[cacatalysis]

rgs9200m, Many thanks for sharing your impression.  HD800 is indeed a fantastic phone.  Did you get a chance to compare 007 with 009 on WES?

 

[Sid-Fi]

Jaw drop on the last picture...wow!
 
Quote:

OK, so if anyone here doesn't enjoy looking at audio gear photos, it's probably time to skip to the next post.
 
My freshly unpacked WA6SE, pictured here with the HD800 and Cardas cord.
 

 
Rear end, showing the loop out option I had installed. Note that it's always on, so signal will forward to my processor no matter if the Woo is on or off.
 

 
 
Ze Woo and itz cables: Better Cables Silver Serpents and Pangea power cord.
 

 
 
Installed in the rack.
 

 
 
Zoom out a bit to show the "first line of attack", partnered with my Sony XA5400ES as transport and the new EE DAC Plus with an upgraded Psvane tube installed.
 

 
 
Zoom out a little more to show the big guns from the front wall. Swans F2.2+ mains, C2.3+ center, 2 x Emotiva XPA monoblocks, 1 Emotiva XPA 5CH, Marantz AV7005 processor, Oppo BDP93 (still lots more not pictured here).
 

 
Everything is pretty fresh out of the box, even the DAC and headphones have less than 100 hours of play. So now I have to "sacrifice" some of my free time to give them the hours needed to really shine.

 

 

[Ahzari]

Quote:

 
 
Zoom out a little more to show the big guns from the front wall. Swans F2.2+ mains, C2.3+ center, 2 x Emotiva XPA monoblocks, 1 Emotiva XPA 5CH, Marantz AV7005 processor, Oppo BDP93 (still lots more not pictured here).
 

 
Everything is pretty fresh out of the box, even the DAC and headphones have less than 100 hours of play. So now I have to "sacrifice" some of my free time to give them the hours needed to really shine.

wow.. awesome! congrats 

 

 

[Draygonn]

 

[Austin Morrow]

My PS1000 came in the mail. Sounding pretty fine off the WA6.

 

[Golfnutz]

 
Quote:

It's kind of an unfair comparison, as my source and power conditioning  and cabling are pretty nice (EMM xds1, shunyata triton, stealth/shunyata cables),
but I'm still hooked on my Pinnacle/HD800 combo overall, with remarkable detail, a lack of etch/grain but not smoothed over or rounded off.
 
The short listen to the SR009 was very musical, but a little less direct and a bit more blended together with a bit more peakiness in the vocals than my
HD800 system, which sound very balanced to me from top to bottom. (But this balanced sound and lack of treble/upper mid peakiness is something I strived for with cabling like my wonderful balanced Moon Black Dragon cable.) 
 
The bass with the WES/009 system was deeper and fuller and controlled and had good detail, but the bass from my HD800 system, while not as deep, 
is somehow extremely transparent and, to me, perfect, just there and full of nuance and little bits of information in the bass that I don't hear anywhere else.
The Pinnacle is pretty fantastic in this regard.
 
The LCD3 is not as resolved as either the 009 or the HD800, but has a great musical flow that makes me not care or listen critically but just enjoy things,
and again there are no peaks or valleys that stand out (using an Enigma Apex cable).
 
I think my ranking would be: 1. HD800, 2. SR009, 3. LCD3.  I did hear what people mention as a bit of glare in the 009's upper mids just on a vocal,
but it was just a little, and I hear that some cap upgrades in the WES can help with this, and of course, the quality of the recording or the digital source makes
a big difference here. But aside from this, the 009 did "wow" me, with a perfect balance of smoothness and detail and speed, with amazing deep controlled bass and sweet, sweet upper highs and lots of liquidity. Liquidity is the main attribute I would use to describe the 009 sound.
And percussion was to die for, with natural slam that seemed like real drums, better than my other systems.
 
It's funny how things have evolved since my old Omega1/007t Stax system back in 1999, where things sounded very upfront and natural, but kind of flat and weak, but still enjoyable for it's directness, especially with vocals. The Stax 009 is much more open and deep and not weak at all, with no flatness anymore. I still have to listen to see if that old Stax super-palpable (almost unnaturally tangible) texture I used to hear with the old Omegas (and the Lambdas I had before that) is still there.
 
Well this had just been a brain dump for what it's worth. Keep in mind I only listened for a few minutes to the 009 system with music I was not familiar with, so take this all with grain of salt.
 
 

Very surprised by your ranking. I love my HD800, but the SR-009 sounds so much better to me (definitely 'wow' for me). Is this based on price/performance, or you just like the sound of the HD800?
 

 

[roadster-s]

Thanks for the comments fellow headfiers.
 
Well, looks like I already have an issue with the loop output. Of course, my other preamp is connected downstream from the source, DAC and Woo and when both the Woo and my Marantz are turned on, sound out of the headphones is fine. But if I turn off my downstream processor (since I don't need it for headphones), major distortion apprears in the headphones...!?
 
