[dahan]

  Hello all,
I'm looking to purchase the WA22 and WDS-1 and I'm having a very friendly and helpful discussion with Mike at Woo Audio about this. I was recommended the Nordost Heimdal interconnects and powercords. And as you may know, these cables can very well end up costing more than the actual hardware. While I have no intention of using cables from Radio Shack or Costco, are cables this expensive really necessary? One suggestion I received for "best performance" was the Heimdahl2 XLR interconnect á $1162 for 1m (39") and Nordosts miminum recommended length is 1,5m! And since I plan on stacking the DAC and amp, what am I supposed to do with a 1,5m interconnect cable? Have this massive loop behind the stack that costs 2K just for kicks and giggles? I just don't get it. Anybody here want to dumb it down for me?
 
I would appreciate some input from other members about what interconnect and powercables you have found to work well with Woo that don't have exorbitant pricetags. Believe me, I'm willing to throw down some dime for this setup but some of these prices for cables is just bananas.
 
/Will

Cables make very little improvement in my system. I would invest on better tubes.

 

[daverich4]

Cables make very little improvement in my system. I would invest on better tubes.

Big thumbs up on that. The difference that upgraded cables made to the sound of my system was miniscule compared to better tubes.

 

[kazsud]

 
Cables make very little improvement in my system. I would invest on better tubes.

+1

 

[longbowbbs]

 

 
Cables make very little improvement in my system. I would invest on better tubes.

+1

Icing on the cake basically.

 

[masmole]

 
Cables make very little improvement in my system. I would invest on better tubes.

Agree completely.
 
I have been down this road myself many times in the past.   Tried many fancy and expensive cables from interconnects, speaker cables, headphones cables, and even power cables, from Cardas, Nordost, etc. (even owned 2 pairs of the obscenely pricy Valhalla interconnects at some point).   Perhaps there may have been very slight changes in tone, but honestly, even that might have been a stretch because none of it was readily apparent and may have possibly been just placebo effect.
 
Instead, save your money and put it towards better tubes, sources, headphone or even better amps in the future... all of which are guaranteed to have much bigger and more rewarding impact towards getting the sound improvements you want.
 
These days I buy cables just for quality construction and looks, because ultimately, they all sound the same to me.   I'll spend no more than the stuff you get from bluejeans cable or many of the DIY'ers on forums like this that can make you a cable to your specs for much more reasonable prices than exotic brands.

 

[Krutsch]

kindly elaborate... what kind of potential interference should I expect? noise in the music coming from the woo amp, wifi signal drops, or both?

and how close is too close? I read another thread here saying "keep it at least 1 foot away and you're safe". So is 2 feet away enough distance, generally speaking?
 

 
What @isquirrel said covers it, but don't forget that radios in wireless access points, extenders, smart phones, et al., have radiation patterns that are both vertical and horizontal (i.e. it's not a perfect sphere).
 
So, think in 3D; that is, try moving stuff up/down, in addition to just farther away. I had serious RFI noise from tubes in my Woo and kept moving a wireless bridge further away, until I tried just moving it on top of a cabinet, underneath and relatively close to the amp. Problem solved.
 
And, to make matter worse, some tubes seem to be more sensitive than others to EMI/RFI artifacting. It really is just trail-and-error.
 
Welcome to the magic of tubes. 

 

 

[TonyNewman]

  Hello all,
I'm looking to purchase the WA22 and WDS-1 and I'm having a very friendly and helpful discussion with Mike at Woo Audio about this. I was recommended the Nordost Heimdal interconnects and powercords. And as you may know, these cables can very well end up costing more than the actual hardware. While I have no intention of using cables from Radio Shack or Costco, are cables this expensive really necessary? One suggestion I received for "best performance" was the Heimdahl2 XLR interconnect á $1162 for 1m (39") and Nordosts miminum recommended length is 1,5m! And since I plan on stacking the DAC and amp, what am I supposed to do with a 1,5m interconnect cable? Have this massive loop behind the stack that costs 2K just for kicks and giggles? I just don't get it. Anybody here want to dumb it down for me?
 
