Cayin takes Head-Fi on a HA-300 MK. II engineering deep dive

Head-Fi's appetite for tubes has burgeoned with time, so Cayin Audio duo Liang Bin and Chen Dehai sat for an hour to record an interview discussing the pinnacle of their development – the HA-300B MK. II.

In there you'll have Chen discuss the room for improvement inherent to HA-300B MK. II's predecessor – a topic also tying to the continued development of flagship tube amplifiers in general.

Cayin also weigh in on their favourite headphone pairings, which may be slightly more insightful than us echoing "everything" when asked. Amidst the information you'll also surely grasp the passion and zeal this manufacturer has for reproducing the original sound of music, beginning with building – not assembling – everything in-house.

The TL:DR –

Cayin Audio’s HA-300 MKII is upon us, to ensure the modern headphone enthusiast can continue to enjoy the magic from historic 300B tubes with any headphone.

Important refinements over its predecessor include a MUSES72320 resistor ladder electronic volume control part. This preserves signal-to-noise ratio and channel balance down to the ALPS-controlled encoder's lowest level – perfect for however much, or little, travel you need.

A 4.4mm output ensures yet more headphones can be plugged in via Pentaconn’s ubiquitous connector for transformer-balanced operation.

With headphones having developed leaps and bounds since the turn of the decade, Cayin guarantee their latest and greatest flagship keeps up with the times – such that any can you throw at it will perform in ways you hadn't even thought possible.

It's strange to imagine that 2022 could be the year a tube resurgence – technology that has been around for decades – could take off. But with Cayin's HA-300B MK. II, and others in the works, that appears to be the case.

Research and development dollars spent, and products brought to market, create a manufacturing movement. And then a whole industry follows. Now, all Cayin need is the right audience. That's where you enter the picture, folks.