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What I thought was about as good as you could get got even better. I just bought a used (expensive, gulp) Joule LA150MKII preamp and plugged it into the Cayin A88T pre-in. People who like classical music or don't mind giving up some extension for deeper midrange texture, may love the SED 6550 though. Diana Krall sort of turned into Julie London. Female singers with a normally etched tone of voice didn't exactly sound like themselves. The mids became extra warm, but the vocals sounded too soft to me as the upper midrange is a little recessed. The SED 6550s shifted the sound a little and positioned it roughtly between Cayin A88T and the Conrad Johnson CAV50. The famous 'Black Sable' is just a SED KT88 that got the Cryo treatment. The KT88s are much more open sounding and dynamic yet still possed good midrange texture. The 6550 changed the sound and softened it quit a bit. Instead of SED KT88s in my Cayin A88T, I tried the SED 6550 tubes.
CAYIN A88T MK2 PLUS
As a plus with the A100T though, you can fry eggs on the shelf above if you want. Its all a matter of what you want to hear. I thought the A88T to be a bit warmer, but the A100T more dynamic. Be careful about going up though, you could fry your amp if you go too high. Gee, if learning something new and avoiding minor frustration is a problem, everyone would be wearing slip on shoes, instead of ones with laces! Let's keep things in perspective! By the way, you can soften the sound if that is what you like, by turning the bias down from the 400mV recommended to 435 like I did. Those who don't want to bother, should perhaps just buy a different Cayin amp or even what is a very nice and warm solid Harman Kardon 2 channel amp brand new on the internet for $200, and forget about asking for even higher fidelity. And don't touch anything inside the amp with your hands with the bottom off as it is very high voltage! I recommending buying the optional alligator ends if not included. Get a multi-meter (about $18 at Radioshack), and read the directions within audiogon in biasing it. Yes, it may take a max of 15 minutes done in a relaxed way to bias the amp, but it need not be messed with again for about a year or so. The minor learning curve and having to bias the amp is the hole in the donut! Why look at everything else you get with the Cayin A88T (including incredible value used) and get upset at 10 minutes of study and buying a multimeter? When I said a I thought the Cayin A88T would be a great first amp, I was refering to it as a great first stereophile-grade tube-amp (and perhaps last as it is wonderfully good). At present, I like it so much that it may be my last amp also. So, if you are looking to make a change in amps or looking to pick a first tube amp, I think you couldn't loose with the Cayin A88T. By the way, I had tried the 6550 power tubes, but they sounded too soft and closed in to me. The sound you get out of the Cayin can vary dramatically by how you tube it, and even by how you bias it, though less dramatic.Īfter much experimentation, my recommended tubes are: SED KT88 power tubes, for the 6SL7s - I recommend Mullard CV-569 or ECC35 (expensive but worth every penny, a dramatic improvement in the sound), and for the 6SN7s, I recommend RCA V-231s (military 6SN7s).īias: with the above tubes (which complemented the amp the best over numerous trials), for my tastes, the music seemed ever so sligthly too open in the upper mids, which I adjusted nicely by setting the bias to 336 instead of the 400 recommended. My Cary SLI-80 Signature F1 sounded very detailed, yet overly clinical, close to solid state to me. In comparison, my CJ CAV50 integrated sounded dull in the upper mid/treble area (although quit warm in the midrange). It has a vibrant 'front row center live' appeal to it. I found the sound of the Cayin A88T very engaging and my pick out of all the amps I tried. I choose tubes over solid state for the life like quality they imbue in the music. I bought and sold over a dozen solid state and tube amps before settling on the Cayin A88T.