Mortalcoil
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2005
- Posts
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- 117
Thanks Asr for the great pics.
I saw you got a good snapshot of the PP6 - did you also happen to listen to them?
Are you saying you like Hifiman's entry level model better than their flagship? What did you like about the HE400s?
Alex (Audeze) + unknown ALO Audio guy
alex from audeze showed up to canjam this year, having lost a few pounds it seems...
now, if he could just pull that same feat with the headphones, we'd all be thankful.
Zing!
alex from audeze showed up to canjam this year, having lost a few pounds it seems...
now, if he could just pull that same feat with the headphones, we'd all be thankful.
No impressions of the WA7??
One big surprise is the new Woo WA7 headphone amp. It's like, "wow :-o " It's warm and vibrant but not dark, and open with great detail and soundstage, transparent, and POWERFUL. Not Schitt or EF5/6 powerful, but at least 3x more power than my WA6 (maybe as much as the WA6 SE?). I have a maxed WA6 at home, full of Vcaps and Blackgates upgrades, plus the Pseudo Dual Power Supply Mod, with $220 worth of tubes, that cost about $1200 with the upgrades and tubes. This $777 amp could possibly be better. I may end up getting one just to compare to the WA6. I find that my maxed WA6 is great with ALL of my IEM, plus my LA7000, Ultrasone, Grados, HD600 and HD800. However, although the timbre and tone is great with my HE-500 and LCD-2 it could use a little more power with these orthodynamics which lack a little PRAT with the WA6. Jack says the cheap volume pot on the pre-pro model will be replaced with the same nice volume pot that I have on my WA6.
My DACmini has been sounding a lot like my WA6 but with extra power, so it drives the LCD-2 and HE-500 a bit better, although the WA6 still edges ahead slightly with the HD800 and Grados. With everything else they are fairly equivalent. I suspect I might like the WA7 even more than both of those amps - not by a huge amount, but the smile and toe tapping factor are definitely a little higher. It's got more PRAT than my WA6 and hits a bit harder with the HE-500 and HD800, and with those two headphones I suspect that the WA7 may pass up both my DACmini and WA6. I wont know for sure until I hear them side by side, and I still don't think the WA7 could ever replace my DACmini, but would rather be an addition to it. Overall, I think if I was trying to decide on a mid-price amp to buy these days, I'd be considering the WA7 and DACmini over my WA6. (stupid thing to say if I decide to sell it later). Don't get me wrong, the maxed WA6 is a fantastic sub $1000 amp, but it's got a lot of competition now. I wouldn't rule out the Schitt Audio amps in the mid-range price category either, but I need to spend more time with them Sunday. I'll take a lot of photos tomorrow, sorry for listening to gear more than snapping photos.
HeadphoneAddict did give some more extended impressions than he did over on the WA7 thread:
I would certainly echo his first sentence. It definitely wasn't dark; "vibrant" was a good choice to describe the sound. I believe I listened with the HE-5 and the HD800 and preferred it with the 800, but normally find that I prefer the 800 on most setups. I'd certainly recommend that anyone in the market for an amp/DAC combo for <$1,000 attempt to audition the WA7.