[Onik]

Ah I wish I received my WA 2 by now, but damn Fedex lost my parcel now they are wasting time with woo audio for investigation.

 

[Aethelred]

Paring with the HD800 SNR mod still works for me best.Some more demanding headphones (HEDD, other planars) might suffer from lack of power , so some of the too mellow headphones.
OTL works great with brighter headphones. After many experiments with the tubes I have settled down on the :
- power - GEC A1834 brown "cup cake" base
- pre - Valvo E188CC Red Label D-getter
-rectifier - RFT EZ80
If you need more power and more snap - TungSol 5998 is very very nice, 7062 was more dynamic for me but less detailed, and A1834 is ultimate IMHO, if you are after OTLish sound - very natural sounding, maybe not the last word in the dynamic aspect but the mid range to die for.

 

[thecrow]

Paring with the HD800 SNR mod still works for me best.Some more demanding headphones (HEDD, other planars) might suffer from lack of power , so some of the too mellow headphones.
OTL works great with brighter headphones. After many experiments with the tubes I have settled down on the :
- power - GEC A1834 brown "cup cake" base
- pre - Valvo E188CC Red Label D-getter
-rectifier - RFT EZ80
If you need more power and more snap - TungSol 5998 is very very nice, 7062 was more dynamic for me but less detailed, and A1834 is ultimate IMHO, if you are after OTLish sound - very natural sounding, maybe not the last word in the dynamic aspect but the mid range to die for.

Pretty much agree.

the gec a1834/6as7g are the ultimates for me too. Just plug in and forget. (Almost) Never bother changing.
if looking for them be patient to n case you find a bargain as they are crazy expensive. A year or two ago they were about 650 usd a pair (nos). Now i see them advertised on ebay for significantly more.

for me the we421a or tungsol/chatham 5998 are the next best. But definitely behind the gec 6as7g.
and then there is a gap to the next level again

i have never bought an nos matched pair but found a few bargains in used tubes of these and they have been good enough for me. One of 5 that i have bought over a few years have died.

the Valvo E188CC Red Label D-getter that you mention i find to be great value. Honest sound, good detail. The pinched waist from holland are my favourites ( i bought them a couple of years ago for about $650 usd) but the ones you mentioned are great bang for buck and very good without factoring in that they have been well priced in the past.
i also enjoy my telefunken e188cc too, depending on the sound that i want.

having done the tube rolling thing my advice for newcomers is quality over quantity (of options).
and when you read consistent opinions here on headfi, they are generally pretty correct.

ps i also have the RFT EZ80 but have never bought others to compare them too.

when i bought the wa2 for my hd800 i really enjoyed the amp but liked it even more with upgraded tubes.
when i went on holidays for a few weeks i came back and went straight back to stock tubes and was surprised how good the amp was (as i hadn't heard them for a while). so it’s even good as is. But then as i put the upgraded tubes back in the increase in quality of sound was apparent.

there’s a lot of rambling in there but i hope that helps newcomers here

final note: it is a fantastic amp with the (my) hd800
extra final note: buy I had to get another amp (solid state) when i bought other headphones that do not have high impedances so that they could shine

 

[Aethelred]

ps i also have the RFT EZ80 but have never bought others to compare them too.

I've compared them to Philips, Telefunken and Mullards. For me very surprisingly RFT works best. Maybe with other pre /power tubes other brands would be better. In my opinion the most important are Power and Pre tubes, The rectifier has some sound signature but it is not as dramatic as power or pre tubes.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Ah I wish I received my WA 2 by now, but damn Fedex lost my parcel now they are wasting time with woo audio for investigation.

We find it "interesting" that you asked for a FULL refund instead of a replacement which we offered to send.

We gave you a FULL refund.

 

[Onik]

We find it "interesting" that you asked for a FULL refund instead of a replacement which we offered to send.

We gave you a FULL refund.

MANY THANKS for FULL REFUND(too long time!) , there's no Guarantee I'm gonna receive the replacement, instead I bought cheaper amp from my country to make life easier.

