Cayin HA-6A

Another Cayin Audio amplifier that promises infinite variety. From the box, HA-6A lets you roll between included pairs of EL34 and KT88 power tube variants.

This mid-tier amplifier with the top-tier sound gets praised by John Grandberg on Darko.Audio for its multiple flavours and way of excelling with all of them. In a direct shoot-out, one pundit gave HA-6A the upper hand over the previous usual suspect in class, Woo Audio's WA22.

HA-6A has the ability to dump up to 4.5 watts per channel of pure Class A power into your cans, but that's just the beginning of the story. Large EI core output transformers built in-house to Cayin's spec means it's not just brute force but also finesse ensuring great, clean frequency extension at the bass and treble extremes – otherwise a weak point in other tube amplifiers.

Meanwhile, a loosely wound EI core power transformer ensures greater AC line performance over a conventional toroid, avoiding saturation plus the negative impacts caused by the latter's high magnetic flux.

Running EL34s or KT88s in either triode or ultra-linear mode yields multiple pairings. Swap to taste, for perfect sound quality with your beloved TOTL headphones from Audio-Technica, Focal, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones. Equip with an Element series DAC from Matrix Audio for Roon Ready and Tidal streaming.

Make the step further up yet with Cayin's flagship HA-300B here, browse the rest of Cayin's gear here, or check out our other amplifier options here.