Tubes the champagne ones I was referring to are the 6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Here are all the tubes Stock- Driver Tubes: Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB (Matched Pair) Output Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion PX300B (Matched Pair) Rectifier: NOS RCA 22DE4 × 4 New tubes- Driver Tubes: Elrog ER300B (Matched Pair) Output Tubes: VT231 JAN Kenrad clear glass (Matched Pair) Rectifier: NOS Sylvania 22DE4 × 4 and NOS GE 22DE4 × 4 6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Mk2 “Golds
As a happy Cayin 300B MK II owner powering ZMF VC and Susvara I had been waiting for this review from you. Didn't disappoint. Elrogs definitely on my radar :) Love the new presentation style too! Thanks!
@@psysword I used it with Harbeth P3ESR bookshelf speakers and it works fine. Plenty loud and don't sound flat. Tried using it with full size Focal Sopra 2 and it's not good. Not enough power. From memory when not enough power the volume is low and everything sounds flat. I also tried to use it as a pre-amp to my poweramp via headphone out to RCA in (poweramp) and it's not good either. Sound too harsh. Too much volume to feed into the power amp. A proper tube pre-amp is the way to go IMHO and the 300B is not that. Pity as wish they have a pre-amp out function so can use as pre-amp as well. That would make this product really great as 300B tube pre-amp is a desirable item.
Another great review, thanks. I have the HA-6A powering ZMF Verite Closed and Caldera. I do like the stock tubes although I’m getting good sound from some Sophia Electric KT88 tubes. I considered the HA300 MK II but the physical size and the expensive tubes held me back. That, and Zach from ZMF recommended the HA-6A over the HA300 MK II. The HA-6A drives the Verite Closed better than the Caldera so it was interesting to me that you found the HA300 MKII had no issue with the Susvara. The Caldera, and to a much greater extent, the Susvara love current. I suppose the raw power of the HA300-MKII is enough to overcome. Incidentally, I also have the Cayin iHA-6 solid state amp that is similarly versatile and has a consonant sonic signature to the HA-6A. I use the iHA-6 quite a bit as it’s always on and, as a current source, has no limits with the Caldera. Very enjoyable setup. Keep these good reviews coming. I’m interested in the Caldera and also the Ampandsound especially.
Hello mate thank you I'll appreciate your help .. I'm going to have caldera soon and wondering too about ih6 or ha6a . Ofc I can save myself a lot of USD if I go on solid state .. do you find yourself enjoying more the ih6 with caldera the the ha6a ? Btw, do you like sus more than the Zmf ? Btw2 , what DAC are you using ? Thanks a lot 🙏
@@TheSaassaf Hello, I do enjoy the Caldera on the iHA-6 a bit more overall but have come to appreciate it better on the HA-6A. These days, however, I drive the Caldera mostly with the Ferrum Oor/Hypsos/Wandla stack. The Ferrum stuff is really great and a nice compact form factor. The iHA-6 has been sent to a loved but secondary system with a Topping D90se DAC. There are people that think Caldera is great on tubes, and that’s cool, and it’s not untrue, but in my opinion the current demands are a better match to solid state amps. I’ve never heard the Susvara although I’ve read plenty about it as we all have. I might be tempted to try Susvara if I had even more powerful amps, did not already try and fail to like the Arya Stealth, and have a much greater use case for closed back headphones. The Caldera Closed are really great if you have a need for that sort of thing.
@@jonandresen1483 Thanks for replying. From what you said my conclusion is that it's not a night and day difference which is good news . Few days after I wrote my comment here I went to audition the Caldera open and Atrium open side by side .. while they are more alike then differ I must say that Atrium really surprised me in a good way which made my decision even harder choosing between these two 🙂
Your reviews are getting better and better. Cinematography/Editing is very nice. You need much more views. Maybe there is a service that increases viewership for the youtube algorithm. I am very impressed, I expect much more reviews.