 

[skhan007]

Editing my post to simply my question, in the hopes that some of you will be kind enough to provide some guidance:

I'm deciding between the Woo WA7 Fireflies with tube power supply (heard it in-peson at a hi-fi gathering pre-pandemic and loved it with my Senn HD800), and the WA2 or WA6. The latter two appeal to me because of tube rolling options, which might be fun and yield useable combinations.

The WA2 and WA6 are also DAC-less and I would either need to use my current DAC (an old Apogee Duet, which I think is decent, but I don't know what I'm missing with more modern DAC's) or purchase a new DAC to use. I'm listening to FLAC/ALAC on my MacBook Pro.

Curious if you all would say the WA7 Fireflies is a good place to start for my first Woo product or WA2 or WA6 with an external DAC (either use the one I have or buy a newer/better one). Any guidance is most appreciated.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Editing my post to simply my question, in the hopes that some of you will be kind enough to provide some guidance:

I'm deciding between the Woo WA7 Fireflies with tube power supply (heard it in-peson at a hi-fi gathering pre-pandemic and loved it with my Senn HD800), and the WA2 or WA6. The latter two appeal to me because of tube rolling options, which might be fun and yield useable combinations.

The WA2 and WA6 are also DAC-less and I would either need to use my current DAC (an old Apogee Duet, which I think is decent, but I don't know what I'm missing with more modern DAC's) or purchase a new DAC to use. I'm listening to FLAC/ALAC on my MacBook Pro.

Curious if you all would say the WA7 Fireflies is a good place to start for my first Woo product or WA2 or WA6 with an external DAC (either use the one I have or buy a newer/better one). Any guidance is most appreciated.

WA7+WA7tp pairs exceptionally well with HD800 and since you are using a MacBook Pro, the convenience of one USB cable from Mac to WA7 is an easy and elegant setup.

 

[zeroduke]

WA7+WA7tp pairs exceptionally well with HD800 and since you are using a MacBook Pro, the convenience of one USB cable from Mac to WA7 is an easy and elegant setup.

Yes, I agree with you. For convenience WA7 is the one. But I find the WA2 allowing tube rolling a much better option because it allows a fine tuning with the different headphones. I've got many headphones and use them all, rolling from time to time. I've also got both, the WA7 and WA2. Both excellent amps, indeed. But listening with my HD800, the very analytical headphone from Sennheiser, I've found you can extract the best with the appropriate valves and that is allowed only on the WA2. Every person hear differently... changing valves allows to customize to your own taste. And particularly HD800 needs to be tamed.

 

[Kiats]

Had this beauty stashed away for a few years until I picked up a DI box with RCA output so I can connect more amps to my DAC. Now enjoying my Focal Utopia out of the WA2.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Had this beauty stashed away for a few years until I picked up a DI box with RCA output so I can connect more amps to my DAC. Now enjoying my Focal Utopia out of the WA2.

very nice! I also like pairing WA2 with Sennheiser HD800S.

 

[exchez]

I saw a great deal on a Woo Audio WA2 in the classifieds and took it as a sign that the WA2 was the direction I should go in for my desktop upgrade. Glad I did, because I can finally say I “get it” when people talk about their love for tube amps. I’m new to Head-Fi and this is my first post. I started getting into headphone amps during the pandemic like many others. My first tube amp was a Schiit Valhalla 2, so that’s my only frame of reference for these impressions. I don’t think seasoned WA2 owners will get anything new out of this post, but hopefully it’ll help people who are newer to tube amps and looking to get into something more serious after dipping their toes into the water with the Schiit Valhalla, Vali or Lyr. My headphones are Beyerdynamic T1.2’s.

For a good frame of reference I did most of my listening with the stock tubes* and I was surprised by how great they sounded. For how little they cost relative to their premium counterparts, I can assure you there’s plenty of value and enjoyment in the stock setup. Even if you never upgraded your tubes, you’d still have a fantastic sounding amp. Compared to the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is clearer, more laid back and more natural sounding. Music amplified by the WA2 loses the harsh forwardness of the Valhalla 2. Instead of charging straight into your ears, the music is nicely arranged into a natural sounding image and presented to the listener in a relaxed manner. This presentation makes the sound slower and softer; less urgent. It encourages the music to be listened to rather than just heard—especially for classical music which can contain harsh piano strikes and violin bowing.

