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Full review of the Woo Audio 3 WA3 here. There are loads of pictures, glowing exposures, and RMAA measurements.
I've been using full size headphone amps since 2003; my first love was Meier, and to be honest, I'd go back that way in a heartbeat if I had the room. On my desk this month is the Woo Audio 3, Woo's entry-level valve amp, though at 475$, it doesn't feel entry-level at all! Actually, it is made like a tank, and I ain't being cliche.
Build
Its walls are nearly 1 cm thick, made from machined and extruded aluminium, the top excellently ported for its tube set and the integrated power supply gets plenty of air from its grilled enclosure. This back-heavy design has a number of plusses: plugging and unplugging headphones is easy: the amp won't move around the table, so you can operate one-handed. At the same time, you'll have to make sure whatever it sits on is ready to take 2/3 of its weight at the back.
Speaking of the back: solid. The Pre-amp outputs and power cable connections are solidly made, not budging even for all-thumbs hands and thrusting fingers. The only part which might be a problem is the exposed valve tubes. Still, someone who buys a nice audio component isn't likely to rest their collection of Converse shoes on top.
Sound
I really want to re-iterate that this amp is good. But, if you want to use it with earphones and inner ear monitors, it isn't the best option. Balanced armatures are naff, and low Ω earphones, while loud, are poorly amped. Apart from that, though, there is lots of tubey sound to enjoy.
LowΩ headphones such as the v-Jays get a pronounced boost in bass. It is quite heavy. They are already heavy bass earphones, so it is like flipping the hyper switch. To hear what the WA3 really can do, you need to hook up proper headphones. It most easily drives headphones of 100 and above, with a sweet spot around 300-600.
For that reason, HD600 and DT880 are simply smashing pairs. After 100Ω, though, there is little distortional/noise effluence in the signal. Grado headphones tend to induce a little harmonic distortion, but that softens their sound. The same goes for the DT880, a headphone known for stringent highs. The load of 600Ω presents as little load on the WA3 as there can be in headphone land. Thus, the signal is the most neutral above 150Ω, though again, the WA3 isn't Einar Sound neutral - it is hot and coloured, and for lean mean headphones, it is perfectly matched. At 9 o'clock, even with the DT880 600Ω, I have more than enough volume on both modern recordings and nice, pre-volume war recordings.
That said, the valves introduce some fuzzy wuzzies. Treble is softened, and the wildly wide image of the DT800 is softened somewhat, allowing a less fatiguing listen. Both high and lows are consolidated into a more central image. This mid-centric presentation is great for rock, ambient, jazz, and relaxing classical.
Its midrange is magical, with a little bleed, making atmospheric genres magical. Fast genres still sound good, but shimmer a bit too much. Guitars, percussion, and wind instruments are bloody great as are voices and pianos.
Pre amp
The WA3 also has a pre-amp built in. It is a serviceable addition, but not a great pre-amp. Its output is linked to headphone output and controlled via the volume pot. As such, it retains a lot of the same performance as the headphone output, and doesn't serve that well as a source, but it is a nice addition, especially if plugged into a multimedia system.
Valves really do warm/soften up the sound. Music you can relax to. A few valve amps I've listened to are more 'neutral', but I'd not say 'better'. The WA3 personifies valves and at its price point is a great example of build quality and adroit valve voicing. As long as you aren't listening to earphones, it is a fully recommended amp.
Full review of the Woo Audio 3 WA3 here. There are loads of pictures, glowing exposures, and RMAA measurements.