Thank you, it’s very much appreciated, I think it might be down to the fact that we review very very very high-end audio products and the market might be small or the search might be small for it, there might be a lot of factors Let’s see how it develops
Don’t forget the viva egoista 845, Trafomatic primavera, and DNA Stratus in your top tier tube reviews with wa33 elite. Perhaps sneak in the riviera aic-10 , Modwright ha300, Eddie current studio b, octave v16 + big black box, and allnic hpa5k xl.
Great review. I just got the CAYIN HA300 MKII and I am already in love with it. Could you please give me the specifications of the tubes you replaced the original ones with and maybe, even better, where to buy them from ? This would be amazing. Thank you and greetings from Germany
Thank you it’s very much appreciated, I’m glad the review is useful to you Yes, that will not be a problem if the information is not pinned or in the description I will have to hunt for it again. This was a while ago.
@@ConvinceMeAudio This would be amazing, I‘ve been looking if the informations have been pinned but did not find them. So if you could help this would be very helpful. Thank you very much for your help.
Thank you CMA for the comprehensive review of the HA-300, I am currently pairing it with the Susvara and im wondering if in your testing were there any benefits of running them from the speaker taps vs the 4-pin XLRs from the front panel ?
First and foremost, thank you so much second of all no chance mate. They are not efficient enough and don’t provide enough power for SUS They are only 8 W into eight ohms as far as I can remember it will be pointless
Thanks for the great review, Koji. While I can find the T1.6AL250V fuses online, the T100mAE250V fuses seem not to be available for sale online. Do you know where I can order a few? Thanks in advance.
@@ConvinceMeAudio Thanks for your prompt reply 🙏🏻 Strange that I can’t find them with the given code. But I now see that using 0.1A in the code gives me some options.
Koji, thanks a lot for the review. I have the amp, and it was interesting to hear you using the Chord as a preamp rather than DAC mode. I've been feeding it with the Dave in DAC mode (RCA) but will play around with it in preamp now! Curious, do you set the volume on the Cayin to max, and use the Chord to control the volume? Was there a point where the output on the Chord was too hot for the Cayin? Thanks!
Cayin tube amps love a hot signal, no, I set the HA 300 to about 1 o’clock Maybe attenuating a little higher, but then driving the tubes with the pre-in the Dave or TT2 It’s incredibly awesome
Nice review sir. i have few questions. so do you suggest using TT2 as pre amp rather than as DAC ? Have you compare 300B with Takatsuki TA 300B with WE 300B reissues product? for 6sn7 rolling : have you try Sylvania 6sn7 jan chs vt231 navy anchor ? thanks in advanced
Genuinely tubes is a whole different category, versus solid-state But consistent, been able to drive anything I would choose bliss, but euphoric nature, tubes all the way
I am happy you got to hear the Elrogs. Now time to listen to the Elrog MOs :) .... even more linear, more extended highs, tighter bass, less bloated in mid bass, much more detailed. CRACK
How does it compete with feliks envy ? I saw envy has more solid-state sound signiture then cayin ha 300 mk2 how do you think? I am having hard time for me to choose and get one of them (can't afford both). Can cayin 300b drive susvara well? I am afraid of its bass is loose..
I absolutely love the envy, it’s more to my tastes Yes, more solid state, less tuby and yet obviously still tuby LOL But this is far more versatile in regards to tailoring the sound to your tastes and tube rolling. It’s kind of insane for that actually. Euphoria is more of the road path to envy than this
@@roybenz187 using elrogs and A Chord Dave and Em Skyler does a very good job, but I think envy is just better for SUS in every aspect, it was actually tuned with it from memory
@@jacky263 the envy review will be out very shortly in fact it’s going up against this unit This is far better value for money, but envy is better for SUS and how to drive headphones It’s very versatile and you can buy them cheap used now Envy is more technical it’s better
Based on your overall positive review here, and a few somewhat negative reviews from others regarding Chifi 300B amplifiers and misc reviews against other options, I recently ordered this amp..i should receive it next week. Im exploring 300B options. The Elrog and original Western electric are wayyy out of my budget. BUT What about the PS VANE WE300B replica, OR PSVANE ACME 300B? Any experience with them? Is the PSVANE WE300B really a true sonic clone of the original Western electric 300B? If not, how close does it get? Thanks in advance.
