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Machine review · Oct 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Canaan Avalon A1566HA 2U review: the entry price is low, the running cost is not
Canaan's 16.8 J/TH water-cooled 2U looks like cheap hashrate. Next to the Antminers on our floor it costs more per terahash than an S21+ Hyd, makes a coin for more electricity, and returns less in its first year. Here is what that means, and who it still suits.
Canaan Avalon A1566HA 2U (460 TH/s)
The bottom line
The Avalon A1566HA 2U is Canaan's water-cooled rack-mount miner, announced in June 2025 and listed by us at 460 and 500 TH/s, both at 16.8 J/TH. At our UAE site it makes a bitcoin for about $54,600 of electricity and returns roughly 39% in its first year at today's price.
Bought the week we first held a price for it, on 6 August 2026, it has mined and kept 0.0133 BTC for $702 of power in 59 days: $429 of cashflow against a $5,543 landed cost. Between now and the April 2028 halving there is another 0.123 BTC in it, which with bitcoin back at its previous high is about 2.8× its hardware by the halving.
What you are buying is a low box price on an efficiency class one step behind. What you are not buying is the cheapest terahash in the loop, or the cheapest coin: the S21+ Hyd costs $6.93 a terahash against this machine's $7.35, and the S23e Hyd 2U returns about 59% in year one against its 39%.
Scores
| Criterion | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cashflow | 5/10 | Returns roughly 39% in year one at 6¢ and 43% at 3.9¢. The S21+ Hyd returns 51% at 6¢, the S23e Hyd 2U 59%. |
| Longevity | 4.5/10 | 16.8 J/TH is 403 kWh of power per petahash per day: $24.19 at 6¢ and $15.72 at 3.9¢. Hashprice halved from its 1 October level is about $19.97, which is below the first line and above the second. |
| Efficiency | 4.5/10 | One generation behind: the S21+ Hyd is 15 J/TH, the S21e XP Hyd 13, the S23e Hyd 2U 10. |
| Quality control | 5/10 | Scored as unknown rather than as good. We found no operator reports of this machine's boards that we could cite, which is what a machine barely over a year old looks like. |
| Serviceability | 5/10 | Hosted in the UAE, the manufacturer warranty centre near the site is Bitmain's, and this is not a Bitmain machine, so repairs follow Canaan's route. We have no repair record on this model to score from. |
Weighted on what an owner gets back per dollar over four years. It clears its power today at both our rates, but it trails four other water-cooled machines on first-year return and sits below the line at 6¢ once the 2028 halving arrives, and its reliability record is too young to score as good.
Buy it if
- Your power is at or below about 5¢. At that rate it still clears the line after the 2028 halving, and at Nigeria's 3.9¢ it makes a coin for about $35,500.
- You want to put the least money into a water-cooled 2U unit, and you accept that the box price is $3,381 while the landed cost is $5,543.
- You are comfortable that it is a machine for cheap power and will cross to Nigeria once, rather than one to keep at 6¢ for its whole life.
- You are adding hashrate in one-machine steps and already have the loop and the three-phase supply.
Walk away if
- You are buying on first-year return. The S21+ Hyd returns about 51%, the S21e XP Hyd 3U about 55% and the S23e Hyd 2U about 59%, against this machine's 39%.
- You want the cheapest coin. This machine makes one for about $54,600 in the UAE; the S21e XP Hyd 3U does it for about $41,900 and the S23e Hyd 2U for about $32,400.
- Your power is above about 5¢ and you plan to run through the halving. Between 5¢ and about 8¢ it clears today and leans on the price of bitcoin afterwards; above that, choose a more efficient machine.
- You need a long public failure record. This machine is a year and a few months into its life and we found no operator reports of its boards we could stand behind, so we score that as unknown.
A water-cooled 2U from the Avalon A15 line
Canaan announced the A1566HA 2U in June 2025. It is the water-cooled, rack-mount member of its Avalon A15 range, and our catalogue lists it in two sizes that are in stock today, 460 TH/s and 500 TH/s, both at 16.8 J/TH. A third size, 480 TH/s, is sold out.
It is the water-cooled cousin of the air-cooled machine we reviewed earlier, the Avalon A15 Pro. Water is what lets a machine like this live in a rack-mount chassis, and at our sites water-cooled machines start in the UAE, where the loop is.
It is also the oldest silicon in the water-cooled range we sell: 16.8 J/TH, against 15 for the S21+ Hyd, 13 for the S21e XP Hyd, 12.5 for the A3 Pro Hyd and 10 for the S23e Hyd 2U. Everything in this review follows from that one line.
The price per terahash is not the lowest in the loop
The unit is $3,381 today, which is $7.35 a terahash. Across the 28 prices we hold since 20 June it has stayed between $7.35 and $7.72, so it has not been discounted to clear stock and it has not run away either.
