I've demoed The Manley labs, Liquid Gold, Pendant, and WA33. Liked the WA33, didn't like the Manley. The other two were nice but didn't move me to change. Of course comparing amps of significant cost can be difficult. What one person may feel makes an amp superior another may dislike. In the end it is all just opinion. To each his own.
The JPS Labs: Abyss AB-1266 Impressions Thread
- Thread starter scolaiw
- Start date
This is a offtopic for the 1266 discuss but since you asked.
My WA5 is a top end Ferrari in a Lexus chassis. I commissioned a skilled builder to modify it and bring it to top performance, there's nothing really left from the original amp apart from the metalwork and filter chokes. Some of the changes:
- Japanese output transformers;
- custom mains transformers and three additional heater transformers
- Jupiter coupling capacitors
- custom input stage where tubes can be mixed, a tung sol round plate and ECC32 can be done to combine the sound of both
- Duelund signal wiring
- goldpoint 47 stepped pot and input selector
- ability to adjust the operating point of the output tubes from cool to maximum dissipation for most power
- use of 300B or 2A3 or 45 or 46 or 801A or PX4 or PX25 or AD1 or VT52 etc....
- dual mono PSU design
- hybrid tube solid state rectifier bridge
- extra large heater transformers for 300BXLS, 520B, BL32 etc.
- speaker outputs
and many more.
I wanted to hear what a master DIY builder amp can sound like, compare it against my daily one the DNA Stellaris and my own personal build.
Even so the upgraded WA5 is far, far better than the stock even with the upgraded caps and really shows how much goes into the chassis, dealer markup and quite less for the actual components, I cringe at generic electrolytic caps on a 3K+ amp and not audio ones at least.
My WA5 is a top end Ferrari in a Lexus chassis. I commissioned a skilled builder to modify it and bring it to top performance, there's nothing really left from the original amp apart from the metalwork and filter chokes. Some of the changes:
- Japanese output transformers;
- custom mains transformers and three additional heater transformers
- Jupiter coupling capacitors
- custom input stage where tubes can be mixed, a tung sol round plate and ECC32 can be done to combine the sound of both
- Duelund signal wiring
- goldpoint 47 stepped pot and input selector
- ability to adjust the operating point of the output tubes from cool to maximum dissipation for most power
- use of 300B or 2A3 or 45 or 46 or 801A or PX4 or PX25 or AD1 or VT52 etc....
- dual mono PSU design
- hybrid tube solid state rectifier bridge
- extra large heater transformers for 300BXLS, 520B, BL32 etc.
- speaker outputs
and many more.
I wanted to hear what a master DIY builder amp can sound like, compare it against my daily one the DNA Stellaris and my own personal build.
Even so the upgraded WA5 is far, far better than the stock even with the upgraded caps and really shows how much goes into the chassis, dealer markup and quite less for the actual components, I cringe at generic electrolytic caps on a 3K+ amp and not audio ones at least.
Never heard the Manley, had the LG good but not great, Pendant is so/so at best, WA33 has potential, liked it a bit. IMO of course.
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This is a offtopic for the 1266 discuss but since you asked.
My WA5 is a top end Ferrari in a Lexus chassis. I commissioned a skilled builder to modify it and bring it to top performance, there's nothing really left from the original amp apart from the metalwork and filter chokes. Some of the changes:
- Japanese output transformers;
- custom mains transformers and three additional heater transformers
- Jupiter coupling capacitors
- custom input stage where tubes can be mixed, a tung sol round plate and ECC32 can be done to combine the sound of both
- Duelund signal wiring
- goldpoint 47 stepped pot and input selector
- ability to adjust the operating point of the output tubes from cool to maximum dissipation for most power
- use of 300B or 2A3 or 45 or 46 or 801A or PX4 or PX25 or AD1 or VT52 etc....
- dual mono PSU design
- hybrid tube solid state rectifier bridge
- extra large heater transformers for 300BXLS, 520B, BL32 etc.
- speaker outputs
and many more.
I wanted to hear what a master DIY builder amp can sound like, compare it against my daily one the DNA Stellaris and my own personal build.
Even so the upgraded WA5 is far, far better than the stock even with the upgraded caps and really shows how much goes into the chassis, dealer markup and quite less for the actual components, I cringe at generic electrolytic caps on a 3K+ amp and not audio ones at least.
Never heard the Manley, had the LG good but not great, Pendant is so/so at best, WA33 has potential, liked it a bit. IMO of course.
