Cayin Jazz 80
The Cayin Jazz 80 blends tube warmth with unusually assured rhythm, textured bass and spacious fine detail. LowBeats highlights its coherent, nuanced musicality, while selectable triode and ultralinear modes let listeners tailor intimacy or drive. LDAC Bluetooth and a strong headphone output make this compact valve integrated a thoroughly modern, deeply engaging performer.
WATT RECOMMENDS
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
93/100
Build Quality
92/100
Features Connectivity
84/100
Value for Money
91/100
Pros
Warm, coherent and finely nuanced sound with convincing spatial depth and natural microdynamics.
Triode and ultralinear modes offer useful flexibility, balancing intimate finesse against greater drive and a more structured soundstage.
LDAC-capable Bluetooth and the high-level, tube-voiced headphone output add meaningful everyday versatility.
Substantial, carefully engineered construction includes labor-intensive wiring, in-house transformers and an elaborate power supply.
Cons
Triode mode has limited output power and requires efficient, easy-to-drive loudspeakers; demanding floorstanders are better suited to ultralinear mode.
Connectivity is intentionally sparse, with three RCA inputs and Bluetooth as the only digital input.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 93/100
Reviews describe a richly musical tube amplifier that combines tonal warmth with unusually capable rhythm, bass control and fine-dynamic expression. Its presentation is also praised for coherence, resolution and a convincingly structured, dimensional soundstage, provided it is partnered with suitably sensitive loudspeakers.
Transparency Resolution
93/100
LowBeats found the presentation structured, subtle and finely nuanced, with greater informational depth than its comparison point. Hifitest likewise says the amplifier handles demanding piano chords with ease and conveys instrumental texture convincingly.
Tonal Balance Musicality
94/100
The Jazz 80 is consistently described as warm, flowing and highly coherent rather than sharp or fatiguing. Stereo.ru praises its beautiful handling of vocals and textured bass, while LowBeats says favorite recordings rarely sounded more tonally coherent.
Dynamics
92/100
Despite its modest tube-rated output, reviewers found strong rhythmic assurance, impact and drive in an appropriate system. LowBeats particularly praised its sudden dynamic surges and fine-dynamic communication, though it cautions that triode mode is not intended for power-hungry speakers.
Soundstage Imaging
93/100
LowBeats heard an unusually vivid, photorealistic spatial portrayal, with the shape of a grand piano clearly projected before the listener. Hifitest found ultralinear mode delivered a notably more structured soundstage, while LowBeats also cited greater depth of spatial information.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
92/100
Reviewers report substantial construction, including a thick aluminium front panel, stable internal execution and labor-intensive wiring. Hifitest highlights Cayin's in-house transformers, vibration-suppressing potting and an unusually elaborate power supply for the class.
Features Connectivity
84/100
Connectivity is deliberately simple, centered on three RCA inputs, speaker terminals and a 6.3 mm headphone output. Bluetooth 5.0 with LDAC support and an onboard ES9018K2M DAC add genuinely useful modern convenience, and reviewers found both Bluetooth and the headphone output accomplished.
Value for Money
91/100
At roughly €2,000 to €2,200, the Jazz 80 is presented as an accessible route into a serious, flexible tube amplifier rather than a compromised novelty. Hifitest explicitly praises Cayin for making tube sound affordable and gives the amplifier its warm recommendation, while the feature set and reported performance compare favorably in this price class.
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Specifications
Manufacturer's Description — Cayin
Cayin Jazz 80. A powerful Bluetooth Tube Integrated Amplifier with 2x 40 watts.
The Jazz 80 is the latest highlight from Cayin. A handmade tube amplifier that adds wireless music playback
to the portfolio, but at the same time has been designed and manufactured to the highest Cayin standards.
The Jazz 80 comes in a solid design,with high-quality workmanship throughout and made from selected components.
Case and Tubes:
The excellently crafted, deep glossy case is probably the first thing that positively strikes the observer.
This metallic dress looks good, but at the same time provides the necessary protection for the valuable electronics.
Nevertheless, the attention first falls on the total of eight tubes. In the rear area, that would be four KT88 output tubes.