Set against the Antminers beside it, that is not cheap. The S21+ Hyd is $6.93 a terahash at 15 J/TH: cheaper than this machine and 1.8 J/TH more efficient. The S21e XP Hyd 3U is $9.24 at 13 J/TH, and the S23e Hyd 2U is $11.13 at 10 J/TH.
A low price on the box is the first thing a buyer sees and the least informative number on the page. What decides the return is what the terahash costs to run for four years, and that is the next section.
$7.35 a terahash for 16.8 J/TH. The S21+ Hyd asks less per terahash for 15.
What a coin costs it
At 6¢ in the UAE it makes a bitcoin for about $54,600 of electricity, against a market price of $84,580. At Nigeria's 3.9¢ the same machine would make one for about $35,500, which is where it will cross to once, when the trailing year says cheap power pays better. The rule is in a machine crosses to cheap power once.
In the same loop at 6¢, the S21+ Hyd makes a coin for about $49,100, the S21e XP Hyd 3U for about $41,900, the A3 Pro Hyd for about $40,500 and the S23e Hyd 2U for about $32,400. This machine's $54,600 is the highest of the five.
It still returns a profit: a coin made for $54,600 is worth $84,580. The point is how much of each coin is left once the power is paid, and for every other machine in the list the share is larger. That is why first-year return runs 39% here against 39% to 59% for the others.
The box is $3,381; the all-in cost is $5,543
A water-cooled 2U unit is not a single position in a loop. We count a rack-mount hydro unit as two standard water-cooled positions, because that is what it takes up in the loop, and the freight, setup and share of the plant come on top of the box. That is how a $3,381 machine lands at $5,543, 61% above the sticker price.
The effect is the same on every machine, and it is smaller per terahash on a bigger unit; the full account is in the price of a miner is not the price of the box. It matters here because the low box price is the whole appeal of this machine, and the all-in figure is the one that sits next to the others.
At 6¢ it does not clear the line after the halving
A machine's line is the hashprice at which it stops covering its own power. At 16.8 J/TH a petahash uses 403 kWh a day. That is $24.19 at 6¢ and $15.72 at 3.9¢.
Network hashprice was $39.95 per petahash per day on 1 October on our hashprice chart. The April 2028 halving cuts the coins a petahash earns in half at an unchanged price and difficulty, which would put it near $19.97. That is below this machine's line at 6¢ and above it at 3.9¢.
This is today's conditions held flat, not a forecast, and the house forward figures assume bitcoin is back at its previous high by then. What it says is that this is a machine for cheap power: at 6¢ it carries to the halving and would then want to be in Nigeria, which is the one crossing every machine makes. By comparison the A3 Pro Hyd's line at 12.5 J/TH is $18.00 at 6¢, and the S23e Hyd 2U's, at 10 J/TH, is $14.40. The guide to efficiency and halvings has the long version.
Hashprice halved from its 1 October level is about $19.97. At 6¢ this machine's line is $24.19.
What is not known yet
The machine was announced in June 2025 and has a little over a year on the market. We looked for operator reports of its boards and found none we could stand behind, so there are none in this review. We score reliability as unknown, not as good.
What a fault costs is the part that matters. Hosted with us a fault is a repair queue, and Canaan machines follow Canaan's repair route rather than the Bitmain warranty centre near the UAE site. It is a line item, not a catastrophe, but it is one we have no record of for this model.
Our two cents
The A1566HA 2U is a workable machine at a price that has not made room for its efficiency. It clears its power today at 6¢ and 3.9¢, and at Nigeria's rate it carries through the halving. It is the right machine for someone who has power at or below about 5¢ and wants the smallest outlay on a water-cooled 2U.
For most buyers of water-cooled hashrate the better answer is nearby. The S21+ Hyd is cheaper per terahash and returns more in year one, and the S23e Hyd 2U returns the most of any water-cooled machine we list. The figure below ranks what is in stock on cost per coin and then year-one return.
- Bitmain Antminer S23 Hyd (563 TH/s) — 9.5 J/TH, In stock, $31,206 of electricity per bitcoin, 27% year one
- Bitmain Antminer S21j XP Hyd (495 TH/s) — 12 J/TH, In stock, $39,273 of electricity per bitcoin, 42% year one
- Bitdeer SealMiner A3 Pro Hyd (666 TH/s) — 12.5 J/TH, In stock, $40,527 of electricity per bitcoin, 33% year one
Which machines this covers
Disclosure
Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware, including this machine. No manufacturer, distributor or affiliate programme paid for or reviewed this page and we take no commission on the links above. Historical figures are computed from daily bitcoin price and network hashprice, each day valued at its own prices. Nothing here is investment advice.