Yep, your friends are right. You need to be able to handle biasing and, for me anyway, not being able to do it with the amp in place and connected to everything would be a PITA. Personally I prefer manual biasing amps which come with exposed bias pots and a meter built in. Easy, dead simple, and a good system to both control tube sound as well as to know how much life they have lost as time goes by.
I've never heard the Cayin but all amps/power tubes do require breaking in. Power tubes and tube amps can require anywhere up to 100 hours to really approach their best.
I'm sure that you have already read reviews and user comments on this amp. I have not noticed anyone comfirming that this amp is 'tube like' if your expectation of a tube amp is old fashioned warmth.
BTW, I recently read a similar post by another owner of a Cayin KT88. You might find it by looking into the archives.
I've never heard the Cayin but all amps/power tubes do require breaking in. Power tubes and tube amps can require anywhere up to 100 hours to really approach their best.
I'm sure that you have already read reviews and user comments on this amp. I have not noticed anyone comfirming that this amp is 'tube like' if your expectation of a tube amp is old fashioned warmth.
BTW, I recently read a similar post by another owner of a Cayin KT88. You might find it by looking into the archives.