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Cayin A88T break in and biasing??

Just took a Jolida 302BRC back to a dealer to
get the A88 instead. I loved the Jolida no doubt,
but assumed the A88 would be a step up, and so far
all I can say is it has the potential but sounds
a little hard & brittle now.
Just wondering if anyone has had experience with it
and does it get better with time?
I need to know before I go drop another 1k on it.
Also...I never could get a handle on whether or
not the amp is self biasing or not?? Most people
say it is not and you have to take it out, flip it over
and bias it....that's crazy and would be a deal breaker
for sure!
Any help or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

BTW... I only had about 6-7 hours on it when I started
to give it a listen.
telescope_trade
saki70
853 posts
 
I have noticed that , with My Cayin 88T , It took a while to get into the swing of things .
Even after turning it on to warm-up , for 30 - 60 minutes , it would sound 'off' until it had actually played for another 30-60 minutes .
Because this is my first foray into tubes , I don't know if it is typical .
I A/B it with a Cary Sli-80 and did not hear enough of a difference to justify the difference in price . They were really quite similiar . I enjoy the Cayin .
I do not believe it to be plug-and-play .
anthuan
20 posts
 
I am relatively new with this products but here is what I learned thus far:

1) Amp sound is on the warm side. I order both A70T and A88T. Both have same sonic signature.
2) I have about 40 hours on each unit at this point and they are improving with time.
3) They both sounded good with the Usher Dancers.
4) I personally think the A70T is a tad better than the 88T. With the A70T, it's a $100.00 cheaper, more power, and biasing can done right in the front of the unit (i.e. you dont have to flip the unit over on its side as mentioned above). Cosmectically, A88t looks a little better. Good luck

AnThuan
flyfisher
46 posts
 
I spoke to the importer several weeks ago and the amp must be biased manually. I got the information here on the 'Gon on how to do it and performed the task in less than 20 minutes. I actually enjoyed it and got to see the innards of the thing in the process!
As far as sound goes, It started out as being part of a secondary bedroom system... The main system is seeing very little use since it arrived. Give it some time.
telescope_trade OP
539 posts
 
Hi,

Thanks for all the input from everyone! I took back the
A88T and got back the Jolida and all is well again!
The Cayin is very sweet, but the Jolida is a better
match with my current system.
aball
1,994 posts
 
Oops - sorry about my mistake. Glad you called VAS though because there is a lot of conflicting information about Cayin since they have different models for each market. One of my local buddies has the A70 and he loves it. His Cayin dealer says the A70 sounds better than the A88. But if you are happy with the Jolida, keep it.

Arthur
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