Cayin Audio presents its new, tiny but powerful Class-A headphone amplifier that packs a punch. With the iHA-8, the tube genius returns to the transistor world, delivering almost 20 watts of Class-A power in a compact desktop format.

Despite its small size, the Cayin iHA-8A performs big and brings your music to life with the same dynamic and vivid zeal that its bigger siblings in the Cayin range have already proven.

The 75-watt power supply, the discrete FET construction with Class-A bias, and the enormous operating voltage of the optional Hyper Mode allow it to drive any low-impedance headphone.

The newly added 4.4 mm headphone output of the iHA-8, together with the iDAC-8 and iDAP-8, makes it a member of Cayin's new desktop family. If you want to connect IEMs, the electronic volume control with a resistor ladder keeps noise low. These precise controls maintain the signal-to-noise ratio and channel balance down to the lowest level of the iHA-8's ALPS-controlled encoder.

Transparent at every volume setting, both at low and high levels, with nearly perfect channel matching, this Cayin mini sonic marvel reveals details hidden deep within your music.

Given this linearity, you will hear everything – what comes in at the input comes back out amplified. To support the excellent signal-to-noise ratio of the two high-tech NJR MUSES72320 volume controllers, Cayin relies on the old school of Class-A bias and high operating voltages. The latter can be raised to over 30 volts by pressing the iHA-8's Hyper Mode button.

The FET voltage and power amplification of the iHA-8 already includes a tube-like square function to reduce distortion right from the drawing board. In the process, the individual transistors are kept by Cayin in their sweet spot and ideal operating range to achieve the best open-loop linearity. They do not rely on the panacea of negative feedback to correct errors because there are so few of them.

The iHA-8 relies on a novel type of gain control that is only used as part of the feedback loops around the amplifier's output stage. Excessive open-loop gain is something that absolutely cannot be leveled against Cayin here, and it allows you to increase your volume knob for the best dynamic performance. This, in turn, benefits the performance of the iHA-8. Cayin's input stage – where the majority of an amplifier's sonic signature is defined – is based on Toshiba's ubiquitous 2SK209 JFET. These JFETs, known for their low noise as drivers, serve another purpose: they allow Cayin to direct-couple the output stage of the iHA-8.

The frequency response is therefore practically flat; it ranges from 10 Hz to 80 kHz and explores the depths of the bass, preserving the phase response in the human hearing range – for fast bass, excellent dynamics, and impressive precision.

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The input JFETs of the iHA-8 are connected in parallel to provide the current required to adequately drive the large capacitances of Cayin's 24 Vishay MOSFET output devices. The resulting large bandwidth preserves phase and adds spatial cues, imaging, and treble ambience.

The many power transistors of the iHA-8 are mounted on copper rails, while the chassis features better heat dissipation compared to the previous model. This heavy-duty hardware allows the MOSFET buffers to stay cool and operate at a constant temperature. In this way, they are able to handle the most current while withstanding high voltage – useful when thinking of Cayin's Hyper Mode.

The high number of output transistors ensures an immense current for good reason, to take advantage of a typically oversized Cayin power supply with a 75-watt toroidal transformer at its heart, 50,000 uF filter capacitors, ultra-fast rectification, and consistent voltage regulation – even in the iHA-8's output stage.

All of this leads to Cayin's ultimate voltage source, which is once again able to cost-effectively drive the AB1266 Phi TC from ABYSS Headphones, the LCD-5 from Audeze Headphones, Dan Clark Audio, as well as the HE-6 and the Susvara from HIFIMAN. But decisive optimizations in the signal path mean that this giant also wears ballet slippers to elevate any other real-world load.

Whether Fostex, Focal, Final Audio, HEDD Audio, or ZMF headphones, there is nothing the iHA-8 cannot handle… even IEMs like the Storm from Subtonic Audio. Make the Cayin the centerpiece of a desktop headphone rig fed by its own iDAC-8, the EF500 from HIFIMAN, or the Mini-I Pro 4 from Matrix Audio. It's that good.

If you are looking for a tube amplifier, then take a look at our new Cayin HA-2A, or take a look at the rest of the Cayin tube amplifier world.

Stacked on top of each other, the iDAP-8, the iDAC-8, and the iHA-8 form a fully balanced Head-Fi system that requires a footprint of just 24 x 21.5 cm.

Inputs:
2x XLR, 2x RCA

Dimensions:
270x215x70 (WxDxH)

Weight:
5kg

Power consumption:
75 W

Output power:
9,500 mW per channel

Frequency range:
10Hz-80kHz +-0.5dB

Total harmonic distortion:
0.0014%

Signal-to-noise ratio:
131dB

Herstellerangaben:

Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd.
NO. 9 LianFa Road
Zhuhai City
Shuanglin , Guangdong Province
China
info@cayin.cn

Verantwortliche Person:

Cayin Audio Distribution GmbH
An der Kreuzheck 8
61479 , Glassworks
Germany
info@cayin.com