Wrote Jack to find out why this happens. After all, when I just need my headgear, I don't need the rest to be powered on, that was the purpose of the loop to begin with.
 
 

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

 


Very surprised by your ranking. I love my HD800, but the SR-009 sounds so much better to me (definitely 'wow' for me). Is this based on price/performance, or you just like the sound of the HD800?
 

Remember, they are driven by and Apex Pinnacle. Innerspace's Pinnacle review, where he mainly tests with the HD800s, basically describes what I am hearing, where he prefers this combo to another amp with R10s.
And my CDP is really nice (at least to me), I think better than the source at the show (or even in Innerspace's review). So that needs to be taken into account. It's not an all things being equal situation.
 

 

[john57]

If it was me I would used a piggy-back RCA adpaters from Radio Shack for a loop. My Stax headphone ampifier uses two sets of RCA jacks parallel connected to each other. Sounds like that your downstream processor when turn off is loading down the input connection to your Woo amp.

 

[Maxvla]

Getting kind of irritated with Woo Audio. I've sent them two emails now asking for the output impedance of my WA6, but both times I've been ignored. Here is the one I sent this weekend and it's reply. At least he sent a reply this time, too bad it was answering only part of my questions.

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 5:35 AM
To:
Subject: WA6 noise and hum

Name: Chris

Email address:

Subject: WA6 noise and hum

Message: Greetings,

I'm experiencing erratic static in the right channel and hum in the left
channel. The amp is almost a year old and has the original tubes. Would
these noises be fixed by replacing the 6DE7 tubes?

Also please tell me the output impedance of this amplifier with 274b and
6DE7 in use. Headphones in use are 26 ohm. Setting is on low impedance.

Please don't ignore me like you did last time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris,

The issues are likely caused by tubes. I suggest that you order a set of
tubes for replacement. You may order the tubes on the WA6's page.

Thanks,
Jack

--------------------------
www.WooAudio.com
Twitter.com/WooAudio

 

[Peshmerga]

Quote:

Getting kind of irritated with Woo Audio. I've sent them two emails now asking for the output impedance of my WA6, but both times I've been ignored. Here is the one I sent this weekend and it's reply. At least he sent a reply this time, too bad it was answering only part of my questions.

I own a WA6 as well,  I have a bunch of rectifiers and driver/power tubes as backups or in case I need to diagnose a problem. Owned since the beginning of March.  For what it is worth, Ken Rockwell, on his site, in the audio review section, has measured the output impedance of the WA6SE.
 
Low output: ~15 ohms
High output: ~47 ohms
 
There is some slight variation due to the source's impedance.

 

[Maxvla]

Is that accurate for the non-SE?

And why is it so difficult to get an answer from Woo when it should be something they put on the spec sheet anyways? Really frustrates me that he's ignored my question twice.

 

[cacatalysis]

I was about to sending you a PM for your impression of your 009?  Which amp are you using now to drive the 009?  Sounds the 009 destroyed the HD800.
Quote:

 


Very surprised by your ranking. I love my HD800, but the SR-009 sounds so much better to me (definitely 'wow' for me). Is this based on price/performance, or you just like the sound of the HD800?
 

 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

Is that accurate for the non-SE?
And why is it so difficult to get an answer from Woo when it should be something they put on the spec sheet anyways? Really frustrates me that he's ignored my question twice.

Greetings, Maxvla. I just got in and don't have the time to search right now. But last autumn, Jack answered one of the current members here about the very same thing. Or he didn't and followed up and was given an answer - one of these is true, can't seem to remember. 

 
But a search will turn up the answer from late 2011. For some reason, member Rawrbington comes to mind. If you're reading this evening, Rawrbington, jump in! I'm also willing to bet member Xcalibur255 knows as well. After dinner I'll help you check. 
 

 

[musicman59]

Quote:

Quote:

OK, so if anyone here doesn't enjoy looking at audio gear photos, it's probably time to skip to the next post.
 
My freshly unpacked WA6SE, pictured here with the HD800 and Cardas cord.
 

 
Rear end, showing the loop out option I had installed. Note that it's always on, so signal will forward to my processor no matter if the Woo is on or off.
 

 
 
Ze Woo and itz cables: Better Cables Silver Serpents and Pangea power cord.
 

 
 
Installed in the rack.
 

 
 
Zoom out a bit to show the "first line of attack", partnered with my Sony XA5400ES as transport and the new EE DAC Plus with an upgraded Psvane tube installed.
 

 
 
Zoom out a little more to show the big guns from the front wall. Swans F2.2+ mains, C2.3+ center, 2 x Emotiva XPA monoblocks, 1 Emotiva XPA 5CH, Marantz AV7005 processor, Oppo BDP93 (still lots more not pictured here).
 

 
Everything is pretty fresh out of the box, even the DAC and headphones have less than 100 hours of play. So now I have to "sacrifice" some of my free time to give them the hours needed to really shine.

 C'est fantastique!
 

I just replaced my old Meridian 561 processor with the Marantz AV7005. I am pretty impressed with its performance and at that price is very hard to beat.