[ken6217]

I have a WA33 that I use to drive my TCs. The sound is absolutely phenomenal. The weight, sound stage, transparency, and I guess gooey-sound (not in a bad way at all or too pronounced), makes everything sound so pleasing to the ear. I upgraded my tubes as well, and they improve the sound quality even more. I just have the standard edition. Those with the Elite Edition claim the sound is even better. I've never heard them, but I'm curious. I don't know how they could make the sound even better, but apparently they have.

Thanks.
I had wondered because I had read it was very clean sounding and not tubey sounding. Of course associated components and cables all contribute to the overall sound. Also one reviewers observations.

I’m used to a full and rich sound coming from the LCD4, and now Empyrean. I am using a Violectric V281. I still have the amp and the Empyrean. I wanted to add a other headphone, and hence the 1266. I have heard so much about them over the years.

I had heard that the 1266 and WA 33 were a good combo, and was curious of the sound signature. I have never listened to a 2A3 amp before. I had owned a Cayin HA-300 and Eddie Current Balancing Act, but those are both 300B amps.

The good/bad news is that tubes make a difference. LOL.

 

[mulder01]

I would like to know how many people have had a proper listen to WA33 vs WA33EE. Of course the buyers of the EE will sing its praises, but I have a very - let's say - honest friend who is pretty deep into the hobby who got to compare both and said that he thought the standard edition was much better than the elite. IIRC, even better than his EC Studio which he loved (the standard - not the elite). So everyone's opinion is different. And given the high number of people buying blind, and the size of the investment, I can't imagine anyone saying they think their elite might be beaten by a standard. So ciggavelli, you might just prefer the amp you've got to the elite anyway... Or at least it's definitely possible.
I know I wouldn't fork out the extra for essentially the same amp without very good reason / a very close comparison...

 

[llamaluv]

Thanks.
I had wondered because I had read it was very clean sounding and not tubey sounding. Of course associated components and cables all contribute to the overall sound. Also one reviewers observations.

I’m used to a full and rich sound coming from the LCD4, and now Empyrean. I am using a Violectric V281. I still have the amp and the Empyrean. I wanted to add a other headphone, and hence the 1266. I have heard so much about them over the years.

I had heard that the 1266 and WA 33 were a good combo, and was curious of the sound signature. I have never listened to a 2A3 amp before. I had owned a Cayin HA-300 and Eddie Current Balancing Act, but those are both 300B amps.

The good/bad news is that tubes make a difference. LOL.

I had the Phi CC with the WA33, though the two pieces only overlapped in my system for a couple months. I liked both the amp and the headphone a fair amount, but didn't "love" either (even though I had thousands of dollars of motivation to convince myself to feel differently), and so sold off both items, respectively.

Having said that, I thought the Phi paired well with the WA33 and was not in want in power, and was among my favorite pairings with the WA. The WA33 has very good "technicalities" for a tube amp, in that it's pretty fast, relatively clean-sounding, has an even-keeled tonality, and of course has a good deal of power for a headphone tube amp. Sound-staging, imaging, and depth in my opinion was to me somewhere between good to pretty good.

In the end though, I believe that 2A3 just doesn't do it for me personally, though I have not tried every 2A3 tube under the sun (though I did go through a couple decent new-production 2A3 quads).

I've since become heavily biased towards high-powered solid state amps in terms of driving planars, and have been using a Pass Labs X150.8 (speaker amp) to drive my TCs, which I've actually been enjoying a lot, and quite a lot more than my last go-round with the Phi on my previous setup.

 

[ekfc63]

I had the Phi CC with the WA33, though the two pieces only overlapped in my system for a couple months. I liked both the amp and the headphone a fair amount, but didn't "love" either (even though I had thousands of dollars of motivation to convince myself to feel differently), and so sold off both items, respectively.

Having said that, I thought the Phi paired well with the WA33 and was not in want in power, and was among my favorite pairings with the WA. The WA33 has very good "technicalities" for a tube amp, in that it's pretty fast, relatively clean-sounding, has an even-keeled tonality, and of course has a good deal of power for a headphone tube amp. Sound-staging, imaging, and depth in my opinion was to me somewhere between good to pretty good.

In the end though, I believe that 2A3 just doesn't do it for me personally, though I have not tried every 2A3 tube under the sun (though I did go through a couple decent new-production 2A3 quads).

I've since become heavily biased towards high-powered solid state amps in terms of driving planars, and have been using a Pass Labs X150.8 (speaker amp) to drive my TCs, which I've actually been enjoying a lot, and quite a lot more than my last go-round with the Phi on my previous setup.

Are you using the Hifiman HE adapter between the amp and HPs?

 

[llamaluv]

Are you using the Hifiman HE adapter between the amp and HPs?

No, just a banana plugs-to-female-XLR adapter cable.

 

[ken6217]

I had the Phi CC with the WA33, though the two pieces only overlapped in my system for a couple months. I liked both the amp and the headphone a fair amount, but didn't "love" either (even though I had thousands of dollars of motivation to convince myself to feel differently), and so sold off both items, respectively.

Having said that, I thought the Phi paired well with the WA33 and was not in want in power, and was among my favorite pairings with the WA. The WA33 has very good "technicalities" for a tube amp, in that it's pretty fast, relatively clean-sounding, has an even-keeled tonality, and of course has a good deal of power for a headphone tube amp. Sound-staging, imaging, and depth in my opinion was to me somewhere between good to pretty good.

