Finally, my WA5 shipped today 5 Jan 2017, still need to wait several days ......  

Two big & heavy boxes from FedEx today, definitely that is my WA5+++ delivered on 7 January 2017! I would take 1-2 days to set it up and take a gallery of unbox pics before the first listening session .....
 

More pics inside the WA5 chassis .....
 

Congrats!  You are going to LOVE the WA5.  
 
You are a more patient man than I am.  I couldn't wait to set it up so I could listen to my WA5.  I would set it up anywhere I could and listen right away!

jerick70 said:

  Congrats!  You are going to LOVE the WA5.  
 
You are a more patient man than I am.  I couldn't wait to set it up so I could listen to my WA5.  I would set it up anywhere I could and listen right away!

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Yeah, I am interested in how it is making up, and what are inside, I may start my first listening of the base configuration, probably in the day 2 afternoon .....

Congratulations. I really like your upgrades. All at the right places. If I was to buy the WA5 again, I would definitely get those upgrades. How much do the upgrades set you back?

khragon said:

Congratulations. I really like your upgrades. All at the right places. If I was to buy the WA5 again, I would definitely get those upgrades. How much do the upgrades set you back?

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Yes, the upgrades are at the places to invest for significant result, though I don't have a stock WA5 for side-by-side comparison, the upgrades should boost the WA5 to a new level IMHO (YMMV), but may not necessarily be justified by all other buyers. An interesting equation below for idea on a rough cost relationship between related models and all my Woo AMPs
 
$WA234 = 2 x $WA5+++ = 3 x $WA5 = 3 x 3 x $WA22 = 3 x 3 x 2 x $WA6 SE

ghhf said:

   
Yes, the upgrades are at the places to invest for significant result, though I don't have a stock WA5 for side-by-side comparison, the upgrades should boost the WA5 to a new level IMHO (YMMV), but may not necessarily be justified by all other buyers. An interesting equation below for idea on a rough cost relationship between related models and all my Woo AMPs

 
$WA234 = 2 x $WA5+++ = 3 x $WA5 = 3 x 3 x $WA22 = 3 x 3 x 2 x $WA6 SE

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Thanks, I see why  you go with +++ now, at first I thought why not stay with programmer convention of ++.  Cost doesn't sound *that* bad , Im not sure how I would like mono block though, with separate volume control, so an WA5+++ seems to be a good compromise.  Enjoy! please come back with impressions.

khragon said:

Thanks, I see why  you go with +++ now, at first I thought why not stay with programmer convention of ++.  Cost doesn't sound *that* bad , Im not sure how I would like mono block though, with separate volume control, so an WA5+++ seems to be a good compromise.  Enjoy! please come back with impressions.

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Your idea is also exactly what I thought when planning the purchase and upgrade at the first beginning. I am not sure how much I like a WA234 design，and its cost performance ratio may not be fully justified as I don't need flexibility for 2A3 & 45 applications.

The WA5+++ with the output transformers upgraded to the class at the same level of WA234，and adding a proven high quality potentiometer both set WA5 to "closer" result to the WA234. Finally，the custom-built DC cable is unique to WA5 design，and that is the point to further boost the WA5.

My WA5+++ is the optimal compromise at the time being to serve me best. I am preparing the first listening session，will share impression progressively in stages in this thread，that is a long way to go in the year 2017

I just took a stock check to all parts come with my WA5，the packages were delivered in doubled cartoon boxes with excellent protection though I prefer and expect they were covered by hard wooden cases found in some other WA5 delivery.

So I got the custom-bulit WA5 with upgrades as stated in the purchase order. There is a pairs DC cord connecters pending delivery，the pack did not come with the original stock DC cable, so I can not tell exactly how much the difference in sonic performance (though I already have my own idea on the projected impression) between stock cable and the upgraded SCC cable，perhaps I would clarify with Woo if they could also send in the stock DC cable in a later shippment.

Thanks to Woo's effort，the SCC cable is in a bright fashion which took weeks for nicely built，the Sylvania 6SN7 GTA pairs (rather than GE or RCA version) coming as signal tubes is also a plus to suit my taste. Now it is time for party，about to launch the first listening session

Now, here we go!

I started it with the stock tubes，an ordinary copper RCA signal cable and 13A UK standard AC power cord for electronic equipment (so now it is in double fused power protection).

I feed the WA5 with Hugo running in dedicated DAC mode，HD800 (with the stock HP cable) as output headphone attached to the 6.3 jack. Both Hugo and HD800 are well-known devices，they will allow me to give impression in a more common sense expression for the system later.

Let's see how this basic configuration is doing (but it is already a WA5+++). I planned to have it run for 20 hours or so in the first two weeks as warm up before adding on other enhancements.

By the time I completed this posting，the configuration has run for a hour，I prefer to keep myself silient at the time being，all I can tell is，OH YEAH! even with this basic setup，that is different and I am going to experience something presenting in a new dimension!

You need to upgrade your tubes next. It makes a huge difference IMO.

jerick70 said:

You need to upgrade your tubes next. It makes a huge difference IMO.

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Yeah, I would spend about 2 weeks with the stock tubes, already prepare some 300B tubes pairs to be rolling on the WA5 later.

Just completed the 1st listening of my WA5, that is in a 3 hours session, a summary of my very first impression:
 
After the blue LED stayed shine on the PSU,  I turned the volume knob from left to right steadily and feel sonic started coming from the WA5, then I stopped at 9 o'clock ..... Yeap! It worked at the first attempt in completely smooth operations! (I would wait about another 15 minutes before listening in a normal session). 
 
In just about the first few minutes, I was aware that, the WA5 delivered something significant differences though I found familiar and similar confident & bright "Woo Tone" as from my WA22 and WA6 SE (is that the common signature for these OTC AMPs?).
 
What are those differences? I prefer to assess further in details, confirm that in the following sessions and share the impression in a later time. But first of all, I would like to mention that, throughout the session, there was zero hum, actually, it consistently delivered a sense of "deep-silent" background space filled with powerful energy field.

I am considering a amp to pair with my hd800 in this price range. WA5 is one of the best choices.