[jhljhl]

The GEC u52 has nothing on 422.
Hands down.

From what I gather I think you want a larger bolder dynamic sound - that's why I think you'd say that - not that the u52 is not so.  And so I think you are really going to like the WA5 or Glenns 300b based amps.
 
The 274b does not make me want to "replace" the 422a - they are both very good. And the metal gz34.  These three are my favorites and the u52 pretty close too.

 

[3083joe]

From what I gather I think you want a larger bolder dynamic sound - that's why I think you'd say that - not that the u52 is not so.  And so I think you are really going to like the WA5 or Glenns 300b based amps.

The 274b does not make me want to "replace" the 422a - they are both very good. And the metal gz34.  These three are my favorites and the u52 pretty close too.

Might depend on the music you listen too. It definitely tames the highs on hd800s. But I feel it's dark. I Catch myself turning up the volume more and more

 

[jhljhl]

Might depend on the music you listen too. It definitely tames the highs on hd800s. But I feel it's dark. I Catch myself turning up the volume more and more

Yeah, I can see what you mean by that.  I think I read there are some who say the WA22 is "veiled" to begin with.  The 274b is a little less dark.  Has more air, more refined, a little more holographic and imaging.  But the general sound sig of the wa22 remains.  That's why I think I know what the wa5 sounds like though I have not heard it.  But I've heard everything else so I see where their product line is headed - to a bolder more dynamic sound - wider sound stage.  I'm thinking phil spector wall of sound metaphor - that's what I'm expecting.  I'm sure I'd enjoy it except the price has gone up quite a bit.

 

[Krutsch]

   
At this time, there are no portable amp with desktop level performance. Stay tuned to our upcoming WA8. We're getting close to production. 

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/736200/woo-audio-wa-8

I somehow completely missed this whole thread... wow, I am *so* in for this product. Sub'd and thanks for sharing.

 

[Jeb Listens]

The Takatsukis look wonderful. I'm wondering if I'll ever want to go down the 300B rabbit hole. Are there any published specs on the approx life expectancy of their 274 and 300Bs ?

The wooden boxes are so cool - not that that would be the prime consideration....

 

[isquirrel]

The Takatsukis look wonderful. I'm wondering if I'll ever want to go down the 300B rabbit hole. Are there any published specs on the approx life expectancy of their 274 and 300Bs ?

The wooden boxes are so cool - not that that would be the prime consideration....

If you look a few posts back you will find a post from myself on the expected life expectancy of the Takatsuki's assuming they have the same treatment as the 90's and earlier WE's. All of this is guess estimate as running head phone we are not stressing the 300B's anything like as much as you would in a typical speaker amp. IN summary its not unreasonable to think of 20,000 plus hours, the real everlasting tube is the Mullard Metal Base GZ34 I have seen those still running & testing well upwards of 100,000 hours hence the upfront cost is very reasonable on a running time basis.

 

[isquirrel]

Some nice tubes came in this week, all of them new with literally zero hours on them apart from testing, so much so that after running for a few hours and getting them hot I could see the splashes appearing on the top glass and mica's.
 
A mint set of the Metal base 1957 vintage, a set of Sylvania 52 bad Boys and a set of Syl 45 Chrome Dome metal bases
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeb Listens]

 
If you look a few posts back you will find a post from myself on the expected life expectancy of the Takatsuki's assuming they have the same treatment as the 90's and earlier WE's. All of this is guess estimate as running head phone we are not stressing the 300B's anything like as much as you would in a typical speaker amp. IN summary its not unreasonable to think of 20,000 plus hours, the real everlasting tube is the Mullard Metal Base GZ34 I have seen those still running & testing well upwards of 100,000 hours hence the upfront cost is very reasonable on a running time basis.

Hi isquirrel - thanks for your thoughts on that and sorry for missing your previous post.  It does help put the initial outlay of cash in perspective.  A couple of hours listening per day seems like it would yield many many years of use.   I guess I could boil it down to a very reasonable per-day cost... if that would help me get over the line
 
After a quick googling I did today find a post on another audio forum from someone who said they had written to Takatsuki and were told the 300B life expectancy is 5,000 hours of normal use - so given the relatively light stress of a headphone amp your guesstimates might not be unreasonable. 
 
Thanks again!  ^ Very nice looking tubes in your post above, by the way.
 
Jeb.

 

[Badas]

^

Nice tubes Simon. I really like the looks of the Mullard.

 

[Khragon]

After a quick googling I did today find a post on another audio forum from someone who said they had written to Takatsuki and were told the 300B life expectancy is 5,000 hours of normal use...

5000 hours is what my searches show as well. 5000 isn't much, assuming you have the amp turn on for 5 hours per day it's 1000 days, which is less than 3 years.

 

[Jeb Listens]

5000 hours is what my searches show as well. 5000 isn't much, assuming you have the amp turn on for 5 hours per day it's 1000 days, which is less than 3 years.

Well, when you put it that way... it doesn't sound nearly so good!   Hopefully as isquirrel says using in the application of a headphone amp could yield a longer life expectancy.   At this point I'm way out of my depth as I'm not sure what kind of difference you could expect.

 

[Khragon]

 
Well, when you put it that way... it doesn't sound nearly so good!   Hopefully as isquirrel says using in the application of a headphone amp could yield a longer life expectancy.   At this point I'm way out of my depth as I'm not sure what kind of difference you could expect.

I am not an expert so can't comment too much, but I think a tube life expectancy is dependent on the amp filament voltage, bias voltage, etc.. instead of the loads.  It doesn't make a difference if you have music playing or not or having a load connected or not, as long as the amp is on you're counting down the hours for those tubes .  All this talk about life expectancy got me curious about my Elrog 300B, wonder what's the life expectancy for them, anyone know?  I can't find anything.

 

[Stereolab42]

  I am not an expert so can't comment too much, but I think a tube life expectancy is dependent on the amp filament voltage, bias voltage, etc.. instead of the loads.  It doesn't make a difference if you have music playing or not or having a load connected or not, as long as the amp is on you're counting down the hours for those tubes .  All this talk about life expectancy got me curious about my Elrog 300B, wonder what's the life expectancy for them, anyone know?  I can't find anything.

 
Yeah. The tubes are just as hot whether I have music playing or not...

 

[Badas]

I have a question relating to this topic.

Does a member know what we should be looking for or listening for when a tube or tubes are reaching their end life???

I don't know.

Do they just end up sounding worse? Lose power? Or just stop or blow up? Is there some signs?

I guess we just roll tubes to find out which tube or set of tubes are worn out as well.

 

[ru4music]

  I am not an expert so can't comment too much, but I think a tube life expectancy is dependent on the amp filament voltage, bias voltage, etc.. instead of the loads.  It doesn't make a difference if you have music playing or not or having a load connected or not, as long as the amp is on you're counting down the hours for those tubes .  All this talk about life expectancy got me curious about my Elrog 300B, wonder what's the life expectancy for them, anyone know?  I can't find anything.

The life expectancy of a given tube can vary by the design and components of the amplifier.  For example, does the amp have soft/ delayed start capabilities?  One of the worst scenarios for a tube is to apply high voltage to the plate/ grids without the tube being fully warmed up.  Another example, are the filaments voltages slightly out of (+/-) tolerances?  Even a small variation can shorten the life of the tube which is designed to operate under certain temperature and current flows.  Does the tube contain a secondary (zirconium) getter?  A small amount of extraneous gas in a tube can lead to increased grid-to-plate currents resulting in a much shorter life span.  Etc...