[David222]

Oh oh… you are on the monochromatic ‘blacklist’ with me……

LOL - Yes, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Desired) I will even admit that I had a dealer offer a "better" deal on silver Aurender and I kindly declined

 

[David222]

That's a pretty clean looking rack. Where did you get the rack?

Thank you! I spent many hours looking around for a new rack and am still not 100% on keeping this unit. Build quality seems decent / took ~45 min to assemble with power-screw driver.

This is the company --> https://www.fitueyes.com

I was going to put the Rockna top-shelf - but not totally confident (yet) as it's my first purchase from this company (previously unknown to me)

 

[David222]

@jonathan c you're not the only one... @David222 congrats on brilliant setup. Concerning @jonathan c comment: I had both silver and black Rockna WL and the black one has darker background and darker sound signature

May I ask which amp you prefer most with Rockna?

Thank you Alek! I've not clocked enough hours just yet - will have report back soon! I have a feeling the answer(s) will be headphone (synergy) dependent

Apologies also to this group for not threading my last few responses (shame on me)

 

[Dawgfish]

Very nice! How do you like the Tuba compared to the WA6?

 

[jonathan c]

In this era of global warming, I keep my amps in the ‘fridge !!! :

 

[David222]

Very nice! How do you like the Tuba compared to the WA6?

I find them to be totally different and complimentary:

Tuba: almost sounds SS - but with a smoothness/flow that most SS cannot deliver. I use Tuba primarily for synergy with Focal Clear (OG) as it takes the edge off the top end of the Focal and brings them into near perfect frequency response (to my ear). The Tuba is very punchy, extremely clean and quite resolving.
Grado's also play nicely here. Favorite tube pairing are Tungsram silver plates.

WA6: Much warmer than Tuba - but by no means muddy/tubey. It's both detailed and dynamic. A great all-arounder that punches above it's price-point. I find the WA6 does a wonderful job in accentuating the "grado growl" / grado house sound that I personally love. ZMFs and Sennheiser also play very well with the WA6, as long as the user is thoughtful when tube rolling/pairing. The rectifier seems to have much more impact on the overall sound profile. I modded with a Synergistic Research Purple Fuse - which I find helped push this AMP the extra-mile (thanks to @jonathan c for much guidance)

It's worth noting to avoid confusion - that my WA6 is newly built / customized with 6DE7 sockets to allow for 6SN7 rolling via adapters vs. 13DE7 that are somewhat limiting on the standard WA6 model. Additionally, I have a custom (pure) pass-through on back to daisy-chain DAC.

 

[jonathan c]

I have a 1st Generation WA6 (with the 6DE7 sockets). I agree with David222’s comments. To my thinking, the biggest difference between Tuba and WA6 is solid-state rectification vs tube rectification: conversion of AC to DC to feed the amp circuitry. The next difference comes from EL84 s in Tuba vs 6SN7 s / 12AT7 s via adapters in WA6. With tube rolling, different shades of tone may be had thereafter.

 

[Dawgfish]

I find them to be totally different and complimentary:

Tuba: almost sounds SS - but with a smoothness/flow that most SS cannot deliver. I use Tuba primarily for synergy with Focal Clear (OG) as it takes the edge off the top end of the Focal and brings them into near perfect frequency response (to my ear). The Tuba is very punchy, extremely clean and quite resolving.
Grado's also play nicely here. Favorite tube pairing are Tungsram silver plates.

WA6: Much warmer than Tuba - but by no means muddy/tubey. It's both detailed and dynamic. A great all-arounder that punches above it's price-point. I find the WA6 does a wonderful job in accentuating the "grado growl" / grado house sound that I personally love. ZMFs and Sennheiser also play very well with the WA6, as long as the user is thoughtful when tube rolling/pairing. The rectifier seems to have much more impact on the overall sound profile. I modded with a Synergistic Research Purple Fuse - which I find helped push this AMP the extra-mile (thanks to @jonathan c for much guidance)

It's worth noting to avoid confusion - that my WA6 is newly built / customized with 6DE7 sockets to allow for 6SN7 rolling via adapters vs. 13DE7 that are somewhat limiting on the standard WA6 model. Additionally, I have a custom (pure) pass-through in the back to daisy-chain DAC.

Very nice! Thank you for the excellent comparison between the two. I have and love the WA6 but I always have been intrigued by the Tuba. Truth be told the Violectric has always intrigued me as well.

My WA6 is first generation also. I use adapters and run 6EM7s (Sylvania and RCA black plates). Usually I use a Mullard GZ32 or GZ34 for the rectifier tube with great results.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Sometimes I wonder if I'm going forward or backward in my audio journey

Sometimes I wonder if I'm going forward or backward, period...

 

[jonathan c]

Very nice! Thank you for the excellent comparison between the two. I have and love the WA6 but I always have been intrigued by the Tuba. Truth be told the Violectric has always intrigued me as well.

My WA6 is first generation also. I use adapters and run 6EM7s (Sylvania and RCA black plates). Usually I use a Mullard GZ32 or GZ34 for the rectifier tube with great results.

The Violectric V200 (older SE amp) is wonderful with high impedance h/p —> Beyer DT880/600, Senn HD600/650/6XX, ZMFs…

 

[jonathan c]

Sometimes I wonder if I'm going forward or backward, period...

And looking in a mirror won’t help …

 

[Pharmaboy]

And looking in a mirror won’t help …

especially when there's a 2nd mirror behind my head

 

[Pharmaboy]

The Violectric V200 (older SE amp) is wonderful with high impedance h/p —> Beyer DT880/600, Senn HD600/650/6XX, ZMFs…

As is the V281. That's good with every headphone I've tried.

My recently departed Lake People G109-A was also terrific with high impedance dynamics.

I think anything Fried Reim designs is going to sound pretty good with just about any headphone...it's solid state done totally right IMO.

 

[Dawgfish]

The Violectric V200 (older SE amp) is wonderful with high impedance h/p —> Beyer DT880/600, Senn HD600/650/6XX, ZMFs…

Thank you! With the recent addition of the Mainline I have found my end game tube headphone amp. I'm looking for an end game solid state (or tube hybrid) headphone amp and Violectric/Lake People is on my short list.

 

[Dawgfish]

As is the V281. That's good with every headphone I've tried.

My recently departed Lake People G109-A was also terrific with high impedance dynamics.

I think anything Fried Reim designs is going to sound pretty good with just about any headphone...it's solid state done totally right IMO.

I thought about contacting you on that G109-A several times. Wish I would have pulled the trigger on that one as it was a great deal!