Impressive. So would you say it stacks up to an AirTight or Vinnie Rossi w/ these modifications?
ken6217
Headphoneus Supremus
ken6217
Headphoneus Supremus
Airtight discontinued their standard 300B amps. They do have a suped up model for lack of a better word for about $15k. Who knows how it sounds, but the price is dumb.
Out of curiosity, how is WA5 compare to Formula S + Powerman driving 1266 TC? WA5 power output is 8 watts while Formula S + Powerman is 6 watts.
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ken6217
Headphoneus Supremus
I believe the WA5 is 5 watts for headphones. usually a 300 B only puts out 8 watts at the speaker taps.
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ken6217
Headphoneus Supremus
Why don’t you get yourself a pass Labs X a .8 speaker ramp. 30W class A and a lot of current. Sounds like a tube amp, but it’s solid state. Lots of inner detail. Read some reviews on it. You won’t see anything negative. You could buy a used one for about $4800.
According to the manual the WA5-LE power output is 8W @120 Ω with high power on via 4 pin XLR and 1/4" TRS output.
I will add this to my "list of audio gear awareness"
lambdastorm
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
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This is a offtopic for the 1266 discuss but since you asked.
My WA5 is a top end Ferrari in a Lexus chassis. I commissioned a skilled builder to modify it and bring it to top performance, there's nothing really left from the original amp apart from the metalwork and filter chokes. Some of the changes:
- Japanese output transformers;
- custom mains transformers and three additional heater transformers
- Jupiter coupling capacitors
- custom input stage where tubes can be mixed, a tung sol round plate and ECC32 can be done to combine the sound of both
- Duelund signal wiring
- goldpoint 47 stepped pot and input selector
- ability to adjust the operating point of the output tubes from cool to maximum dissipation for most power
- use of 300B or 2A3 or 45 or 46 or 801A or PX4 or PX25 or AD1 or VT52 etc....
- dual mono PSU design
- hybrid tube solid state rectifier bridge
- extra large heater transformers for 300BXLS, 520B, BL32 etc.
- speaker outputs
and many more.
I wanted to hear what a master DIY builder amp can sound like, compare it against my daily one the DNA Stellaris and my own personal build.
Even so the upgraded WA5 is far, far better than the stock even with the upgraded caps and really shows how much goes into the chassis, dealer markup and quite less for the actual components, I cringe at generic electrolytic caps on a 3K+ amp and not audio ones at least.
Never heard the Manley, had the LG good but not great, Pendant is so/so at best, WA33 has potential, liked it a bit. IMO of course.
I'm a simple man. I see Mundorf I upvote.
Jokings aside, I don't see any reason Woo would use Mundorf in their regular amps, if general caps do the job fine then more savings to them. The best commercially attainable cap has always been Nichicon's audio line. Anything past that is strictly botique/luxury.
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Articnoise
Headphoneus Supremus
I would not take Woo’s clams as fact. It’s simply not possible to have the same output power at 8 and 120 Ohms on the same amp/output. Note also at which level THD the 8 Watt at 8 Ohm was measured. I have no third-party measurements on the WA5-LE but you can read this on the review of Woo Audio WA5.
“Claimed to deliver 10Wpc into 8 ohms (10dBW) at 3% distortion, the WA5 didn't meet that specification with the Psvane 300B. Fig.6 reveals that, into 8 ohms, the amplifier reached 1% THD (our usual definition of clipping) at just 618mW, and at 3% THD+noise delivered just 3W (4.8dBW). Even at 10% THD+N, the power is only 8.5Wpc (9.3dBW). Note also the rapid rise in THD as the power increases above a couple of hundred milliwatts—this amplifier's output stage has what could be kindly referred to as a "bent" transfer function. The WA5 actually offers better linearity into 4 ohms (fig.7), with 4.8Wpc available at 3% THD+N and 8Wpc at 10% THD+N, these powers respectively equivalent to 3.8 and 6dBW.”
https://www.stereophile.com/content...ted-amplifierheadphone-amplifier-measurements
I just quote what was written on their manual, if there's Woo Audio representative in this thread care to clarify that would be nice.
I can't tell you what the actual output is, or distortion measurements. I can tell you my WA5le second edition drives my Abyss 1266TC, Audeze LCD4, Hifiman HE6se, and HEDDphone with ease. No Audible distortion. No clipping. Just wonderful music to my ears. I like to listen at fairly high volumes, and even the HE6 never goes past 12 o'clock on the volume dial. How it sounds is what matters. No matter what piece of equipment your talking about, someone can find a measurement that makes it look bad, or good for that matter. I trust my ears.
How do you like the verite closed ?best headphones to use it with a cap.
