[AgainstTheGrain]

knowing the hd 700 is 150 ohms, itll sound pretty bad unamped. im guessing sterile and harsh with an odd veiling of detail, thats usually how it goes. very bland sound.

anyways sounds like the WA3 will be a winner. it'll last forever too and you can play around with tubes later.

So do you think the wa3 will outlast a bottlehead crack? Is the extra price justified in your opinion?

 

[GrindingThud]

Both are great amp designs and both built like tanks....both will last several lifetimes. The Woo is a more refined package...the Crack more customizable.

 

[Rem0o]

Is tube design mandatory in your case? Since most OTL's got 30 +++ ohm output (and over 50 for Woo), they will alter the sound of your headphones, probably near their resonance peak (100hz), which most of the time is a bad thing. If you want to stick with tubes, take a look at the Lyr by Schiit or just go solid states. Violectric makes very good ones if it's in your budget.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

thats why OTL is only meant for high impedance headphones..
 
and WA3 is better built than crack, it should last basically forever. though the crack is pretty nice too.

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

Is tube design mandatory in your case? Since most OTL's got 30 +++ ohm output (and over 50 for Woo), they will alter the sound of your headphones, probably near their resonance peak (100hz), which most of the time is a bad thing. If you want to stick with tubes, take a look at the Lyr by Schiit or just go solid states. Violectric makes very good ones if it's in your budget.

Well the HD 700 is 150 ohms which does classify as high impedance. From the reviews I have read the lyr, wa3 and crack all pair with the HD 700 extremely well and help tame some of the headphones known treble peaks. Its just tough trying to decide.
I think the crack has the best price to performance ratio and is the best sounding for this headphone. Its basically the price of the lyr fully upgraded and outperforms the wa3 in sound quality. BUT.... You have to build it yourself and it takes awhile to get one ordered.
From what I've read the wa3 and crack are much better than the lyr so its no really in contention. The crack basically only sounds good with Senns so if I decide to change my headphones in the future I'm not sure how it pairs to other headphones plus I can't use it for lower impedance headphones at all.. Really a tough call. The WA3 is probably the best all around amp but its also the most expensive.. Ahhh decisions decisions.

 

[Rem0o]

Quote:

Well the HD 700 is 150 ohms which does classify as high impedance. From the reviews I have read the lyr, wa3 and crack all pair with the HD 700 extremely well and help tame some of the headphones known treble peaks.

As I said, both the Crack and the WA3 like high impedence, and by that I don't mean 150 ohms (which I don't consider "high"), but 300 ohms and over.  Woo amps are over 50 ohms output, which with the HD700, makes a damping factor of 3 which is poor. Again, all theory, but it seems you take reviews here with more than just a grain of salt. Best advice I can give you right now, if you can actually test some of these amps somewhere, do it and judge for yourself. A man's treble peak is another man's detail.
Quote:

From what I've read the wa3 and crack are much better than the lyr so its no really in contention. 

 
I don't know where you got this info, but you gotta watch out how you read all the reviews and opinions on this forum. Because some people might say the wa3 is better than this and that, but others won't. See here http://www.head-fi.org/t/402585/review-summary-a-ranking-of-32-tube-and-tube-hybrid-headphone-amps.

Take care.

 

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

As I said, both the Crack and the WA3 like high impedence, and by that I don't mean 150 ohms (which I don't consider "high"), but 300 ohms and over.  Woo amps are over 50 ohms output, which with the HD700, makes a damping factor of 3 which is poor. Again, all theory, but it seems you take reviews here with more than just a grain of salt. Best advice I can give you right now, if you can actually test some of these amps somewhere, do it and judge for yourself. A man's treble peak is another man's detail.

I don't know where you got this info, but you gotta watch out how you read all the reviews and opinions on this forum. Because some people might say the wa3 is better than this and that, but others won't. See here http://www.head-fi.org/t/402585/review-summary-a-ranking-of-32-tube-and-tube-hybrid-headphone-amps.


Take care.


 

Thank you so much for this post and link. It shed some new light on my entire conundrum. The link was extremely useful. In the end I may end up with the Schiit bifrost/lyr stack and call it a day. Sadly there is not a way to try these amps out so I do depend heavily on the feedback of the forum. That's why we're all here to begin with.

 

[Rem0o]

I can see in your profile that you own a Asgard at the moment. How is it with the hd700?

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

I can see in your profile that you own a Asgard at the moment. How is it with the hd700?

I don't own the Asgard any longer and I haven't gotten the HD 700 yet.

 

[foreign]

Sorry to thread hijack but am curious between the wa3 & wa6 versus little dot mkiv aswell to pair with hd650. I can't audition the tube amps as per the OP im trying to gather as much info before I purchase one of these bad boys .

 

[foreign]

Just purchased the little dot mk3 decided to bite the bullet and just try it out. Will post impressions once I receive it and get a chance to burn it in.

 

[foreign]

The little dot mk3 and hd650 is a good combo for the price but the wa3 just seems to slightly win overall between the two. Bass has slightly more impact and there seems to be more detail in instruments playing. The music is just more engaging not that I'm knocking the little dot they both do well. Price versus performance the little dot is a few hundred cheaper.

 

[pdrm360]

+1  for the Lyr

 

[foreign]

Don't get me wrong i like schiit products but the lyr versus wa3 or wa6. Think the lyr struggles to compete unless your talking about the price.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Don't get me wrong i like schiit products but the lyr versus wa3 or wa6. Think the lyr struggles to compete unless your talking about the price.

 
what about WA2?