I would appreciate some input from other members about what interconnect and powercables you have found to work well with Woo that don't have exorbitant pricetags. Believe me, I'm willing to throw down some dime for this setup but some of these prices for cables is just bananas.
 
/Will

 
Woo Audio appear to have some form of relationship with Nordost - I have seen their products paired together in demos a few times.
 
I would avoid the expensive cables and spend the bucks on better tubes. Personally, I have never heard any sonic benefit from any cable whatsoever - I can't hear any difference between a $20 cable and a $500 cable - be it an interconnect or USB or powercord or speaker wire.
 
I most certainly can hear a difference between the stock tubes and those I am currently running in my WA5 and WA6, so that is where I invest my time and money.
 
As always, YMMV. This is perhaps the most divisive topic amongst audiophiles.

 

[Exidrion]

  Hello all,
I'm looking to purchase the WA22 and WDS-1 and I'm having a very friendly and helpful discussion with Mike at Woo Audio about this. I was recommended the Nordost Heimdal interconnects and powercords. And as you may know, these cables can very well end up costing more than the actual hardware. While I have no intention of using cables from Radio Shack or Costco, are cables this expensive really necessary? One suggestion I received for "best performance" was the Heimdahl2 XLR interconnect á $1162 for 1m (39") and Nordosts miminum recommended length is 1,5m! And since I plan on stacking the DAC and amp, what am I supposed to do with a 1,5m interconnect cable? Have this massive loop behind the stack that costs 2K just for kicks and giggles? I just don't get it. Anybody here want to dumb it down for me?
 
I would appreciate some input from other members about what interconnect and powercables you have found to work well with Woo that don't have exorbitant pricetags. Believe me, I'm willing to throw down some dime for this setup but some of these prices for cables is just bananas.
 
/Will

lmao you really have to be careful in the audiophile world and on headfi....I'm sure you're smart enough to realise that a $1162 1m meter cable is absolute hokey pokey and certainly not worth the money. Luckily there seems to be a lot of level headed people in this thread who aren't idiots, so that's great. A fool and his money are soon parted.

 

[isquirrel]

  Hello all,
I'm looking to purchase the WA22 and WDS-1 and I'm having a very friendly and helpful discussion with Mike at Woo Audio about this. I was recommended the Nordost Heimdal interconnects and powercords. And as you may know, these cables can very well end up costing more than the actual hardware. While I have no intention of using cables from Radio Shack or Costco, are cables this expensive really necessary? One suggestion I received for "best performance" was the Heimdahl2 XLR interconnect á $1162 for 1m (39") and Nordosts miminum recommended length is 1,5m! And since I plan on stacking the DAC and amp, what am I supposed to do with a 1,5m interconnect cable? Have this massive loop behind the stack that costs 2K just for kicks and giggles? I just don't get it. Anybody here want to dumb it down for me?
 
I would appreciate some input from other members about what interconnect and powercables you have found to work well with Woo that don't have exorbitant pricetags. Believe me, I'm willing to throw down some dime for this setup but some of these prices for cables is just bananas.
 
/Will

I can weigh in here having owned the aforementioned Heimdall 2 Nordost Cables including the Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable and IC's. Stick to the advice you have been given here. I found that the Nordost cable which is silver is on the bright side of neutral, it is not a rich laid back sound. I ended up selling mine. IMHO you are much better off spending your $ on tubes and other major purchases (headphones, source) etc before going down this route. I would set a max budget for these items that you are prepared to spend and then get to a dealer and have a listen, try if you can to listen to some reasonably priced copper ones. Double Helix Cables make sensibly priced cables as do Cardas. If you can, pick the cheapest one which you are happy with, the one that gives the most balanced sound.
 
Only when you're system is at high point component wise should you consider spending more. Best to listen for musicality rather the amount of detail you can hear. Different cables do different things that doesn't necessarily make them sound better only different.

