[nephilim32]

Hello new friends.

I’ll see your hello and raise you a woo.

 

[fabiocrest]

I’ll see your hello and raise you a woo.

 

[Ricey20]

Has anyone tried the newer Sophia Aqua II 274b rectifier? Seems like an improved version over the original Aqua and woo is selling it as an upgrade now.

 

[nephilim32]

Has anyone tried the newer Sophia Aqua II 274b rectifier? Seems like an improved version over the original Aqua and woo is selling it as an upgrade now.

I would love to. It is on my wishlist of tubes to try before I die.

 

[skhan007]

Hi Gang,

I'm hoping to unite in the WA22 club at some point and purchase this awesome amp. I heard it at a Head-Fi meet up and really liked it. I think it will be a big, massive, step up from my Bottlehead Speedball and a very different flavor than my absolutely stellar Linear Tube Audio MZ3. Plus, I have this stash of mostly NOS tubes that are literally sitting for years in boxes doing nothing:

I've got two pair of ZMF and an HD800S in transit right now. I was able to hear the WA22 with my own set of ZMF Auteur and thought it was a great match. I see them pop up occasionally here in the classifieds for relatively reasonable pricing, so I'll keep my eyes open.

Something about the WA22 Gen 2 that appeals to me: I've never had a balanced set up and I can run the balanced out of my RME ADI2 DAC into the WA22 and get some balanced HP cables. I'm trying to read-up and see if there is a true scientific/measurable/audible advantage to balanced vs. regular SE. Some articles say there absolutely is not, so curious to learn more.

 

[nephilim32]

Hi Gang,

I'm hoping to unite in the WA22 club at some point and purchase this awesome amp. I heard it at a Head-Fi meet up and really liked it. I think it will be a big, massive, step up from my Bottlehead Speedball and a very different flavor than my absolutely stellar Linear Tube Audio MZ3. Plus, I have this stash of mostly NOS tubes that are literally sitting for years in boxes doing nothing:

I've got two pair of ZMF and an HD800S in transit right now. I was able to hear the WA22 with my own set of ZMF Auteur and thought it was a great match. I see them pop up occasionally here in the classifieds for relatively reasonable pricing, so I'll keep my eyes open.

Something about the WA22 Gen 2 that appeals to me: I've never had a balanced set up and I can run the balanced out of my RME ADI2 DAC into the WA22 and get some balanced HP cables. I'm trying to read-up and see if there is a true scientific/measurable/audible advantage to balanced vs. regular SE. Some articles say there absolutely is not, so curious to learn more.

I’m truly excited for you if you end up getting the WA22 because those tubes you have are absolutely excellent and by that alone you deserve that amp. Sorry if I sound like an enabler, but I do think you should buy it. Be a nice fit with what you have. 2nd Gen Model makes for a decent preamp as well!

 

[CAJames]

...Something about the WA22 Gen 2 that appeals to me: I've never had a balanced set up and I can run the balanced out of my RME ADI2 DAC into the WA22 and get some balanced HP cables. I'm trying to read-up and see if there is a true scientific/measurable/audible advantage to balanced vs. regular SE. Some articles say there absolutely is not, so curious to learn more.

I'm not familiar with your DAC, but a lot of DACs these days do "fully balanced" digital to analog conversion. So if you have a balanced amp, when you difference the + and - phases you cancel out digital artifacts from the conversion, in addition to the common mode noise which may or may not matter. All I know for sure is it matters to me.

 

[skhan007]

I’m truly excited for you if you end up getting the WA22 because those tubes you have are absolutely excellent and by that alone you deserve that amp. Sorry if I sound like an enabler, but I do think you should buy it. Be a nice fit with what you have. 2nd Gen Model makes for a decent preamp as well!

Oh I'm absolutely enabled! Hearing it in-person was the selling point. I'm definitely someone that rarely will buy (especially big ticket items) without test-driving first. I've been thinking about it for a while, but about a year ago, I got my LTA MZ3 tube amp and put the WA22 idea on the back burner. Now, I'm thinking it would be great to have both and especially since I can put these vintage tubes to work.

I'm not familiar with your DAC, but a lot of DACs these days do "fully balanced" digital to analog conversion. So if you have a balanced amp, when you difference the + and - phases you cancel out digital artifacts from the conversion, in addition to the common mode noise which may or may not matter. All I know for sure is it matters to me.

It's a superb DAC: https://www.rme-audio.de/adi-2-dac.html

Looking forward to putting it all together at some point. Now, I just need to be patient (the hard part) and track down a WA22.

 

[Contrails]

I'm trying to read-up and see if there is a true scientific/measurable/audible advantage to balanced vs. regular SE. Some articles say there absolutely is not, so curious to learn more.

Most DACs have better performance out of their XLR vs the RCA outputs as shown on the ASR measurements threads. Why that is, I don’t have the knowledge of. But I run my DAC XLR out for that small performance gain.

In regards to tube amps, I would worry more about the quality of the transformers used rather than if it’s SE or Balanced design.

 

[VanHai]

There is no difference in sound quality between balanced input and RCA input unless RCA cables are longer than 10 to 15 feet. I have both my MZ3 (SE) and WA22 (XLR balanced) connect to the same balanced DAC, and notice that WA 22 has more power because it's a balanced amp.

 

[bpcans]

@VanHai, when I changed from AudioQuest Earth RCA’s to AQ Earth XLR’s running from my Chord Hugo TT2 DAC to my WA22 there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality. Both sets of cables were one meter in length.

 

[VanHai]

@VanHai, when I changed from AudioQuest Earth RCA’s to AQ Earth XLR’s running from my Chord Hugo TT2 DAC to my WA22

Hi @bpcans WA 22 has both RCA and balanced XLR inputs. Of course the XLR balanced input will sound much better than the RCA.

 

[nephilim32]

Oh I'm absolutely enabled! Hearing it in-person was the selling point. I'm definitely someone that rarely will buy (especially big ticket items) without test-driving first. I've been thinking about it for a while, but about a year ago, I got my LTA MZ3 tube amp and put the WA22 idea on the back burner. Now, I'm thinking it would be great to have both and especially since I can put these vintage tubes to work.

It's a superb DAC: https://www.rme-audio.de/adi-2-dac.html

Looking forward to putting it all together at some point. Now, I just need to be patient (the hard part) and track down a WA22.

I’m looking forward to hearing about how you end up liking the WA 22 as a pre amp into your LTA.
I think that would probably sound magnificent.

 

[skhan007]

There is no difference in sound quality between balanced input and RCA input

Of course the XLR balanced input will sound much better than the RCA.

Wait…now I’m confused

 

[VanHai]

I’m looking forward to hearing about how you end up liking the WA 22 as a pre amp into your LTA.
I think that would probably sound magnificent.

You can not use WA22 as a pre amp to MZ3 or the other way. Pre amp on WA22 is balanced and pre amp on MZ3 is SE, unless you use adapters but adapters will degrade the sound.