They provide the power amplification. In the row in front of them are four identical looking, smaller glowing tubes. However,
a closer look reveals that they are two different models: Two 12AU7s sitting on the outside and the two 12AX7s placed in the middle.
While the 12AX7s act as preamp tubes and amplify the voltage level of incoming music signals, the 12AU7s serve as phase splitters and
drivers for the KT88s. In keeping with this, the developers have placed emphasis on a cage that has been painted in the same color as the cabinet.
This appears a bit more modern than known from the competition and it protects the high-quality tubes from mechanical damage.
As if all thatwere not enough, the Jazz 80 stands on four shock-absorbing feet.
Bluetooth/LDAC
In addition, there is a Bluetooth module, thanks to which this tube amplifier is also able to communicate wirelessly with
appropriate players such as smartphone, tablet, laptop or even the TV. This turns the HiFi specialist into a modern audio center.
The connection setup is very simple: If the input source "Bluetooth" is selected, the small blue LED flashes. At the same time,
the Cayin identifies itself as "Cayin HD BT" to its potential play partners. Now, a tap of the finger is all it takes to connect the
external player and Jazz 80 wirelessly. The transmission is done via LDAC codec. LDAC stands for "Low Delay Audio Codec" and
allows the wireless transfer of high-resolution audio content at a maximum transfer rate of up to 990 kbps. This should especially
please smartphone owners with Android operating systems from version 8.0.
Ultralinear and Triode mode
To really meet all requirements, the Jazz 80 can be operated in both Ultralinear mode and Triode mode.
This makes the amplifier even more flexible. Both modes each have their own sound characteristics.
With its pre-installed KT88 output tubes, the Cayin outputs 2×20 watts in Triode mode. In Ultralinear mode,
on the other hand, it's even a whopping 2×40 watts of power. The switchover is easily done via a small toggle switch,
which finds its place directly in front of the two 12AX7 tubes. In this context, an important, although not directly visible,
feature must also be mentioned: The power supply. Even if the sales price doesn't necessarily suggest it,
the Cayin developers have made full use of their resources here and given the Jazz 80 an elaborately designed power supply including a filter choke.
Bias circuit
Right next to it, there are three more toggle switches, one on the left and two on the right. They help to control the correct bias setting.
This can be adjusted individually for each output tube via trim potentiometer. The three said levers are then used to check the changes made.
The center toggle switch turns the left VU meter into the control element for bias adjustment. The left lever (A1/A2) controls the tubes for
the left channel and the right one (A3/A4) controls those of the right channel. All this serves for perfect control of each tube and at the same
time for clean balancing of all channels.
Simple Operation
As usual from Cayin, the operation of this tube integrated amplifier is intuitive and self-explanatory.
The Jazz 80 is switched on via a small switch in the left side panel. A gentle click and the lighting up of the VU meter reveals basic readiness for use.
As long as the small LED indicator in the volume control is blinking, the soft start is running. So the Cayin is warming up first. If the LED is permanently lit,
the system is ready to go. The input selection can now be made either via the rotary control on the left in the front or via the input button on the high-quality
aluminum remote control. The Jazz 80 is similarly open when it comes to volume selection. This can be done either via the level control on the right or via infrared remote control.
Multiple Choice:
Cayin offers four choices of Jazz 80. You can choose to have Standard KT88 Tube version or EL34 Version. Furthermore you can choose to have Black version or Silver Version.
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Cayin Jazz 80
- A Tube High Fidelity — online and in-store — Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands (website)
- A1 Futureshop — online and in-store — North Rocks, New South Wales, Australia (website)
- Addicted to Audio — online and in-store — Epping, Victoria, Australia (website)
- Advanced MP3 Players — online and in-store — Musselburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom (website)
- AES — in-store — Mitte, Hessen, Germany (website)
- Apos Audio — online and in-store — Oakland, California, United States (website)
- ARK Audio — online and in-store — Borensberg, Östergötlands län, Sweden (website)
- Art & Voice — online (website)
- Art et son — online and in-store — Montréal, Québec, Canada (website)
- Audeos — online and in-store — Żywiec, Województwo śląskie (website)
and 67 more verified dealers