New Woo Audio Flagship amp !
Jun 9, 2011 at 4:55 PM Post #31 of 49
A dynamic/stat combo amp HAS been seen before :wink: 
 
Quote:
vinyllp33 said:
When Jack states that this can drive "any headphone" and "innovations never seen in the industry" I wonder if he has some hybrid electrostatic/dynamic design in the works? !
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Jun 9, 2011 at 8:41 PM Post #34 of 49
I don't see Jack being able to sell a lot of amps at the $8k price point. This is entirely different level of game. There is no support infrastructure, no explicit multi-year warranty, no dealer network and frankly, in my experience, the workmanship is not at the ultra high end level. Having said that, I'm curious to see the new product, but I'm by no means will ever spend $8k on a headphone amp.
 
Jun 9, 2011 at 9:49 PM Post #35 of 49
Again you have to consider this is not just a headphone amp, it drives speakers as well.
Otherwise it's not a fair comparison.

The 10 000$ Pinnacle amp is headphone only for instance. The Shindo amp setups start over 10k$ and they don't drive headphones ! The only direct (tube) competitor in that price range and with credible speaker and headphones seems to be Leben, but they don't have monoblock designs... (please don't hesitate to complete that list if you have other proper examples)

The questions that remain in my mind are :
- considering Woo's credibility in the HP amp market, how good will it hold up against it's competitors in the tube speaker amp market ? (because if it's not as good, might well pick up a WA5, eddie current, or red wine equivalent, and have a dedicated speaker amp on the side - whatever your tastes/setup/buget are in that regard...

- Will it be a hybrid electro-static as some have suggested ? I don't know if that's even possible. Even if it is, and if it's Woo Audio main argument, well other than the sheer technical achievement of it, I'm confident it won't justify the price point for a majority of audiophiles, even for those who can afford it but would rather spend the money on more essential features...

However, if it holds up as a speaker amp against it's competitors in that price range, if it's as good or better at driving headphones than the WA5... Well, I'll be the first to say kudos and sign up for one. I'm in the process of building a new system, and if those qualities are assembled in one machine I'd be one happy music buff !

Granted, there are a lot of unknowns, and a lot of "ifs" :wink:
The bar is certainly high for Woo Audio, but they haven't disappointed up to now ! Only time will tell...
:)
 
Jun 9, 2011 at 11:21 PM Post #36 of 49
Quote:
el_doug said:
...Mikhail
 


 
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I was afraid you were going to mention his name 
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Jun 9, 2011 at 11:58 PM Post #38 of 49


Quote:
avsbuddy said:
I don't see Jack being able to sell a lot of amps at the $8k price point. This is entirely different level of game. There is no support infrastructure, no explicit multi-year warranty, no dealer network and frankly, in my experience, the workmanship is not at the ultra high end level. Having said that, I'm curious to see the new product, but I'm by no means will ever spend $8k on a headphone amp.
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Are you kidding me?  workmanship not at the ultra high end?  His work is among the best I have seen anywhere.  And, from a customer service point of view, those people are naturals.  Have you ever owned a Woo?  Have you ever blown three ( not one, not two - but three ) rectifiers and have someone still defend you with the vendors?  If anybody can pull off a 10k amp, it is the Woo's.
 
 
 
Jun 10, 2011 at 12:09 AM Post #39 of 49


Quote:
mikemalter said:
Are you kidding me?  workmanship not at the ultra high end?  His work is among the best I have seen anywhere.  And, from a customer service point of view, those people are naturals.  Have you ever owned a Woo?  Have you ever blown three ( not one, not two - but three ) rectifiers and have someone still defend you with the vendors?  If anybody can pull off a 10k amp, it is the Woo's.
 
 
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Well said, mike. I totally agree with your statement.
 
There are wonderful and first class customer service from Woo, I used to own a WA6SE and a WA22, now a WA5LE even I bought it second handed. Jack always helpful when I have a question and reply in a short reasonable time. I did not own any other "Ultra High End" equipment, only a WA5LE and a Linn Akurate DS (if it is qualified to be a "GOOD" equipment but "High End"), I have no complaint on Woo's craftmenship at all.
 
Jun 10, 2011 at 12:39 AM Post #40 of 49
If I ever get my Klipschorns, it sounds like this would be ideal to drive them (plus all my headphones)
tongue_smile.gif

 
Jun 10, 2011 at 2:22 AM Post #42 of 49
letthemusicplay said:
- Will it be a hybrid electro-static as some have suggested ? I don't know if that's even possible. Even if it is, and if it's Woo Audio main argument, well other than the sheer technical achievement of it, I'm confident it won't justify the price point for a majority of audiophiles, even for those who can afford it but would rather spend the money on more essential features...

:)
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There's no need to wait for a hybrid dynamic/electrostatic amp. I have on order a Woo Audio 5 with all the upgrades and a WEE. With this combination, I will be able to drive any dynamic or electrostatic headphone. The WEE is the component that does it for electrostatic headphones so long as the underlying amp is of sufficiently high quality. It's $499 plus the interconnects and power cords. I'll let you know how it turns out after I have a chance to run my headphones on it. I have a Stax 009 also ordered through Jack but I probably won't be able to report on that for a while as it's backordered due, at least partly, to the problems the first units distributed were having.
 
Jun 10, 2011 at 3:58 PM Post #44 of 49
I highly dissagree with people trying to justify the price of this hardware due to the fact that it can drive speakers (btw I used to own a tricked out WA5).  You can find a killer...and I mean...killer, speaker amp on audiogon for a lot less than that, and I can almost guarantee you that it will sound better than something designed to be a headphone amp and speaker amp in one.  You can almost guarantee that it won't be a push pull amp since it isn't powerful enough (maybe push pull 2A3 tubes?)...meaning it will most likely be a regular SET amp of sorts in my opinion.  Also, that much money for a 8 watt speaker tube amp is a little crazy in my opinion.
 
Buy a BHSE for half the price and be done with it :wink:  They have terrific resale value which I can guarantee you a tricked out Woo amp won't.
 
Jun 10, 2011 at 4:21 PM Post #45 of 49
mikhail's dynamic/stat thing was actually two completely seperate amplifiers
shoved into one box. One of the amps was a mpx3, the other was the es1
without all the add ons. Same power supply for both. Pretty sure it was
called the Concerto. You could actually play both headphones at the
same time, but there was only one volume control. One of the absolute
worst things mikhail ever built.
 
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