 

[Stereolab42]

Spend 15% of the cost of your system on cabling and be done with it. With the exception of headphone cables... you want to up the budget on those if you have endgame headphones... the looks, durability, and convenience of high-end, hand-made, modular headphone cables is absolutely worth it.

 

[reeltime]

I have well-built cables from Monoprice and I also have more expensive Abbey Road cables.  As much as I'd love to tell you how sensational the Abbey Road cables are, I would bet money that I couldn't pass a blind taste test.

 

[WillB]

Hi Guys,
 
Thanks for your replies. It helps alot. Otherwise your mind starts going down that "If I don't buy cables for 5 grand everything's gonna sound like s**t" road. I think I'll go for the Swedish Supra cables as they are made  here in Sweden and are very reasonably priced but still marketed towards the hifi and HT crowd. You just have to get past their signature baby blue color.
 
I too am thinking of spending more money on the headphone cables than power cords and interconnects. Maybe Moon Audio or Double Helix Cables. I wonder if silver is the way to go or if copper is good enough...

 

[CaptainCB]

Could any of the Monoblock 234 owners comment on the ease of setup... as well as swapping between headphones? 
 
I happily view this as being in the category of "the last tube amp you will ever need to buy"... but have never owned a monoblock anything. Trying to get my head wrapped around this from a setup standpoint. Sounds like alot of tweaking and second guessing oneself... and may mean performing this tweaking exercise when switching between headphones from differing impedance extremes.
 
I'm trying to gather concepts from multiple threads that include use of headphone amps as monoblocks. So please excuse my noob approach.
 
Thanks for any direction you can give me... especially with the Woo Monoblocks. I feel they are calling my name... now that the foundation on my house is repaired (completely non-sexy expenditure).

 

[Fririce0003]

Could any of the Monoblock 234 owners comment on the ease of setup... as well as swapping between headphones? 

I happily view this as being in the category of "the last tube amp you will ever need to buy"... but have never owned a monoblock anything. Trying to get my head wrapped around this from a setup standpoint. Sounds like alot of tweaking and second guessing oneself... and may mean performing this tweaking exercise when switching between headphones from differing impedance extremes.

I'm trying to gather concepts from multiple threads that include use of headphone amps as monoblocks. So please excuse my noob approach.

Thanks for any direction you can give me... especially with the Woo Monoblocks. I feel they are calling my name... now that the foundation on my house is repaired (completely non-sexy expenditure).

Setup is easy, just plug in the source and then plug the headphones in. The only issue is you need a seperate cable for left and right. Either that or an adapter such as dual 3 pin xlr to 4 pin xlr or dual mono 1/4" to stereo 1/4" socket.
The only other issue I thought there may be initially was getting the channels balanced. But having matched tubes the volume is withing 1.5db between channels at the same volume setting. Also the stepped attenuator helps keep track of the volume setting. Another thing to keep in mind is each track has a different channel balance and having mini blocks makes it easy to adjust on the go. Just one click up or down. Which changes the volume 5db per click with the tubes I'm using and my abyss.
As for using and swapping between headphones it's the same as any other amp, turn the volume down and swap. If you're really pedantic turn the amps off, wait for them to cool then swap. The out out keys can also be swapped depending on the headphones used, you'll need the amp off for that. But I've found with all the headphones I've tried cathode hi-Z works best.
Hope that helps, they're very lovely amps, need more people in the owners club

 

[CaptainCB]

That definitely helps... in two ways. It makes me realize that there isn't as much of a setup nightmare as I imagined. And it helps push me to get one even sooner!! haha
 
I was sent a gorgeous pic of a setup from a Woo customer. Had a DaVinci DAC feeding into the Woo 234's and then into some KEF LS50's. Not sure who owns it, but I wish I could have a listen to that set up. There is one member here who has at least that gear collection and maybe more... "Squirrel" is part of his name if I'm not mistaken.
 
Gotta get plugged into some of the Woo monsters and verify for myself what guys like you already know.