[willywonka]

Hey All,

First, thanks for having me. I've been lurking around for a few months and was hoping y'all will help guide me to my next upgrade.

Currently, I have the following:
PC w/ Tidal -> USB to Modi 3 -> Vali 2 (Upgraded Tube) -> HD650

My music tastes are quite broad, so im looking for something as genre agnostic as possible.

I have had this setup for a few years and am looking for a sizeable upgrade $3,000 - $5,000 budget with headroom if needed.

Currently thinking upgrading to the Holo Audio Cyan 2 DAC ($1,198) - https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac/

Looking to stick with tube headphone amps and have "narrowed" it down to the following:

1. Cayin HA-3A Tube Headphone Amplifier ($1,599) - https://www.moon-audio.com/cayin-ha-3a-tube-headphone-amplifier.html
2. Cayin HA-6A Tube Headphone Amplifier ($2,499) - https://www.moon-audio.com/cayin-ha-6a-tube-headphone-amplifier.html
   • How important or interesting is the Dual Operation Mode switching between Dual Operation Mode and Triode Mode?
3. Feliks Audio Euforia EVO ($2,995) - https://shorturl.at/txGQX
   • Does this amp greatly exceed the price/performance ratio, reliability or serviceability of the Cayin amps?

Gameplan would be to get a good base system to start introducing new headphones like Focal Clear MG and HifiMan Arya.

Ideally the above would not have many limitations on which headphones it could potential drive, I have read that planar can be tricky. Would all the above options be able to drive most headphones?

Thanks in advance for any feedback or guidance!

Edits: Formatting

 

[psy472]

Hey All,

First, thanks for having me. I've been lurking around for a few months and was hoping y'all will help guide me to my next upgrade.

Currently, I have the following:
PC w/ Tidal -> USB to Modi 3 -> Vali 2 (Upgraded Tube) -> HD650

My music tastes are quite broad, so im looking for something as genre agnostic as possible.

I have had this setup for a few years and am looking for a sizeable upgrade $3,000 - $5,000 budget with headroom if needed.

Currently thinking upgrading to the Holo Audio Cyan 2 DAC ($1,198) - https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac/

Looking to stick with tube headphone amps and have "narrowed" it down to the following:

1. Cayin HA-3A Tube Headphone Amplifier ($1,599) - https://www.moon-audio.com/cayin-ha-3a-tube-headphone-amplifier.html
2. Cayin HA-6A Tube Headphone Amplifier ($2,499) - https://www.moon-audio.com/cayin-ha-6a-tube-headphone-amplifier.html
   • How important or interesting is the Dual Operation Mode switching between Dual Operation Mode and Triode Mode?
3. Feliks Audio Euforia EVO ($2,995) - https://shorturl.at/txGQX
   • Does this amp greatly exceed the price/performance ratio, reliability or serviceability of the Cayin amps?

Gameplan would be to get a good base system to start introducing new headphones like Focal Clear MG and HifiMan Arya.

Ideally the above would not have many limitations on which headphones it could potential drive, I have read that planar can be tricky. Would all the above options be able to drive most headphones?

Thanks in advance for any feedback or guidance!

Edits: Formatting

Just to put it out there I haven’t heard the Holo setup. However, when buying my DACs I went through a bunch of reviews to decide where I am right now. Pretty happy with what I got too.

First, the Schiit Yggy MiB is better than the Holo May DAC which is 3-4 times the price of the Holo Cyan 2 based on online forum reviews of users. The Yggy GS2 can be gotten for 1.7K USD and sounds very very close to the Yggy MiB in quality. So I ended up with the Yggy GS2 and ended up loving it.

I have aversion to background noise so a lot of tube amps are a no go for me. I’m a SS amp guy so I got the Flux Mentor. If you need something cheap that can run the HiFiman and Focals very well, that’s likely your best bet. You could also wait to see how much the Aegis tube amp from ZMF will be before deciding on a tube amp. They plan to release it next month.

 

[willywonka]

Just to put it out there I haven’t heard the Holo setup. However, when buying my DACs I went through a bunch of reviews to decide where I am right now. Pretty happy with what I got too.

First, the Schiit Yggy MiB is better than the Holo May DAC which is 3-4 times the price of the Holo Cyan 2 based on online forum reviews of users. The Yggy GS2 can be gotten for 1.7K USD and sounds very very close to the Yggy MiB in quality. So I ended up with the Yggy GS2 and ended up loving it.

I have aversion to background noise so a lot of tube amps are a no go for me. I’m a SS amp guy so I got the Flux Mentor. If you need something cheap that can run the HiFiman and Focals very well, that’s likely your best bet. You could also wait to see how much the Aegis tube amp from ZMF will be before deciding on a tube amp. They plan to release it next month.

Appreciate the insight - I'll have to dig into the Flux Mentor!