Hi guys !
I'm new in audio. I apologize in advance for the stupid question.
I have WA7 Fireflies (3rd gen). I'm thinking about buying WA22 (2nd gen).
Are there any differences between them? How much better is the WA22 (2nd gen) and how much will it add to the sound quality.
Take this with a massive grain of salt please, as I have limited experience with tube amps as well, but I have a couple of thoughts for you:
1) I have generally found that I really prefer the sound of tubes that are more oversized for their application (12AU7 vs 6SN7). I think the 6SN7 drivers are beastly compared to smaller tubes in the small number of implementations I have heard, and to be clear I have not heard the WA7. They might confer a bit less distortion and ”tube sound” than other tubes, but I think the 6SN7 leads to a very clear overall presentation with a subtle tube sound that is good at taking the edge off of harshness but still sounding full-bodied and clear. I appreciate the light touch of this effect, as I don’t want the music to sound totally different than intended, I just want to add a little euphonic “magic.” The best analogy I have for this difference is like the small signature of a very high end turntable - it very rarely sounds scratchy or compressed, versus tubes being intentionally pushed hard to get “tube sound” being more like recordings like Leon Bridges “Coming Home” adding artificial vinyl distortion and artifacts (static, pops, dynamic range compression) - in my opinion this adds what makes vinyl nostalgic, but misses the point of what makes vinyl sound magical. I think some small tube implementations can run that risk, but I don’t doubt that there are very good ones, and considering the praise for the WA7 and the quality I have seen from Woo Audio in the WA22, the WA7 may very well be a great implementation.
2) I think you’ll notice a significant difference due to the other tube elements in this amp as opposed to the firefly. If I’m not mistaken, the WA7 uses the tubes in the preamp stage but has a solid state power amplification. This can have advantages for power and compatibility, but with a very powerful (and output transformer–coupled) all-tube design like the WA22, you don’t wind up having to make compromises (except for the price
). I think there are qualitative differences to the sound when you have a power amplification stage that also operates on tubes, and especially in a design like this where the coloration of the power tubes will also have an impact on what you hear. It is more than just the harmonic distortion characteristics - it’s how power tubes handle dynamic swings up and down in output, I think it’s more elegant than solid state. This also applies to tube rectification which creates more of a gradual response to massive changes in output versus solid state.
Reason 1 is more of a “quantitative” difference - harmonic distortion, frequency response, etc. being different between different tubes, but generally the same idea. Reason 2 is more qualitative, and I think it’s something you have to experience for yourself to see if you like it. Being reductionist, I could sum it up by saying that you will give up a bit of precision and technicality (not much with this very well-crafted model, but some) relative to pieces with solid-state stages, but you will get an 2 additional qualitative levels (power amplification and rectification) of tube magic.
I warn you that if you do like it, it becomes pretty addictive (but I’m sure you already know that as an audiophile). I should also warn you that preamp stage tubes (small signal tubes that run at relatively low power like the 12AU7 in the WA7 or the 6SN7 in the WA22) are much more reliable than power tubes and even some rectifiers in my experience. I think that modern implementations of hybrid solid-state / tube amps can give the impression that tubes are really reliable and easy to deal with. When you add the other tube types into the mix, you wind up with more points of failure that have higher rates of failure. It is totally manageable, but it is good to be warned going into it that more complications are to be expected with all-tube designs (see my recent experience with the possibly leaky power tube above for just such an example). Luckily there are awesome communities like this one for sharing knowledge about these things, and as you get a feel for dealing with these, it’s not bad at all, just not as “plug and play” as we might be used to with more modern devices. There’s a reason they keep making these high end all-tube designs and picky listeners like me and the others you see on this thread put up with their fiddly nature - when it all comes together, it is just an experience that you cannot replicate any other way. Hope this is helpful, and I hope you enjoy whatever you end up listening to!
scenario. It is too bad cause those Svetlana power tubes are in fact quite awesome. If you like, https://valvesnmore.com/
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