[u2u2]

 

 ​

Yip it seems to be 274B type rectifiers. Even the TAK274B which hands down is the best sounding rectifier does it.
I've now had the Brimar 5Z4GY on for 3 hours. No hum from the transformers at all. The WA22 is so quiet with the right tubes.

I think I will switch back to the TAK tho. As it sounds amazing. Plus hum sound is only noticeable between music tracks and most times it is quiet.

Been following your WA22 experiences with the hope that one day I might acquire a TAK274B. Your results with rectifiers tubes make the TAK sound too risky for me but so far I have had zero rectifier or driver related noises. All of mine have been with power tubes, which to me are both the strength and weakness of the WA22. Few power tubes are dead silent but when they are the amp shines. My amp is a late 2015 build. Have you noticed any relationship between the vintage of the WA22 and noise issues? From the various threads it seems there are several variations in the as built specs of the WA22 series. I am assuming your is an older build. Thanks for any insight.

 

[abvolt]

I hear ya on that one I'd love to try a tak274b but my cheapness seems to always get the best of me. when the price gets over say 250 the panic attacks start..Enjoy

 

[Badas]

Been following your WA22 experiences with the hope that one day I might acquire a TAK274B. Your results with rectifiers tubes make the TAK sound too risky for me but so far I have had zero rectifier or driver related noises. All of mine have been with power tubes, which to me are both the strength and weakness of the WA22. Few power tubes are dead silent but when they are the amp shines. My amp is a late 2015 build. Have you noticed any relationship between the vintage of the WA22 and noise issues? From the various threads it seems there are several variations in the as built specs of the WA22 series. I am assuming your is an older build. Thanks for any insight.

Mine is a late 2014 build and all in all not a good one. Definitely had a lot of issues with power tubes. From what I have worked out the older WA22's are golden. No issues what so ever. The more latter models have the problems. Contacted Woo and they just blamed the tubes. I took the most noisiest power tubes and placed them in a WA2. The result was dead quiet. So it is not tubes it is the amp. Something had been changed from the earlier models. I told Woo this result and their answer was we can sell you 7236 tubes that are quiet. They really don't want to know or I just can't get the point across to them.

The TAK274B issue is extremely minor. The TAK tube is stunning beautiful sounding. It has no weak link. Every sound category is a 10/10. So I'm going to stick it back in and let the transformer hum on occasion. I don't really care about the hum.

 

[u2u2]

Mine is a late 2014 build and all in all not a good one. Definitely had a lot of issues with power tubes. From what I have worked out the older WA22's are golden. No issues what so ever. The more latter models have the problems. Contacted Woo and they just blamed the tubes. I took the most noisiest power tubes and placed them in a WA2. The result was dead quiet. So it is not tubes it is the amp. Something had been changed from the earlier models. I told Woo this result and their answer was we can sell you 7236 tubes that are quiet. They really don't want to know or I just can't get the point across to them.

The TAK274B issue is extremely minor. The TAK tube is stunning beautiful sounding. It has no weak link. Every sound category is a 10/10. So I'm going to stick it back in and let the transformer hum on occasion. I don't really care about the hum.

I think they added a phase splitter and smooth volume control in place of the stepped attenuator since your build date. Difficult to figure out the changes and issues with certainty. Of 13 sets of power tubes I have tried only one tube has noise beyond reasonable use. I did get the 7236 Sylvanias from Woo and they are as advertised but my current preferred set are GEC 6080WA. I ordered a second set of them and they should arrive in the next few days. If they are good I will be pretty comfortable considering investing more in a high end rectifier. At that point I will figure I got lucky or some other design change has improved the amp. I have only had the amp ten weeks but I have had an obscene amount of free time to experiment with it. Seems to be solid kit. Appreciate your response and hope you get a better resolution.  

 

[Contrails]

 

Mine is a late 2014 build and all in all not a good one. Definitely had a lot of issues with power tubes. From what I have worked out the older WA22's are golden. No issues what so ever. The more latter models have the problems. Contacted Woo and they just blamed the tubes. I took the most noisiest power tubes and placed them in a WA2. The result was dead quiet. So it is not tubes it is the amp. Something had been changed from the earlier models. I told Woo this result and their answer was we can sell you 7236 tubes that are quiet. They really don't want to know or I just can't get the point across to them.

