following five vintage New Old Stock (NOS) vacuum tubes from the factory:
- Matched pair of Amperex 17BF11 NOS dual pentode composite tubes for SE Class A power amplification
- Matched pair of Amperex ECF82/6U8 NOS high-gain pentode / medium-gain triode composite tubes for voltage amplification
- Single RCA 17AX4GT NOS rectifier tube for pre-amp stage plate power supply
Single-ended Vacuum Tube Circuit
Cayin's engineers created a single-ended Class A design to take full advantage of the characteristics of each vintage tube. In every step of the design, component selection, and final wiring, preserving the character of the tubes was carefully considered.
Transformer-coupled
The transformer plays a vital role in a transformer coupled vacuum tube amplifier. The design and implementation of transformers has therefore become an important part of Cayin's product tuning.
The output transformer and power transformer use high-quality wide-bandwidth El transformers specially developed for HA-2A. They use Z11 El type iron core from Japan, and are wounded using Cayin's precise hand-winding process.
With a fully enclosed metal casing and resin sealing, these transformers deliver ample power with high efficiency and extremely low distortion because the magnetic field interference has been reduced to a satisfactory level.
Impedance Matched Headphone Output
Cayin engineers have optimized HA-2A’s output to handle the headphone load according to three headphone impedance settings, ensuring natural sound with well-defined bass:
Low: 8Ω ~ 64Ω
Medium: 65Ω ~ 250Ω
High: 251Ω ~ 600Ω
Versatile Headphone Outputs
6.35mm Single-ended
4.4mm Balanced
4-Pin XLR Balanced
Dual Inputs
Balanced (XLR) and Single-ended (RCA) inputs provide flexibility in what you connect to the HA-2A amplifier.
The Balanced input will go through a pair of input transformers, the + and - half cycle will merge to become a single-ended signal.
Point-to-Point Wiring
It may be time consuming, but to ensure the shortest signal path and better attention to detail, the entire circuitry is handwired by skillful craftsmen.
Premium Power Transformers
Cayin always designs, winds and uses high inductance, high efficiency power transformers in our products. The reinforced shielding design minimizes the interference and noise to ensure HA-2A always sounds its best.
Design
HA-2A features a simplified and slimmed-down design, making it easier to fit on your desk. Its design language matches that of the IDAC-8, making for an elegant desktop system.
A removable protection cage is included, preventing inadvertent contact with the warm tubes during operation.
Dual backlit VU meters add to the excitement of listening to your music — just the right vintage touch.