This was a very nice amp, genuinely very impressive, but unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to tube roll the power tubes beyond the stock and these Elrogs I highly recommend jumping into the CMA, private telegram chat at some point, and I’m sure few of the members who constantly you bro this one might be able to assist
Well, guess what? I had an unexpected windfall and I splurged on the genuine Western Electric 300B tubes. I replaced the new production TUNG SOL 6SN7's with PS VANE CV181 Tii's and OMG.. It became a completely, dramatically different and much BETTER amplifier. There's no comparison between the Gold Lion 300B and Western Electric 300B. It's hard to believe that they're even the same kind of tube. Plus, that blue glow in the top crown part of the WE 300B's sure are cool to look at. Thanks for the great review and sharing your tube rolling experience
Does this amplifier generate enough voltage for the Susvara? I know that its little brother, the HA-6A, has issues with the VU meters being stuck at 100 from quite a low volume upwards, which if I'm not mistaken indicates that it's not keeping up with the voltage requirements. Does this one also have a "ceiling", and if so is it at significantly higher volume level? Many thanks
would you please help with one question, using xlr from a balanced dac like the Pontus II, does the signal convert to rca inside the ha300bmk2? If it makes sense? I’m wondering if rca or xlr is the best option when going from balanced dac to single ended like the cayin ha300bmk2
First, and foremost, to excellent choices With Elrogs HA 300 all the way, it’s a different class, but if you can’t reach for those, I would honestly pick euphoria and it depends what headphones as well SUS 1266 et cetera PLANAR. Basically it has to be HA 300.
Koji, what specifically are the Sylvania rectifiers you referencing in your preferred setup, and do you have a link for them? 😊 Also, what’s the “champagne ones” you referencing for the drivers? It got a bit confusing which tubes you were talking about in your top preferred setup. I got the Elrogs, would love to try the other tubes you’re calling out if they’re attainable.
Of course, the champagne ones are the 6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Here are all the tubes Stock- Driver Tubes: Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB (Matched Pair) Output Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion PX300B (Matched Pair) Rectifier: NOS RCA 22DE4 × 4 New tubes- Driver Tubes: Elrog ER300B (Matched Pair) Output Tubes: VT231 JAN Kenrad clear glass (Matched Pair) Rectifier: NOS Sylvania 22DE4 × 4 and NOS GE 22DE4 × 4 6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Mk2 “Golds
Tt2 Hugo2 will give you very very similar performance, I think depending on the music you could have a good time And others would be too soft It just depends what tubes you go for
Tubes
the champagne ones I was referring to are the
6SN7 PsVane CV-181
Here are all the tubes
Stock-
Driver Tubes: Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB (Matched Pair)
Output Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion PX300B (Matched Pair)
Rectifier: NOS RCA 22DE4 × 4
New tubes-
Driver Tubes: Elrog ER300B (Matched Pair)
Output Tubes: VT231 JAN Kenrad clear glass (Matched Pair)
Rectifier: NOS Sylvania 22DE4 × 4 and NOS GE 22DE4 × 4
6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Mk2 “Golds
Thanks! Appreciate it.
These are the tubes I like.
Elrog ER300B-Mo, Elrog ER300B, WE 300B, Melz 1578 (3x), Brimar CV1988, RCA VT231 Smoked Glass, TS 6F8G VT99 Round Plates, Sylvania 6F8G VT99, Brimar 6J5G L63 (quad), TS 6J5GT (quad), Raytheon 6J5GT (quad)
As a happy Cayin 300B MK II owner powering ZMF VC and Susvara I had been waiting for this review from you. Didn't disappoint. Elrogs definitely on my radar :) Love the new presentation style too! Thanks!
You’re welcome glad the weight was worth it 😄
How do you find it running susvara?
How does it do with speakers?
