Cayin a-50t with Mezzo 6?

shafesk

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Sep 18, 2010
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Hello everyone,

its that time of year again when I ask for some help. I fell in love with the looks of the Cayin a-50t amplifier. I rarely like Chinese hi-fi but this looks tastefully done. I am also able to pick it up at considerably less than retail. At a mere 35 watts/channel how do you think it will fare with my Mezzo's? The rest of my system is in my signature. Also can anyone comment on the durability of Cayins in general? This amp although cheap, is a big expenditure for me so I need to make sure it wont go bust in a few years. Any comments appreciated.

Cheers,

Shafin
 

CnoEvil

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Hi Shafin, here are my thoughts, which may or may not be helpful.

You are heading much more into the territory that suits my taste, and is the polar opposite of the CA gear sound.

The Cayin is a lovely tube amp that has got a lot of praise, and which I think can be operated in Ultralinear (35W) or Triode (16w).

In Ultralinear, I think it will drive your Mezzo 6s to a reasonable level, but not quite as well as a Creek Destiny for example (which is also a lovely organic sounding amp).

After the CA kit, you need to make sure you will be happy with the "tube sound". It is also my opinion that if you do go down this road, you should ultimately consider getting some speakers designed to work with lower powered valve amps, like Audio Note AZ-2.
 

shafesk

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Thank you for your thoughts CnoEvil...I love the tube sound, but it isn't always ideal as I listen to a varying selection of music, but I love the analogue sound, it just feels like youre listening to music in the same room rather than a PA system. However, I will keep my CA amp if I need to party and use the Cayin for moderate volume listening sessions. The CA puts out enough volume for me at 12 0 clock so I think the Caying at 5 watts less shouldn't be too embarassed. I wish I could change the speakers, but I love the Mezzos....I think I would rather buy this amp and later invest in mega powerful tube amps rather than switching from these babies. Having said that, I listened to some planet duvels plugged into a leban tube amp, the results were amazing.....maybe I'll have a transistor setup in one room and a tube setup in another, that way I won't have to compromise. The thing is analogue and tubes do weird things to you. I have recently purchased an old Technics sl-q210, still in the restoration phase but I just refused to listen to digital after that...so much for soundcloud....I think I need to change my dac to something more analogue sounding as well. I have never listened to a truly state of the art solid state amp but I don't think it'll ever sound as passionate as a tube one......analogue is just better....sorry to ramble on....what are your thoughts? You an analogue man too?
 

CnoEvil

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Sorry for the delay, but I've been away.

My taste could be described as being more analogue, but that is maybe a little simplistic. If you select carefully, there are analogue sounding digital sources and organic sounding solid state amps, out there....and don't forget how speakers can effect the whole thing.

I was brought up with the sound of TTs and Valve amps, and don't get on with a clinical, forward sound that for me, has an "edginess" and an absence of emotion.

Any suggestions that I give, reflect my view as to what is musical.
 

shafesk

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Hey CnoEvil, just an update-I went and took the plunge, bought myself the CAYIN A55-T today. I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but I love it now so I don't think its gonna change soon. Strangely though, I hear new details such as the fingers plucing on guitars but I'm missing others I usually hear in my headphone setup such as extra details in horns for example. However, detail is not the only story here-soundstaging is staggeringly better, vocals sound life-like. Although a cliche when describing tubes, it just sounds organic now. I can probably go on years without upgrading my amplifier. As for speaker matching-they drive the Mezzos really well even in triode mode (20 watts per channel) in my 14X14ft room. Ultra-linear mode sounds more bass heavy but I prefer triode mode. So changing the speakers now is out of the question. Needless to say I'm perfectly happy with this setup, this is as close to personal hi-fi nirvana as I have ever been. Also you wouldn't believe what I got it for, in Dhaka it cost me 740 pounds!
 

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