The relaxed presentation of the WA2 doesn’t mean there’s a tradeoff for clarity or detail (at least compared to the Valhalla 2). In fact, versus the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is much clearer—from the bass in the chorus of Beck’s Where It’s At to the inharmonicity of the pizzicato in Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2**. I did not know this level of naturalness and clarity could be achieved with an amp until I began listening to music on the WA2. That may speak more to my naïveté than to the exceptionalism of the amplifier, but I’m perfectly happy to be listening in blissful ignorance for now.

Imaging was also improved. Tracks mixed with vocals or instruments panned entirely to one channel or the other sound much nicer and more natural on the WA2. I no longer feel tempted to reach for the crossfeed effect while listening to Jacques Loussier’s Play Bach or the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Both of those albums sounded lousy on the Valhalla 2 with their awkward imaging. They were meant to be enjoyed on speakers, not headphones, but the WA2 actually pulls this off very well and makes for an enjoyable listening experience despite it.

A mark against the WA2 could be made for being overly relaxed on some rock songs. The oomph and immediacy of Mary Timony’s guitar on Ex Hex’s Speak to Me is noticeably diminished compared to the Valhalla 2. Previous posters to this thread noted that this can be mitigated by using the 7236 or Tung Sol 5998 power tubes. Personally, I don’t mind it if it means less fatigue on my ears. Another factor which may be important to some is that the WA2 can get a little noisy with no music streaming. At 12-o’clock on the volume dial I begin to hear a faint hum which gets louder as I crank the amp to max. The Valhalla 2 is dead silent all the way up to max. After a little research, some experimentation and help from the community, I determined the hum is caused by the tubes. This is actually normal at very high volumes and finding the right combo of tubes can diminish the hum if it really bothers you. Even at the high end of my preferred listening volume I can’t detect any hum, so I’m not going to go crazy trying to eliminate it.

With respect to the tube rolling possibilities of the WA2, I have a bevy of power tubes arriving soon. I look forward to experimenting with some different combos, but could not stomach the cost of the 5998’s (currently $899/pair from Woo Audio). If I find something worth mentioning, I’d love to write it up for this thread. My writing is a little out of practice, but it feels nice to contribute to a thread that I’ve found so helpful in learning more about this fantastic amp.

* PhilipsECG JAN 6080WC, PhilipsECG JAN 6922, Electro-Harmonix 6CA4
** Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 66: Dvorák: Piano Quartet; Schuman: Piano Quintet

 

[Astral Abyss]

I saw a great deal on a Woo Audio WA2 in the classifieds and took it as a sign that the WA2 was the direction I should go in for my desktop upgrade. Glad I did, because I can finally say I “get it” when people talk about their love for tube amps. I’m new to Head-Fi and this is my first post. I started getting into headphone amps during the pandemic like many others. My first tube amp was a Schiit Valhalla 2, so that’s my only frame of reference for these impressions. I don’t think seasoned WA2 owners will get anything new out of this post, but hopefully it’ll help people who are newer to tube amps and looking to get into something more serious after dipping their toes into the water with the Schiit Valhalla, Vali or Lyr. My headphones are Beyerdynamic T1.2’s.

For a good frame of reference I did most of my listening with the stock tubes* and I was surprised by how great they sounded. For how little they cost relative to their premium counterparts, I can assure you there’s plenty of value and enjoyment in the stock setup. Even if you never upgraded your tubes, you’d still have a fantastic sounding amp. Compared to the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is clearer, more laid back and more natural sounding. Music amplified by the WA2 loses the harsh forwardness of the Valhalla 2. Instead of charging straight into your ears, the music is nicely arranged into a natural sounding image and presented to the listener in a relaxed manner. This presentation makes the sound slower and softer; less urgent. It encourages the music to be listened to rather than just heard—especially for classical music which can contain harsh piano strikes and violin bowing.