@@psysword I used it with Harbeth P3ESR bookshelf speakers and it works fine. Plenty loud and don't sound flat. Tried using it with full size Focal Sopra 2 and it's not good. Not enough power. From memory when not enough power the volume is low and everything sounds flat. I also tried to use it as a pre-amp to my poweramp via headphone out to RCA in (poweramp) and it's not good either. Sound too harsh. Too much volume to feed into the power amp. A proper tube pre-amp is the way to go IMHO and the 300B is not that. Pity as wish they have a pre-amp out function so can use as pre-amp as well. That would make this product really great as 300B tube pre-amp is a desirable item.
Danke!
A special and heartfelt, thank you for the support 😀🐅
@@ConvinceMeAudio You're dearly, no, tigerly welcome!
Another great review, thanks. I have the HA-6A powering ZMF Verite Closed and Caldera. I do like the stock tubes although I’m getting good sound from some Sophia Electric KT88 tubes. I considered the HA300 MK II but the physical size and the expensive tubes held me back. That, and Zach from ZMF recommended the HA-6A over the HA300 MK II. The HA-6A drives the Verite Closed better than the Caldera so it was interesting to me that you found the HA300 MKII had no issue with the Susvara. The Caldera, and to a much greater extent, the Susvara love current. I suppose the raw power of the HA300-MKII is enough to overcome. Incidentally, I also have the Cayin iHA-6 solid state amp that is similarly versatile and has a consonant sonic signature to the HA-6A. I use the iHA-6 quite a bit as it’s always on and, as a current source, has no limits with the Caldera. Very enjoyable setup. Keep these good reviews coming. I’m interested in the Caldera and also the Ampandsound especially.
Hello mate thank you I'll appreciate your help .. I'm going to have caldera soon and wondering too about ih6 or ha6a . Ofc I can save myself a lot of USD if I go on solid state .. do you find yourself enjoying more the ih6 with caldera the the ha6a ? Btw, do you like sus more than the Zmf ?
Btw2 , what DAC are you using ?
Thanks a lot 🙏
@@TheSaassaf Hello, I do enjoy the Caldera on the iHA-6 a bit more overall but have come to appreciate it better on the HA-6A. These days, however, I drive the Caldera mostly with the Ferrum Oor/Hypsos/Wandla stack. The Ferrum stuff is really great and a nice compact form factor. The iHA-6 has been sent to a loved but secondary system with a Topping D90se DAC. There are people that think Caldera is great on tubes, and that’s cool, and it’s not untrue, but in my opinion the current demands are a better match to solid state amps. I’ve never heard the Susvara although I’ve read plenty about it as we all have. I might be tempted to try Susvara if I had even more powerful amps, did not already try and fail to like the Arya Stealth, and have a much greater use case for closed back headphones. The Caldera Closed are really great if you have a need for that sort of thing.
@@jonandresen1483
Thanks for replying. From what you said my conclusion is that it's not a night and day difference which is good news . Few days after I wrote my comment here I went to audition the Caldera open and Atrium open side by side .. while they are more alike then differ I must say that Atrium really surprised me in a good way which made my decision even harder choosing between these two 🙂
Your reviews are getting better and better. Cinematography/Editing is very nice. You need much more views. Maybe there is a service that increases viewership for the youtube algorithm. I am very impressed, I expect much more reviews.
Thank you, it’s very much appreciated, I think it might be down to the fact that we review very very very high-end audio products and the market might be small or the search might be small for it, there might be a lot of factors
Let’s see how it develops
@@ConvinceMeAudio I wish you the best. Easily my favorite reviewer. We have similar ears. :)
@@N02tradamus thank you for the kind words. It’s very much appreciated genuinely and welcome to the fam 🐅
@@ConvinceMeAudio 5 TIGERS!!
You are killing me... I want this amp and have a Holo Audio Spring 3 DAC!!
Don’t forget the viva egoista 845, Trafomatic primavera, and DNA Stratus in your top tier tube reviews with wa33 elite. Perhaps sneak in the riviera aic-10 , Modwright ha300, Eddie current studio b, octave v16 + big black box, and allnic hpa5k xl.