The TAK274B issue is extremely minor. The TAK tube is stunning beautiful sounding. It has no weak link. Every sound category is a 10/10. So I'm going to stick it back in and let the transformer hum on occasion. I don't really care about the hum.

 

 
To be honest, that's quite a disappointing response.  

 

[Guidostrunk]

+1! That's pretty scary, for customer service.

To be honest, that's quite a disappointing response.  

 

[Stereolab42]

Badas, you're obviously an unhappy Woo customer and continue to make it clear several times a week in this thread... can you please move on?

 

[Guidostrunk]

Aaaaannnnd.... the thread killing post. ^_^

 

[Bitten by Bug]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It is encouraging to learn that in some circumstances Lang**x have acted as gentlemen and provided good service. Seems the @Badas comment that they are not a well oiled machine could be rather spot on. I guess we just have to put up with purveyor idiosyncrasies when we want to roll tubes in our Woo. Thanks again.

 

[Badas]

  Badas, you're obviously an unhappy Woo customer and continue to make it clear several times a week in this thread... can you please move on?

 
Don't quote me as a unhappy Woo customer. Hard to explain. It gives me great enjoyment. It certainly has a nice sound. I have worked around issues like buying stacks of power tubes and working out what works and what doesn't. That is why I contribute.
 
It just disappoints me that it could have been better and not all WA22's are built to the same quality. Some are good and some are bad. Luck of the draw and I lucked out. Mine has never done what is advertised. Like running 6080 power tubes quietly.
 
Woo's customer service and acknowledging a problem could be better also. They are very dismissive.

 

[abvolt]

That sucks dude must be super frustrating, my wa22 will accept most any tube without noise too bad some won't...Enjoy 

 

[Krutsch]

  Ya need to get into getting labels for your bases. I use to do this. OCD like you.

 
Here is a pic of what I use to do. You can see a red base GE power tube.
 

 
 

 
Hey, those labels are pretty cool. I know I could Google, but is there a good, known source for these?

 

[Krutsch]

My rig this morning.
I'm using DVD-Audio. I just discovered it works from my Oppo player to Optical input on the Arcam DAC. I don't know why I haven't tried this before. It sounds great. Also found out Blu-Ray audio works as well.

...

 
You may or may not care, but the TOSLINK out will likely be limited to 48kHz/16-bit output, due to copy restrictions and depending on the content. For example, with SACD discs, you will likely get 88.2/24-bit PCM, but with Blu-ray and DVD-Audio, it will only output 48/16.
 
However, you can get one of these:
 
https://www.kanexpro.com/converters/hdmi/
 
...and split-out S/PDIF audio from the HDMI output, at full resolution. I do this with a Pioneer BDP and then feed the S/PDIF (coax) into my Rega. Sounds wonderful.

 

[Badas]

   
You may or may not care, but the TOSLINK out will likely be limited to 48kHz/16-bit output, due to copy restrictions and depending on the content. For example, with SACD discs, you will likely get 88.2/24-bit PCM, but with Blu-ray and DVD-Audio, it will only output 48/16.
 
However, you can get one of these:
 
https://www.kanexpro.com/converters/hdmi/
 
...and split-out S/PDIF audio from the HDMI output, at full resolution. I do this with a Pioneer BDP and then feed the S/PDIF (coax) into my Rega. Sounds wonderful.

Okay. Good to know.
 
My Oppo BDP-103D can decode all SACD, DVD Audio and Blu-ray Audio and send via RCA. Should I give that a blast?
Obviously it will be using the players DAC.

 

[Krutsch]

 
Okay. Good to know.
 
My Oppo BDP-103D can decode all SACD, DVD Audio and Blu-ray Audio and send via RCA. Should I give that a blast?
Obviously it will be using the players DAC.

The Oppo's internal decoder is highly regarded, so I would say 'Yes'; will probably outperform the Arcam with disc content.