[arftech]

I'm officially a member of the "Woo Crew" now!

Woohoo!!!!

(Or is that "WooWoo!")

Congratulations…what you get?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Congratulations…what you get?

WA6-SE Gen 2.

I'll be setting it up and getting it set up shortly.

 

[jonathan c]

WA6-SE Gen 2.

I'll be ironing it up and getting it set up shortly.

Ironing it?…Is it wrinkled?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Ironing it?…Is it wrinkled?

Serves me right for not proofreading...I meant "setting".

 

[BananaCarnage]

New tubes for it or running stock for now?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Stock rectified (Sofia backorders, USAF 596 coming from eBay (adapter coming from Woo, because, um, Woo?).

Power tubes upgraded to 13EM7's from Woo (Westinghouse). I'll start reading the tube rolling threads for others to play with.

First impressions: Very well packed, no complaints. Arrived 2 days ahead of estimated delivery date from FedEx. I am a bit disappointed they were delayed so long for the silver unit, but basic black is fine.

Very well crafted, these units feel very substantial. The umbilical cord is much shorter than I imagined, but that makes cable management easier.

Listening through my Focal Clear MG's (55Ω) with cheap silver/copper Lutz cable (high impedance jack). Using my Douk P1 as a DAC from my PC USB (because my SMSL VMV D1SE is somewhere in China, apparently). EQ is off.

Boston - "More Than A Feeling" is clean, precise, and very "70's Rock" thick. Nice. Cymbals are a touch suppressed. "Hitch a Ride" is strong, close, but slightly hollow. Turning the EQ on and off illustrates what I don't like about these headphones (they're very clinical).

Usher - "Yeah!" has plenty of bass, but again, it's a bit thick and not quite defined. Highs don't "sparkle". This is a very "tubey" amp/tube combo, that's for sure.

John Williams and the London Philharmonic Orchestra - "Star Wars - Main Theme" sounds big and wide as it should, a better recording would serve this better, I think. The harp and triangle are a bit buried. "The Throne Room" is impactful. The brass really sings here. "The Imperial March" sounds better - the orchestra is placed correctly.

General take - very, very warm and thick, this is a lot more of what I was looking for. I'll try the Sennheiser HD8XX's tomorrow night for comparison. In the meantime, any suggestions?

Also, there's a very slight buzz, which I attribute to my cheap power cord, cheap DAC, and lack of burn-in. I assume that'll go away?

 

[David222]

Ironing it?…Is it wrinkled?

Better check the manual....I'm pretty sure it's dry-clean only

 

[jonathan c]

Do you have any power conditioning etc in your system? I am also a happy owner of a WA6SE (Gen 2) in black. Absolutely no issues with buzz, hum, or other extraneous noise.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Do you have any power conditioning etc in your system? I am also a happy owner of a WA6SE (Gen 2) in black. Absolutely no issues with buzz, hum, or other extraneous noise.

No power conditioning yet. I'll be getting something soon - just need to do some research. I was a Panamax guy years ago, but haven't really paid too much attention in recent years. I have a nice APC tucked away in storage somewhere, but that's more surge protection than conditioning. I do have a shielded A/C cable coming from Amazon.

 

[BananaCarnage]

FWIW I get a small buzz with volume off on single ended cable info wa-22 with senn 800s’s. With Diana tc xlr cable no buzz. Buzz does seem to go away after tubes warm. I do have power conditioner and audio quest power cable and interconnects.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

FWIW I get a small buzz with volume off on single ended cable info wa-22 with senn 800s’s. With Diana tc xlr cable no buzz. Buzz does seem to go away after tubes warm. I do have power conditioner and audio quest power cable and interconnects.

I've got the AudioQuest "Golden Gate" interconnects. Monosaudio A/C cable from Amazon is incoming. I think I'll go dig my APC out of storage before I start investing in power conditioners.

 

[ucmgr]

you go boy!!

 

[ucmgr]

Congrats!!

 

[Stereolab42]

New WA5 was built much faster than I thought. Covid destroyed me this week so I haven't gotten around to pulling my big tube collection back down from the attic yet, so I'm just running on the stocks for now. It sounds identical to my old 1st-gen in all regards, which is exactly what I wanted and expected, since it's substantially the same design. The convenience of the additional gain controls and the ability to use the XLR for all headphones is the big jump over the 1st-gen for me.

 

[arftech]

New WA5 was built much faster than I thought. Covid destroyed me this week so I haven't gotten around to pulling my big tube collection back down from the attic yet, so I'm just running on the stocks for now. It sounds identical to my old 1st-gen in all regards, which is exactly what I wanted and expected, since it's substantially the same design. The convenience of the additional gain controls and the ability to use the XLR for all headphones is the big jump over the 1st-gen for me.

Nice! Did you beat the price increas?