[Aethelred]

I think it was the cost optimization, although the company might claim the option was not very popular. Also the inner construction had changed as at the beginning it was point to point wiring, and i understand now it is the pcb. In all honesty, i think the amp itself is great with HD800 - tubes GEC A1834, Valvo red E188CC and RFT EZ80 - the preamp section is not that great. It is soft sounding, but has nice soundstage, needs careful pairing - with my Berning ZH270 there was some electrical mismatch as i could see speaker membranes were moving without the signal. With First Watt SIT-3 is good - keeps similar character as the amp itself , loosing somehow the "magic " sound character. Vocals are nice but lose definition and sound is loosing the weight. It sounds soft, dynamics are not there - percussion does not have impact, delicate but the body of the sound is not there - this is opposite to what i hear as an amp. It might need different power amp.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I think it was the cost optimization, although the company might claim the option was not very popular. Also the inner construction had changed as at the beginning it was point to point wiring, and i understand now it is the pcb. In all honesty, i think the amp itself is great with HD800 - tubes GEC A1834, Valvo red E188CC and RFT EZ80 - the preamp section is not that great. It is soft sounding, but has nice soundstage, needs careful pairing - with my Berning ZH270 there was some electrical mismatch as i could see speaker membranes were moving without the signal. With First Watt SIT-3 is good - keeps similar character as the amp itself , loosing somehow the "magic " sound character. Vocals are nice but lose definition and sound is loosing the weight. It sounds soft, dynamics are not there - percussion does not have impact, delicate but the body of the sound is not there - this is opposite to what i hear as an amp. It might need different power amp.

This is the first I read that they stopped point to point. Thanks for this info.

 

[Onik]

That's the only difference as far as I know. I don't know why they removed it, you could ask Woo.

I asked woo Audio this was their response:

Hi Onik,

Hope you had a great weekend.

Most customers are using WA2 as a headphone amplifier so we improve the performance of the headphone output.

If you want to use WA2 as a preamp, you can simply use the 1/4" headphone output. It works the same way. Here's a link to an example cable you'll need for the task.

http://amzn.to/2sqENGz

Thank you for choosing Woo Audio. Don’t hesitate to reach out again if you have additional questions. We’re here to help.

~ Mike Liang

 

[vlach]

Also the inner construction had changed as at the beginning it was point to point wiring, and i understand now it is the pcb.

Where did you hear this? According to the website it is point-to-point wiring.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Where did you hear this? According to the website it is point-to-point wiring.

Maybe they didn't update it. For a long time after they disabled the preamp function (they put non-removable plugs in the output jacks) they still listed it as a feature.

 

[Onik]

I was going for WA 2 but when I saw the preamp option removed now Im not really sure if should pay over £1000+import fees for this amp.

 

[blackdragon87]

is this good with atticus and eikon. consideting buying one

 

[blackdragon87]

,

 

[blackdragon87]

current amps are liquid platinum and valhalla 2

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I would expect it to be an upgrade from both. But I haven't heard it...yet..

 

[blackdragon87]

lol that was what i was thinking. the wa 2 looks quite big though, not sure if i have enough room on desk

 

[Onik]

A few recent photos of my new WA2.

I’m yet to pair it with anything low impedance, but it’s doing a nice job on my Utopia with Hugo 2 as dac. HD800S on the way!

this looks sexy, still waiting for mine, what power and driver tubes are you using?

 

[elisiX]

this looks sexy, still waiting for mine, what power and driver tubes are you using?

All stock. I haven’t yet explored other options.

 

[Onik]

All stock. I haven’t yet explored other options.

What are they? Are the stock tubes warm enough for brighter cans like hd800s/t1?

 

[elisiX]

What are they? Are the stock tubes warm enough for brighter cans like hd800s/t1?

I’ll have to double check what they are, but I use the WA2 exclusively with my HD800S and I think it’s a really nice pairing. Tube rolling would likely net a greater result but I haven’t explored this.