The relaxed presentation of the WA2 doesn’t mean there’s a tradeoff for clarity or detail (at least compared to the Valhalla 2). In fact, versus the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is much clearer—from the bass in the chorus of Beck’s Where It’s At to the inharmonicity of the pizzicato in Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2**. I did not know this level of naturalness and clarity could be achieved with an amp until I began listening to music on the WA2. That may speak more to my naïveté than to the exceptionalism of the amplifier, but I’m perfectly happy to be listening in blissful ignorance for now.

Imaging was also improved. Tracks mixed with vocals or instruments panned entirely to one channel or the other sound much nicer and more natural on the WA2. I no longer feel tempted to reach for the crossfeed effect while listening to Jacques Loussier’s Play Bach or the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Both of those albums sounded lousy on the Valhalla 2 with their awkward imaging. They were meant to be enjoyed on speakers, not headphones, but the WA2 actually pulls this off very well and makes for an enjoyable listening experience despite it.

A mark against the WA2 could be made for being overly relaxed on some rock songs. The oomph and immediacy of Mary Timony’s guitar on Ex Hex’s Speak to Me is noticeably diminished compared to the Valhalla 2. Previous posters to this thread noted that this can be mitigated by using the 7236 or Tung Sol 5998 power tubes. Personally, I don’t mind it if it means less fatigue on my ears. Another factor which may be important to some is that the WA2 can get a little noisy with no music streaming. At 12-o’clock on the volume dial I begin to hear a faint hum which gets louder as I crank the amp to max. The Valhalla 2 is dead silent all the way up to max. After a little research, some experimentation and help from the community, I determined the hum is caused by the tubes. This is actually normal at very high volumes and finding the right combo of tubes can diminish the hum if it really bothers you. Even at the high end of my preferred listening volume I can’t detect any hum, so I’m not going to go crazy trying to eliminate it.

With respect to the tube rolling possibilities of the WA2, I have a bevy of power tubes arriving soon. I look forward to experimenting with some different combos, but could not stomach the cost of the 5998’s (currently $899/pair from Woo Audio). If I find something worth mentioning, I’d love to write it up for this thread. My writing is a little out of practice, but it feels nice to contribute to a thread that I’ve found so helpful in learning more about this fantastic amp.

* PhilipsECG JAN 6080WC, PhilipsECG JAN 6922, Electro-Harmonix 6CA4
** Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 66: Dvorák: Piano Quartet; Schuman: Piano Quintet

@exchez Excellent impressions and great first post! It's nice to hear the thoughts of someone newer to tube amps, as I think it gives you an honest approach to the sound and less likely to gloss over some of the drawbacks or compromises. There's something special about the sound from an OTL amp, especially one with tube rectification. I think you mentioned it with the naturalness to the sound.

$900 for a pair of 5998s is a bit steep. I think you can probably find some here, if you're patient, for much less.

 

[zeroduke]

I saw a great deal on a Woo Audio WA2 in the classifieds and took it as a sign that the WA2 was the direction I should go in for my desktop upgrade. Glad I did, because I can finally say I “get it” when people talk about their love for tube amps. I’m new to Head-Fi and this is my first post. I started getting into headphone amps during the pandemic like many others. My first tube amp was a Schiit Valhalla 2, so that’s my only frame of reference for these impressions. I don’t think seasoned WA2 owners will get anything new out of this post, but hopefully it’ll help people who are newer to tube amps and looking to get into something more serious after dipping their toes into the water with the Schiit Valhalla, Vali or Lyr. My headphones are Beyerdynamic T1.2’s.