I’ve made a note of all the fees if they obtainable for review, it will be bought in
Great review. I just got the CAYIN HA300 MKII and I am already in love with it. Could you please give me the specifications of the tubes you replaced the original ones with and maybe, even better, where to buy them from ? This would be amazing. Thank you and greetings from Germany
Thank you it’s very much appreciated, I’m glad the review is useful to you
Yes, that will not be a problem if the information is not pinned or in the description I will have to hunt for it again. This was a while ago.
@@ConvinceMeAudio This would be amazing, I‘ve been looking if the informations have been pinned but did not find them. So if you could help this would be very helpful. Thank you very much for your help.
Thank you CMA for the comprehensive review of the HA-300, I am currently pairing it with the Susvara and im wondering if in your testing were there any benefits of running them from the speaker taps vs the 4-pin XLRs from the front panel ?
First and foremost, thank you so much second of all no chance mate. They are not efficient enough and don’t provide enough power for SUS
They are only 8 W into eight ohms as far as I can remember it will be pointless
Thanks for the great review, Koji. While I can find the T1.6AL250V fuses online, the T100mAE250V fuses seem not to be available for sale online. Do you know where I can order a few? Thanks in advance.
I purchased both from Amazon
@@ConvinceMeAudio Thanks for your prompt reply 🙏🏻 Strange that I can’t find them with the given code. But I now see that using 0.1A in the code gives me some options.
Did one session on video show, and one in an audio shop, the question that had been left is: Ha300mk2 or the Envy will be mine next amplifier :)
Trying to organise envy for review next
Euphoria anniversary, edition is already here
Koji, thanks a lot for the review. I have the amp, and it was interesting to hear you using the Chord as a preamp rather than DAC mode. I've been feeding it with the Dave in DAC mode (RCA) but will play around with it in preamp now! Curious, do you set the volume on the Cayin to max, and use the Chord to control the volume? Was there a point where the output on the Chord was too hot for the Cayin? Thanks!
Cayin tube amps love a hot signal, no, I set the HA 300 to about 1 o’clock
Maybe attenuating a little higher, but then driving the tubes with the pre-in the Dave or TT2
It’s incredibly awesome
@@ConvinceMeAudio thanks! Will give it a shot
Nice review sir.
i have few questions.
so do you suggest using TT2 as pre amp rather than as DAC ?
Have you compare 300B with Takatsuki TA 300B with WE 300B reissues product?
for 6sn7 rolling : have you try Sylvania 6sn7 jan chs vt231 navy anchor ?
thanks in advanced
Hey Koji, thangs for the good reviews. If you have to choose this tube amp or bliss audio, which one to pick for planners?
Genuinely tubes is a whole different category, versus solid-state
But consistent, been able to drive anything I would choose bliss, but euphoric nature, tubes all the way
I am happy you got to hear the Elrogs. Now time to listen to the Elrog MOs :) .... even more linear, more extended highs, tighter bass, less bloated in mid bass, much more detailed. CRACK
How does it compete with feliks envy ? I saw envy has more solid-state sound signiture then cayin ha 300 mk2 how do you think?
I am having hard time for me to choose and get one of them (can't afford both).
Can cayin 300b drive susvara well? I am afraid of its bass is loose..
I absolutely love the envy, it’s more to my tastes
Yes, more solid state, less tuby and yet obviously still tuby LOL
But this is far more versatile in regards to tailoring the sound to your tastes and tube rolling. It’s kind of insane for that actually.
Euphoria is more of the road path to envy than this
Does the cayin ha300bmk2 drive Susvara to same bass impact as envy? Or does bass become too soft on the cayin?
@@roybenz187 using elrogs and A Chord Dave and Em Skyler does a very good job, but I think envy is just better for SUS in every aspect, it was actually tuned with it from memory
@@ConvinceMeAudioeven after tube rolling?
@@jacky263 the envy review will be out very shortly in fact it’s going up against this unit
This is far better value for money, but envy is better for SUS and how to drive headphones
It’s very versatile and you can buy them cheap used now
Envy is more technical it’s better
Based on your overall positive review here, and a few somewhat negative reviews from others regarding Chifi 300B amplifiers and misc reviews against other options, I recently ordered this amp..i should receive it next week.
