Cayin A-88T

I bought this amplifier a couple of weeks ago, to replace a class T TEAC, it is the most beautifull I have ever seen...



To my surprise, it is a lot more agressive than the former, bordering unconfortable... :yikes:

More powerfull bass, it sounds like I am in bar with live music, wich is good, except for the harshness, well almost...

I also bought a Vincent SDV-3 player, it increased fullness even more...

Everything is brand new, I hope it will refine with break-in, what do you think...

 

Hi melorib,

great looking amp. I've been looking at the same brand today, looking at the Cayin 265AI. I've asked on another thread wether anyone has this amp, but they dont seem too bothered by Chinese gear.

Dont suppose you've heard it have you?

 

The price was very good, I ordered mine from Germany, with 1 year warranty, but no listening tests...

I like it enough to keep, even if the sound doesnt change, I imagine it now has the Naim sound, lots of prat, but the stage is limited, and not much finesse, comparing with what I had before...

I decided to give a try to China, cannot complain, 2.100 euros for the Cayin + the Vincent, both have very good looks, materials, and sound too, at least for the price... :MILD:

 

I had a Cayin A-88T for a while. On my Monitor Audio Gold 10's it sounded much smoother and more full bodied than my Cyrus 3. I think you need it to beak in for longer. also try the different settings.

I did get rid of it pretty quickly when I found listening to rock it just sounded 'loud' without actually being loud. Too much IMD I think. So I sold it. Bloody heavy thing though!

Oh, it worked BRILLIANTLY with my AKG K1000 headphones but I couldn't justify keeping it just for that.

 

Uh-oh - they look like chinese 6SN7's in the middle there. Far & away the worst modern production vacuum tube I have ever had the displeasure of using.

Their build quality is bordering criminal and they caused countless problems in my 845 SET's. You should consider the Chinese 6SN7 "functional" at best (just like the free cables you get with cheap dvd players).

Dump them immediately and replace them with Brimar CV1988. They cost about £25-30 each but by God, it's worth it. Far better build quality and much smoother tonally. They don't need biasing and are a slot-in replacement.

Here's some more info for you:

http://www.6sn7.com/

http://www.audiotubes.com/6sn7.htm

https://www.tubeworld.com/6sn7.htm

Rgds,
DT

 

IMD ?

 

Strikes me that tube rolling is in order. I played with my Chinese valve amp to great effect. What valves does it use.
Have a look here:
http://www.watfordvalves.com/home.asp

 

Very nice indeed. Don't think much of the remote though.

 

It's good it's got one though! (a remote)

I would chop out the pre-amp valves aswell.

I'd probably change the power amp tubes if they are cheapies too, but they would be worth keeping for spares.

If the problem persists I'd take a look inside. You may have some cheap caps or something which is making things a bit fierce.

 

Intermodulation distortion.

The remote is good, its solid aluminium!

 

I’d agree completely. The amp looks to have a very typical layout of a input gain tube, a phase splitter and two output tubes per channel.

The thing I’ve learnt from my amp (a Prima Luna Prologue 2) is to get the most accurate and well measuring tubes you can find into the phase splitter position. These are the most critical tubes in the whole amp. As I understand it this valve’s job is to split the signal between the two output tubes so one gets the top half of the waveform and the other gets the bottom. It needs to be accurate, and Chinese tubes tend to be pretty poor in this role as they tend not to measure well.

The input gain tubes are an ideal way to tune the amp to taste. Sort the phase splitters out first and then fine tune it with these, i.e. if you think it needs warming up or the reverse you should be able to do it here with ease.

There is tons of info on tubes over on Audio Asylum, well worth a read.

Tony.

 

The remote is quite nice, as Tenson said, solid aluminium...

From all the tests, they are worth only so much, I believe it will improve some...

It is not that bad, I just want the good I have now plus the good I had with class T, maybe a difficult task...

So I will wait a month before starting tweaking...

Anyway, I appretiate your sujjestions, wich tubes are the first to go ? What should I replace them with ? It is my first tube amplifier...

 

That is a contentious question.

Some will say ''get some vintage 'xxx' valves.

Others modern production valves of one sort or another.


My view (sorry to bore people I keep saying it).. get measured and tested valves.. just because its "vintage" (aka 'old') or from such and such a company doesn't mean it isn't goosed.

Of the UK suppliers I was more impressed with the testing done on CVC's 'premium' rated valves than some of their competitors.

I asked 3 or 4 or Britains biggest suppliers how they rated, measured and tested valves and it varied from sweet F.A. to the odd test for output.


Valves are sold on brand label, and thats wrong IMO.

 

I dont know if it is possible to change my nick to lowrider, I would like that... unk:

 

I agree ...change the whole lot ....

the chinese valves will probably devour themselves within a short space of time anyway, like mine did in the dynavox.

 

OK, so please suggest available, not very expensive, replacements, remember I have to order them to Riga, Latvia...

 

How about "The New Improved LowRider"?

Or more seriously, "low-rider"?

 

So it is not possible lowrider... Leave it as is then, I will keep lowrider as info... :Lplates:

 

From the first day I noticed that the 6SL7 tube on the right side glows significantely dimmer than the left one, actually than all the others, could that be a problem ?

Are this the phase splitters ?

 

No different tubes glow differently. It's due to the differering degrees of debris in the tube. I worried about that at first.
I'm not sure which is which in your amp. I'd ask Thorsten (3D sonics) He'll know.