Woo Audio WA2 owners or opinions? - Page 3

Sorry if asked a 100 times - those 300b monos - roughly how much were they?
Cheers
Lee

I noted the differences between these two because these are the only headphone amps I have tried. When I bought the Darkvoice my plan was to put together a dedicated headphone setup. It was shortly afterwards that I decided to replace my two-channel setup. So the DV was replaced with the Woo 2 because it is also a preamp. I cannot really tell you more than I already said in other threads. I thought the Darkvoice was a remarkably good amp for the money. But the Woo 2 has far superior build quality and, with the compliment of tubes I am using, sounds better than the Darkvoice too.

The other thing that makes me more comfortable with the Woo amp is the after-the-sale service and support. Woo Audio is in New York. I know this may be less of an issue for people in other parts of the world, but I live in Connecticut. Not having to ship my product half way across the world for service if I need is no small comfort, and Jack is great to deal with. I don't see myself buying an amp from another company, though there are certainly good ones out there like Singlepower.

--Jerome

As I recall the price was about $3,400 delivered to my door with Chinese tubes. But that was for amps built several months ago. The price might be a little higher today...don't know that. You would need to contact Jack.

--Jerome

Thanks. It did not happen overnight. I planned this out and made my purchases over the course of many months, knowing where I wanted to end up with this system. The Omega speakers were added right after the holidays.

--Jerome

I correspond with Jack often and one nice thing is they are always open to suggestions and will incorporate them if they like the results and they are always looking for ways to increase sound quality. I like the way Woo Audio works hard to get the max, they offer a quality product and great customer service.

Well what you say is a little troubling. I would expect a 1000 $ amp which is heavily tube-rolled with excellent tubes (therefore actually a 1100-1200$ amp) to sound much better, leagues better than a moderately rolled 400$ amp (500 $ total ?) with comparatively ordinary tubes.

That (sadly ) only makes me more interested in comparisons between the Woo2 and such rivals as the DV337, DV337SE or SP Extreme. Especially regarding the (self-proclaimed) fortes of those, like detail, dynamics, instrument separation and transparency in a broad sense.

I think well designed amps be they 500 dollars or 3000 or more are not going to be worlds apart. There are refinements that come into play that show up after use and then you might say, Ah this is really music. It increase in sound quality from 500 dollar amp to 5000 one is going to be in increments that should bring everything together, if done right in the more expensive amp but how much depends upon the source, cabling, and transducer. So many variables to get out the last be of refinement and ultimate sound it can't be left just to the amp and good sources aren't cheap although I do like hard drive based sound these days.

I express the above based on my design and building of tube equipment and realizing that sometimes I would have to sit and listen for a while and then it would hit me, good or bad and I would go on from there.

I think quite differently. Of course there are many cases where the difference is not that evident but in a lot of situations, from power requirements to covering certain complex or subtle tasks an amp 3 times as expensive should perform much better than its rival. Refinement and coherence are part of that and they are no small things. Of course this calls for the rest of the system to be on pair and for the listener to be able / interested to observe these differences, but they should be there. We are talking about equally and very well designed amps, not by paying for some brand name.
I would place that price level above which large increases start to be less audible and only account for details well above, perhaps at 2000 $ in the east and up to twice that in the west (due to 'cost-of-life' issues), perhaps a bit less if you do not consider using difficult phones.
Anyway, we digress and I'd really be interested in those comparisons if anyone made them.

With all of the rain we are getting you might need a row boat to get here instead of a car.

I have three extra sets of 5998s. I knew they were starting to get a little scarce last year so I bought two sets from Jack and one on eBay. I use NOS Amperex 6DJ8 Orange Globe drive tubes and a pair of NOS Tung Sol 6X4s that also are getting a little hard to find. You can always take the Woo 2 with the stock 6AS7 power tubes and bide your time until you can find a set of Tung Sol 5998s if you really have your heart set on them.

Good for you! Don't worry about how what you are getting compares to my setup. My goals and what I think is important in a system may not even matter to you. If what you are planning is within your budget and timetable, and is researched enough that you have a good idea of what you are getting into, then the results should be pleasing enough. Give your new gear time enough to break-in before passing ultimate judgment.

That really should be your goal. I'm saying that with a big smile on my face because I am listening to Ella Fitzgerald singing the Cole Porter song book and I am having a little bit of a problem concentrating on this post. To me that is what great audio is all about. You will know you're where you really want to be with audio when you stop thinking about the equipment because you're too busy being completely lost in the music. I can tell you right now that I am there. When I hear music like this on my system there is no system...there is only the music.

I know a lot of people like to tinker and experiment. They keep their eyes glued to this forum because they want to know all the latest scuttlebut about this amp or that amp and how it compares to everything else. They like to try a lot of different amps in search of the one best, most perfect amp. That would not be me. God bless 'em, but in my view life is just too short for that. I settled on the Woo 2 because of its features (I needed a preamp), and because Jack has a great reputation on this forum for quality products and customer service. I did not find it necessary to keep a tally of who was saying what pro and con about these amps. I read enough anecdotal experiences about the product. I did not buy the Woo 2 because I thought it was better than anything else out there, or even better than anything else in its price class. I liked its aethetics and build quality, and I dove in because I was very comfortable dealing with Jack after exchanging three or four emails with him. That was really all I needed. I was willing to trust that the Woo 2 would be a great preamp and in fact it is. Once I took delivery of my Woo monoblocks and discussed them here, I really haven't been on this part of the forum very much. I spend most of my Head-Fi time on the music forum.

My pleasure. It looks like you are well on your way to having a nice system that will provide you with countless hours of listening enjoyment.

--Jerome

I agree completely with these excellent points.

--Jerome

Seems quite reasonable to me......what sort of power output are these - are your speakers very sensitive?

They are 10 Watts. My speakers are highly efficient, 96db @ 1w @ 1m.

I don't mind answering questions about the monoblocks or my speakers, but please PM me if you have further questions. I don't want to steer this thread too far off topic. I put pictures of the monoblocks and the system up to show that the Woo 2 can be the starting centerpiece of a complete system since it is also a preamp. I also did it to show that Jack will take on special projects and do custom builds so long as you can articulate your needs to him.

--Jerome

Ok - noted - and thanks. Lee