Cayin TA-30 thoughts...


Recently bought a Cayin TA-30 after reading tons of great stuff about it.

I've been listening to it for about a couple of days now.

my setup right now is:

Cayin TA-30
Denon 2200 DVD/CD/SACD
Definitive Technolgy BP2004TL's

Alot of my musis listening is jazz/vocals/pop/rock with artist like Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong, Norah Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson, and on and on....

The Cayin replaced a Yamaha RX-V1000 (which is for sale). The Yamaha was a great piece for me, and if i wouldn't have switched to tubes i would have kept it.

I also use to own a Consonance M99 int tube from Opera Audio.

My first impression was CD's seemed easier to listen to. There was nothing harsh at all. The Cayin seem to bring out detail in the music i really didn't notice before. so listening to my CD's was like hearing new stuff. Vocals were very smooth, and you could hear very faint details, like when the singer would lick their lips and you could here the full extent of the vocals fading out.

Things seemed to be imaging a lot better as well.

I'm using the stock EL34 tubes, and plan to get some Svetlana's or EH tubes to play with.

Also i plan on purchasing either a Music Hall CD25 or Arcam 72 or 73t CD player so i'll report in a little more detail when i get all this setup and have had plenty of time to listen to everything.

Hope you find this a useful read. if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
128x128kray
Yes the Cayin amps look very nice. I'm interested in the Cayin 500, with 4 FU29's, but as I cannot read german, I have no idea of the description/details. I tried emailing a Cayin dealer in Europe, and they just said, "yes the FU's are great for classical music"(which is my collection. But thats not telling me just how the amp sounds, etc. Its alot of money $3500, to lay down w/o knowing more about the amp. Anyone here heard a FU's?, (the MK11, has GU's, but I believe its the same tube, just has a remote)...Not to railroad your thread, may I offer this recommendation. For a cdp, you should consider the Cayin 12 Tube player. I just got mine and the dynamics are certainly there. Its as good as or better than a very popular tube cdp, at 3x's the price, I won't name.
So can anyone offer an opinion on the 500?
America get ready for an invasion.....The Cayin Invasion....I CAN'T WAIT!!! The Hype Era is over at that time.
I think the Cayin TA-30 would be a great amplifier for the Klipsch speakers from the Heresy to the K-Horns. I am contemplating the possibility of purchasing a pair of Heresy II speakers for my living room system and I just have this feeling that the TA-30 would be a perfect companion. Has anyone tried this combo yet?
I think you are probably right John. The Cayin sounds like a real good match with Klipsch which definitly sound best with tubes and don't need alot of power.
I know a guy who has a Cayin TA-30 with Klipsch speakers, and he loves it. i don't remember which Klipsch's though. that's how i was turned on to the Cayin.... i thought they sounded pretty good on the Klipsch speakers, and then they sounded great on my Def Tech's.