[Dubstep Girl]

Hey everyone, so right now I have a basic headphone setup and am going to upgrade later in the fall once i have some money.
 
as of now my setup consists of 
 
PC with apple lossless >> Pro-Ject USB DAC (sometimes i use my X-Fi Titanium instead) >> Pro-Ject Head Box SE II >> HD 650 with blue dragon cable
 
As for the pro-jects, theres an audio store near me that sells them and well it was easy to get the amp for only 250, it has 2 outputs and easily powers my hd 650s and has decent quality for its price. i know not alot of people have them, but meh. 
 
as far as the music i listen to, it is serious everywhere. i like classic rock, metal, electronic, dubstep, trance, rap, hiphop, classical, and just about everything else lol.
 
 
 
i plan on buying hd 800s or LCD-2s and K-701s or grados (either RS1 or 325is)
 
as far as the DAC, i am probably gonna get the benchmark DAC-1.
 
i want to buy either the WA5 or the WA22. i haven't seen any other tube or solid state that i think i would like other than these. theres just so many amps out there i don't know which one else to choose, i was a little interested in the schiit amps or maybe the headroom ultra desktop amp/dac combo but don't know much about them, nor do i know much about any of the other amps people have, thats why i want to just go big and buy one of these. plus they look awesome.
 
 
now my question is, what amp is best considering the prices as well as how they sound with a variety of headphones?
from the reviews i've seen, most people are happy with them, i just haven't see any comparisons between the WA5 and the WA22.
 
by looking at the website comparison chart, it seems that the WA22 is a better purchase for me since it has balanced outputs in case i ever decide to balance my headphones, also, it is over 1,000 dollars cheaper and the upgrades will be cheaper as well. 
 
however, its pretty clear to me that the WA5 will offer better performance, i just don't know how much of an upgrade it is compared to the WA22.

 

[grmnasasin0227]

Your desires seem to be all over the map. You talked about Schiit gear and that's fractions of the cost (and only a hybrid amp, at that) of Woo's top of the line. Speaking of, why are you between the WA5 and the WA22? Just because they're the most expensive, while remaining different? Why not the WA5-LE? It shaves off a considerable price burden while being quite frankly just as good.
 
On the WA22--why do you think upgrades will be cheaper? It has just as many sets of tubes as the WA5 (3) that can/need to be rolled. You'll be spared the expense of 300B tubes on the WA5 , but seriously, there's a lot of tubes out there to try so you'll be spending money on them either way.

As for trying to narrow down what headphones they're good for, these amps are all flagship status, they can drive anything and make it sound superb--it's personal preference that remains, nothing factual.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

Your desires seem to be all over the map. You talked about Schiit gear and that's fractions of the cost (and only a hybrid amp, at that) of Woo's top of the line. Speaking of, why are you between the WA5 and the WA22? Just because they're the most expensive, while remaining different? Why not the WA5-LE? It shaves off a considerable price burden while being quite frankly just as good.
 
On the WA22--why do you think upgrades will be cheaper? It has just as many sets of tubes as the WA5 (3) that can/need to be rolled. You'll be spared the expense of 300B tubes on the WA5 , but seriously, there's a lot of tubes out there to try so you'll be spending money on them either way.

As for trying to narrow down what headphones they're good for, these amps are all flagship status, they can drive anything and make it sound superb--it's personal preference that remains, nothing factual.

i was considering the schiit as an amp if i end up having to buy something cheaper due to the cost of the WA5/22
i don't know what difference the WA5-LE has from the WA5 besides the speaker amp
 
 
 

 

[grmnasasin0227]

Quote:

i was considering the schiit as an amp if i end up having to buy something cheaper due to the cost of the WA5/22
i don't know what difference the WA5-LE has from the WA5 besides the speaker amp
 
 
 

But what I'm saying is there's a $1500 price gap at minimum between the WA22, the cheaper of what you're interested in, and the Schiit gear. There's a LOT of room to look at other, much better gear than Schiit (Woo has plenty of other offerings, as I'm sure you're aware). And that's exactly it, the WA5-LE is practically identical to the WA5 except for the speaker amp. Unless that's really what you're after, the WA5-LE is the better buy.