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WooAudio WA22 vs WA5LE

post #1 of 23
10/12/09 at 7:22pm
Thread Starter 
I'm finally ready to put the Singlepower fiasco behind me and purchase a new amp (to replace the dead and soon-to-be gone Supra). I'm looking at WooAudio's WA22 and WA5LE.

Has anyone compared the two? Any thoughts on which one might match better with Qualia010's and soon to be purchased HD800?

After reading 6moons review of the WA5, I get the impression that Srajan thinks a 300B headphone amp is a bit overdone and unnecessary.

any thougths?
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post #2 of 23
10/12/09 at 8:38pm
I heard the HD800's single ended on both those amps at the 2008 CanJam. They both sounded great, but I'd give the nod to the WA5. It was just on another level. That was the amp that I wanted to walk out with at the end of the meet.

I've since had that sound in my head. On a lark I picked up the Grant Fidelity A-534B integrated. I don't know how it directly compares to the WA5, but it sounds fantastic, and brings back memories of the WA5. It's also cheaper so it's worth looking at.
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post #3 of 23
10/12/09 at 9:46pm
I heard the HD800 out of both of these amps single ended - i preferred the WA22 by a long shot

Though admittedly I'm not really a fan of 300b amps to begin with (especially with headphones), the WA5 has a significantly thinner sound than the WA22. Further, there was a feeling of more weight/authority behind the WA22, whereas the WA5 felt like the headphones were leading the amp around
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post #4 of 23
10/27/09 at 1:10am
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys for you input, but -

I'm going through a midlife crisis and decided to try my hand at a SS amp. I placed a pre-order for the Luxman P-1u.
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post #5 of 23
10/28/09 at 4:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by santacore View Post
I heard the HD800's single ended on both those amps at the 2008 CanJam. They both sounded great, but I'd give the nod to the WA5. It was just on another level. That was the amp that I wanted to walk out with at the end of the meet.
wow, where'd you get the time machine from santacore? neither the wa22 nor hd800 were shown until 2009 ttbomk (if they were at cj'08 i sure managed to miss 'em!).
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post #6 of 23
10/29/09 at 12:41am
Is WA22 the higher model ?
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post #7 of 23
10/29/09 at 1:29am
Thread Starter 
No, the WA5-LE is positioned in their product line as the better model.

I was wondering if it's over-engineered for headphones and if so, is the WA22 a better choice - fully balanced design, single and balanced inputs and outputs, etc...
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post #8 of 23
10/29/09 at 1:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeLa View Post
No, the WA5-LE is positioned in their product line as the better model.

I was wondering if it's over-engineered for headphones and if so, is the WA22 a better choice - fully balanced design, single and balanced inputs and outputs, etc...
they are completely different topologies - you can't say one is overdesigned, simply because it more expensive

the wa22 is a good choice if you want a balanced, transformer-coupled amp. the wa5 is a good choice is you want a 300b/6sn7 design
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post #9 of 23
10/29/09 at 5:36am
Would it be overkill to get WA22 for single ended use only ?
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post #10 of 23
10/29/09 at 5:39am
Thread Starter 
I didn't say the WA5 was over-designed, I said I was wondering if it was over-engineered for headphone-only use, considering the non-LE version also drives speakers.

I haven't listened to neither the WA5 nor the WA22, which is why I started the thread. I wanted to solicit input from people that have heard both, to see if they agreed with Srajan Ebaen's (6moons) conclusion about using the WA5 with his Audio-Technicas W1000;
"The conclusion is quite obvious. For these audio-technicas, the Woo is complete and utter overkill. That takes nothing away from it. It simply puts it in the luxury leagues where, if you have to ask anything other than "when can you deliver?", you're badly stretched beyond your means and appropriate station. Mind you, the majority of head-fiers will already consider the grand which the Yamamoto demands steep. Whether that says more about it or the Woo how they perform so squarely on the level I'll leave for you to decide*" Srajan Ebaen

I was considering the WooAmps for headphone-only use.
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post #11 of 23
10/29/09 at 1:11pm
That excerpt sounds a lot like the standard anti-headphones bias you find in most hi-fi reviews. The word "condescending" comes to mind

300b amps, to many, sound absolutely beautiful. using them for headphone use is not overkill in the least, so long as you want the 300b sound.
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post #12 of 23
10/29/09 at 1:57pm
definitely no such thing as overkill with high-end headphones.
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post #13 of 23
10/30/09 at 12:31am
Quote:
wow, where'd you get the time machine from santacore? neither the wa22 nor hd800 were shown until 2009 ttbomk (if they were at cj'08 i sure managed to miss 'em!).
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay it was June of 2009. It seems like so long ago........
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post #14 of 23
10/30/09 at 12:22pm
Do they have excellent build quality ?
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post #15 of 23
10/31/09 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeLa View Post
I'm finally ready to put the Singlepower fiasco behind me and purchase a new amp (to replace the dead and soon-to-be gone Supra).
By chancxe have you contacted Boulder Cables (or maybe it is Bolder)? He does SP "repairs". That said, the Supra and the models you are looking at sound quite a bit different.

I am somwhat bummed out that I fixed my MPX3 and it seems to work fine, because I was looking at a ZDT or possibly the WA22. After some thinking, though, I decided to hold off...until....? Boom! Crackle! Pop!

I also wonder about 1 12AX7 driving those humungous output tubes on the ZDT: the speaker power out is pretty low for that tube. On the other hand, it did sound good through the Audeze LDS-2 head phones.
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