Im exploring 300B options.
The Elrog and original Western electric are wayyy out of my budget.
BUT
What about the PS VANE WE300B replica, OR PSVANE ACME 300B?
Any experience with them?
Is the PSVANE WE300B really a true sonic clone of the original Western electric 300B? If not, how close does it get?
Thanks in advance.
This was a very nice amp, genuinely very impressive, but unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to tube roll the power tubes beyond the stock and these Elrogs
I highly recommend jumping into the CMA, private telegram chat at some point, and I’m sure few of the members who constantly you bro this one might be able to assist
Well, guess what? I had an unexpected windfall and I splurged on the genuine Western Electric 300B tubes. I replaced the new production TUNG SOL 6SN7's with PS VANE CV181 Tii's and OMG.. It became a completely, dramatically different and much BETTER amplifier. There's no comparison between the Gold Lion 300B and Western Electric 300B.
It's hard to believe that they're even the same kind of tube.
Plus, that blue glow in the top crown part of the WE 300B's sure are cool to look at. Thanks for the great review and sharing your tube rolling experience
Does this amplifier generate enough voltage for the Susvara? I know that its little brother, the HA-6A, has issues with the VU meters being stuck at 100 from quite a low volume upwards, which if I'm not mistaken indicates that it's not keeping up with the voltage requirements. Does this one also have a "ceiling", and if so is it at significantly higher volume level? Many thanks
@@MistaLova-Lova enough for real music nicely, yes, definitely not the Apex of SUS, but decent, electronic music no
@@ConvinceMeAudio Thanks very much for your reply 👍
Hi Great review. How good is the amp as a speakers amp for high-sensitive speakers? Does it have the magical 300B sound? cheers
would you please help with one question, using xlr from a balanced dac like the Pontus II, does the signal convert to rca inside the ha300bmk2? If it makes sense?
I’m wondering if rca or xlr is the best option when going from balanced dac to single ended like the cayin ha300bmk2
It’s internally balanced, via a very nice tricky, little engineering workaround
I think you will be okay, XLR to XLR
Thank you. What driver tubes (6sn7?) should i get for warmer sound ?
euforia or the ha300 mk2?
First, and foremost, to excellent choices
With Elrogs HA 300 all the way, it’s a different class, but if you can’t reach for those, I would honestly pick euphoria and it depends what headphones as well
SUS 1266 et cetera PLANAR. Basically it has to be HA 300.
Koji, what specifically are the Sylvania rectifiers you referencing in your preferred setup, and do you have a link for them? 😊 Also, what’s the “champagne ones” you referencing for the drivers? It got a bit confusing which tubes you were talking about in your top preferred setup. I got the Elrogs, would love to try the other tubes you’re calling out if they’re attainable.
Of course, the champagne ones are the
6SN7 PsVane CV-181
Here are all the tubes
Stock-
Driver Tubes: Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB (Matched Pair)
Output Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion PX300B (Matched Pair)
Rectifier: NOS RCA 22DE4 × 4
New tubes-
Driver Tubes: Elrog ER300B (Matched Pair)
Output Tubes: VT231 JAN Kenrad clear glass (Matched Pair)
Rectifier: NOS Sylvania 22DE4 × 4 and NOS GE 22DE4 × 4
6SN7 PsVane CV-181 Mk2 “Golds
Hey Friend, its a good match with r2d dac as the pontus 2 12th?
I honestly can’t say, I have not tested that DAC myself here yet
Anyone tried the qutest with this?
Tt2
Hugo2 will give you very very similar performance, I think depending on the music you could have a good time
And others would be too soft
It just depends what tubes you go for
@@ConvinceMeAudio if i go with stock tubes, for acoustic, live and indie, and some rock
@@roybenz187 I genuinely don’t think you’ll have too much trouble, but you might want to play around with the input tubes
What about denafrips Pontus 2? Would it be too warm for ha300b mk2 ?
@@roybenz187 possibly not, if you stick to stock tubes Gold, Lion 300 b very slight chance you might not like the synergy
I see Elrogs and I LIKE
Will watch soon. Very excited. :)