In the end though, I believe that 2A3 just doesn't do it for me personally, though I have not tried every 2A3 tube under the sun (though I did go through a couple decent new-production 2A3 quads).

I've since become heavily biased towards high-powered solid state amps in terms of driving planars, and have been using a Pass Labs X150.8 (speaker amp) to drive my TCs, which I've actually been enjoying a lot, and quite a lot more than my last go-round with the Phi on my previous setup.

Wow, I like that idea. Tube Amps are a real rabbit hole for me. I have a feeling I will send up in the same situation you were with the WA-33 and 1266. I actually have larger Pass Labs mono blocks in my home theater.

I guess you find the Pass amps more musical than the WA33?

How did you decide on that wattage amp? I assume you can't overdrive the headphones with that wattage? What do you use for volume control?

 

[llamaluv]

Wow, I like that idea. Tube Amps are a real rabbit hole for me. I have a feeling I will send up in the same situation you were with the WA-33 and 1266. I actually have larger Pass Labs mono blocks in my home theater.

I guess you find the Pass amps more musical than the WA33?

How did you decide on that wattage amp? I assume you can't overdrive the headphones with that wattage?

I've gotten much more enjoyment and mileage out of my X150.8 than I ever did with the WA33, yea.

In terms of wattage, mine is 150 watts, which is hugely overkill for any of these headphones, but I chose it when I was at the height of my enthusiasm with the SR1a, and 150 watts is arguably right around the sweet spot for those headphones...

A power amp with this kind of wattage might be bad news for the Abyss (and one's ears of course) if accidentally driven at full power momentarily. Probably a shade less so with the Susvara. So requires a good deal of caution, especially when experimenting, before settling into a routine for every-day usage. I use a DAVE as the "preamp".

 

[ken6217]

I've gotten much more enjoyment and mileage out of my X150.8 than I ever did with the WA33, yea.

In terms of wattage, mine is 150 watts, which is hugely overkill for any of these headphones, but I chose it when I was at the height of my enthusiasm with the SR1a, and 150 watts is arguably right around the sweet spot for those headphones...

Hmmm. I liked the idea all the up to the point that it dawned on me that I have no way of controlling the volume. My DAC, Metrum Pavane has no volume control.

Do you have any thoughts on another clever option as you did? Thanks.

A power amp with this kind of wattage might be bad news for the Abyss (and one's ears of course) if accidentally driven at full power momentarily. Probably a shade less so with the Susvara. So requires a good deal of caution, especially when experimenting, before settling into a routine for every-day usage. I use a DAVE as the "preamp".

 

[llamaluv]

Hmmm. I liked the idea all the up to the point that it dawned on me that I have no way of controlling the volume. My DAC, Metrum Pavane has no volume control.

Do you have any thoughts on another clever option as you did? Thanks.

You'd need a preamp in-between the DAC and the amp for sure. You could try a passive preamp like a Schiit Sys for starters. Passive preamps can have a complicated behavior when the amp has too low of an input impedance, but the Pass Labs amps all have a fairly high input impedance, so that's good. And for the price (of the Sys), it's definitely worth trying if even just as an experiment...

 

[lambdastorm]

Heddphones are shipping next month. Given how much positive feedback they had received at the show and my own experience at RMAF and AES, I'd say they are a potential Abyss challenger. I don't have high hopes for them to dethrone Abyss, but we'll see. The hype for SR1A is high but after listening to it at one headfier's place I don't think that's the right headphone for long term listening. A couple minutes maybe. 2 hours maybe tinnitus.

 

[Joe Skubinski]

Right.

 

[CreditingKarma]

Heddphones are shipping next month. Given how much positive feedback they had received at the show and my own experience at RMAF and AES, I'd say they are a potential Abyss challenger. I don't have high hopes for them to dethrone Abyss, like SR1A did when it first came out, but we'll see.

I wouldn't say that the sr1a dethroned the 1266 TC. The sr1a doesn't have the bass response of the abyss. I would say the only area where the sr1a is better could be in soundstage. At that point I would much rather just listen to my speaker setup.

 

[lambdastorm]

I wouldn't say that the sr1a dethroned the 1266 TC. The sr1a doesn't have the bass response of the abyss. I would say the only area where the sr1a is better could be in soundstage. At that point I would much rather just listen to my speaker setup.

That's not what I meant at all actually. One critical flaw of the SR1A is listening fatigue and I don't think tubes are the answer. While on the first blush it can sound incredibly resolving, it wears you out very quickly. On top of that it can sound bright with most gears. I have no doubt SR1A can 'dethrone' any headphone in an A/B session just by pure resolving power, but for long term listening it is most definitely not an ideal solution.

 

[Sage Encore]

That's not what I meant at all actually. One critical flaw of the SR1A is listening fatigue and I don't think tubes are the answer. While on the first blush it can sound incredibly resolving, it wears you out very quickly. On top of that it can sound bright with most gears. I have no doubt SR1A can 'dethrone' any headphone in an A/B session just by pure resolving power, but for long term listening it is most definitely not an ideal solution.

I concur.

 

[Sage Encore]

Guys,
Just bought meself a SPEC RSA-V1EX to drive my Abyss Phi CC. Currently using Simaudio HAD430. Next up, upgrade to TC. Hopefully Joe reduces the upgrading cost. Be nice Joe. It's Christmas season, be our Santa. LOL.