[WarriorAnt]

This upgrade looks like an obvious improvement over the stock components.  It's been an eye opener for sure.  

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

Mike, I think that you've voided the WA22's warranty.

Yes, he did.


Quote:

Of course we'll never know but I'd love to hear what Woo would say about the upgraded mod.   

Jack will be fine as long as the spec of upgrade are all checked out.  He will service it if necessary but you will have to pay for it.  It happened to my WA22 during shipping from HK and I have to ship it to Jack to fix it for me.  The upgrade parts are shook loose during shipping and I did not notice and fried something.  Jack took good care of it for a very reasonable charge.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Jack will be fine as long as the spec of upgrade are all checked out.  He will service it if necessary but you will have to pay for it.  It happened to my WA22 during shipping from HK and I have to ship it to Jack to fix it for me.  The upgrade parts are shook loose during shipping and I did not notice and fried something.  Jack took good care of it for a very reasonable charge.

 
I didn't mean wether or not he would approve of the mod, just his philosophical view on it.    I've had designers mod their own equipment for me in the past, and it's always interesting to hear their updated views on new components and why they were or were not considered prior.    

 

[jc9394]

Jack said he did not offer the upgrade on WA22 because he can't source the parts.  BGs are very hard to come by these days and the price/SQ is not justifiable.  

 

[WarriorAnt]

 
Quote:

Jack said he did not offer the upgrade on WA22 because he can't source the parts.  BGs are very hard to come by these days and the price/SQ is not justifiable.  

The justifiable price point is an interesting point of contention for sure. 

 

[Clayton SF]

Well if Mike likes it. Then perhaps I would consider it as well.

Hey Mike, I know you're using the DAC-2 with your WA22 (pre-mods) with good results but I've recently come across this:

http://www.antelopeaudio.com/en/products_zodiac.html

are you aware of this one? Has anyone else auditioned the Zodiac DAC with their Woo?

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

Well if Mike likes it. Then perhaps I would consider it as well.

Hey Mike, I know you're using the DAC-2 with your WA22 (pre-mods) with good results but I've recently come across this:

http://www.antelopeaudio.com/en/products_zodiac.html

are you aware of this one? Has anyone else auditioned the Zodiac DAC with their Woo?

 
I'm on this for a while but my wallet said "stay away or you will be sorry".  I'm interest in too if any Woo owners using it.
 
 

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

 


The justifiable price point is an interesting point of contention for sure. 

I can justify them last year but not this year, the price of BGs are almost double than last year.  
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-GATE-NH-series-electrolytic-capacitor-220u-160V-/220670164225
 
That is crazy price increase.
 

 

[Clayton SF]

I can justify them last year but not this year, the price of BGs are almost double than last year.  
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-GATE-NH-series-electrolytic-capacitor-220u-160V-/220670164225
 
That is crazy price increase.
 

Is there any way to make sure you're not getting counterfeits. I'm not sure if they counterfeit caps though but if they can do it to headphones, tubes, etc. well... they can with caps I guess.

 

[takezo]

Quote:

 


Yes I removed the bypass caps from the board and used Sprague Atom caps for bypass the two big blue caps those are for the 6AS7s
500uf 100 volt
and the two black caps at the bottom center of the board 250uf 25 volt
 Removing the two bypass caps from the board gave room for the 2 yellow poly caps that I added to bypass the last electrolytic
 capacitors in the power supply that supply power to the 6AS7s.
also changed the 4 6SN7 plate resistors removed the cheep 33000 ohm 5% 1/2 watt resistors with Caddock non inductive
33000 ohm 1% 7 watt resistors
 

hello glenn, why the need for the 10uf bypass cap? was the noise factor that bad? what are your thoughts of the sprague atoms compared to elna silmic2's? (nonpolar nx bg's would've been nice for that position...)
 

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

Is there any way to make sure you're not getting counterfeits. I'm not sure if they counterfeit caps though but if they can do it to headphones, tubes, etc. well... they can with caps I guess.

I personally can't that is why I don't do mod myself and let the professional does their magic.

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

 
I have a little more time and can post some nicer pictures.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Details of the innards (L then R)
 
 
 
 

 
Details of replacement wireing on headphone outputs.  Balanced outputs send a balanced signal and are disconnected from the single ended
1/4 inch jack by a switch.  That switch will activate when a 1/4 inch jack is plugged in which will then make all output single ended.  The net
effect of this wiring is that the amp is now fully balanced back to front and the default is a balanced output through the balanced headphone
jacks in the front.  If you have a single ended headphone, you plug it into the 1/4 inch jack and then you get a single ended output.  The
sonic effects of this part of the modification are that highs are less congested.  This was an experiment as it's effects were unknown given
the strength of Woo's design.  The sonic impact to me was minimal, and it seems to me that it would not be worth it to just get this done only, however
if you are getting other things done, then it would we worth it.
 
 
 

Mike, can you please post a pic of the switch from the outside?  I'm really interest in this mod.

 

[BrucYSN]

Quote:

I'm sure Glenn provides a warranty for his work.

Who's Glenn btw? 

 

[dannie01]

Quote:

I can justify them last year but not this year, the price of BGs are almost double than last year.  
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-GATE-NH-series-electrolytic-capacitor-220u-160V-/220670164225
 
That is crazy price increase.
 

Yeah, the price is going unbelievably high.
 
 
Quote:

Is there any way to make sure you're not getting counterfeits. I'm not sure if they counterfeit caps though but if they can do it to headphones, tubes, etc. well... they can with caps I guess.

You're right, too. I bought some fake BHC caps months ago from a China website.
 
 
Quote:

I personally can't that is why I don't do mod myself and let the professional does their magic.

There is no magic at all my friend just some rarely found component.

 

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

There is no magic at all my friend just some rarely found component.

 

Should I say soldering skill?  

  Are you done with the WA5 mod?  We need to see some glamour shots.