For a good frame of reference I did most of my listening with the stock tubes* and I was surprised by how great they sounded. For how little they cost relative to their premium counterparts, I can assure you there’s plenty of value and enjoyment in the stock setup. Even if you never upgraded your tubes, you’d still have a fantastic sounding amp. Compared to the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is clearer, more laid back and more natural sounding. Music amplified by the WA2 loses the harsh forwardness of the Valhalla 2. Instead of charging straight into your ears, the music is nicely arranged into a natural sounding image and presented to the listener in a relaxed manner. This presentation makes the sound slower and softer; less urgent. It encourages the music to be listened to rather than just heard—especially for classical music which can contain harsh piano strikes and violin bowing.

The relaxed presentation of the WA2 doesn’t mean there’s a tradeoff for clarity or detail (at least compared to the Valhalla 2). In fact, versus the Valhalla 2, the WA2 is much clearer—from the bass in the chorus of Beck’s Where It’s At to the inharmonicity of the pizzicato in Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2**. I did not know this level of naturalness and clarity could be achieved with an amp until I began listening to music on the WA2. That may speak more to my naïveté than to the exceptionalism of the amplifier, but I’m perfectly happy to be listening in blissful ignorance for now.

Imaging was also improved. Tracks mixed with vocals or instruments panned entirely to one channel or the other sound much nicer and more natural on the WA2. I no longer feel tempted to reach for the crossfeed effect while listening to Jacques Loussier’s Play Bach or the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Both of those albums sounded lousy on the Valhalla 2 with their awkward imaging. They were meant to be enjoyed on speakers, not headphones, but the WA2 actually pulls this off very well and makes for an enjoyable listening experience despite it.

A mark against the WA2 could be made for being overly relaxed on some rock songs. The oomph and immediacy of Mary Timony’s guitar on Ex Hex’s Speak to Me is noticeably diminished compared to the Valhalla 2. Previous posters to this thread noted that this can be mitigated by using the 7236 or Tung Sol 5998 power tubes. Personally, I don’t mind it if it means less fatigue on my ears. Another factor which may be important to some is that the WA2 can get a little noisy with no music streaming. At 12-o’clock on the volume dial I begin to hear a faint hum which gets louder as I crank the amp to max. The Valhalla 2 is dead silent all the way up to max. After a little research, some experimentation and help from the community, I determined the hum is caused by the tubes. This is actually normal at very high volumes and finding the right combo of tubes can diminish the hum if it really bothers you. Even at the high end of my preferred listening volume I can’t detect any hum, so I’m not going to go crazy trying to eliminate it.

With respect to the tube rolling possibilities of the WA2, I have a bevy of power tubes arriving soon. I look forward to experimenting with some different combos, but could not stomach the cost of the 5998’s (currently $899/pair from Woo Audio). If I find something worth mentioning, I’d love to write it up for this thread. My writing is a little out of practice, but it feels nice to contribute to a thread that I’ve found so helpful in learning more about this fantastic amp.

* PhilipsECG JAN 6080WC, PhilipsECG JAN 6922, Electro-Harmonix 6CA4
** Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 66: Dvorák: Piano Quartet; Schuman: Piano Quintet

Yes, I agree with you. WooAudio WA2 matches perfectly well with the 600-ohms Beyer T1. I love that pair. I am using this match with Bendix 6080 right now but it worked perfectly well with the cheaper French valves, the Thomson CSF 6080WA. Very nice sound too. Changing rectifier valves helps to tune the sound on the WA2 so I found that depending on the power valve I needed to change the rectifier to get my best preference. When I say changing rectifier valves I mean EZ80 to EZ81 or reverse.

 

[exchez]

Yes, I agree with you. WooAudio WA2 matches perfectly well with the 600-ohms Beyer T1. I love that pair. I am using this match with Bendix 6080 right now but it worked perfectly well with the cheaper French valves, the Thomson CSF 6080WA. Very nice sound too. Changing rectifier valves helps to tune the sound on the WA2 so I found that depending on the power valve I needed to change the rectifier to get my best preference. When I say changing rectifier valves I mean EZ80 to EZ81 or reverse.

Very interesting. Were you able to find any patterns with how you paired the rectifiers with the power tubes? I have a suspicion that the higher power tubes pair better with the EZ80 which sort of tames them from being too forward.