Woo Audio WA23.....

[hifixman]

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[AcousticMatt]

So, in conlusion, WA Luna is probably the best choice right now for pairing with Susvara?

My two cents:

Woo WA23 is my favorite amp I've ever heard with the Susvara (and my other headphones for that matter!). If you own and/or know much about Susvara, it scales amazingly well with the amp (and whole signal chain, but we're just focusing on amps). More so than any other headphone I've heard.

I've not heard the EF1000 with Susvara, but there are amps that I'd say are better at some things than the WA23 is, and it sounds like the EF1000 is the same. It just depends on what you're looking for. I first heard the Susvara on the Zahl HM1 solid state amp and was blown away with that pairing. I heard the Riviera amp with it at this past CanJam and the hugeness of the sound with the Susvara was incredible.

But, as I've owned the Susvara for a little over a year now and now own different headphones, what I'm looking for is more refined than that over-the-top sound. The Woo WA23 makes the Susvara sound so lifelike in a beautifully organic way that it made me realize I've reached an end-game amp. It works well with all my other headphones, too. I wanted an amp that brought out all the headphones' best qualities, and the WA23 does that.

More on the point of your question though, Susvara sounds even bigger and has even more bass impact with other amps like the Riviera or Zahl, but the WA23 comes in with different qualities that I'd say beat those others for my taste. As @hifixman has said, it does indeed give incredibly good and deep bass in a clean way. Just not as over-the-top as a speaker or Riviera amp in my opinion.

If you get the chance, I'd really recommend listening to one! But if you can't and you buy blind, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you're looking for something with the refined qualities that I mentioned above. Take note, too, I'm listening with the Psvane 2a3 tubes, but from what I've read, the stock tubes are great, too.

 

[DJJEZ]

@hifixman

One friend whose opinions I respect a lot and who is close to heard everything once told me this.

He is a true headphone guru and an owner of Woo WA234 with 40K pairs of pre war 300B tubes. He owned the whole lineup of MSB, Playback Designs, and DCS… you name it. His Sennheiser HE-1 should just arrive.

I agree with him on many things, not this

Can you talk about the differences in sound between WA33 elite and WA23 as I know you've heard WA33 elite before

 

[hifixman]

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[hifixman]

deleted

 

[F208Frank]

JPS cables are quality builds, had a few of them in the past. Some of their power cords look out dated a small tid bit though in terms of aesthetics, but no biggie.

 

[hifixman]

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[F208Frank]

Yes I heard that wa33 elite with upgraded tubes from you I feel their newest Black PAC is way more balanced than the lite cable though. But for my current taste I don’t need cable colorization nor tube colorization.

Wait what, am I missing something, did you buy my wa33 elite? I sold it to a nice chinese dude in NY.

 

[hifixman]

 

[F208Frank]

Seriously though, I am curious, are you the gentleman who bought my WA33 Elite? I sold it off pretty damn cheap. It was in great condition as I babied it.

 

[DJJEZ]

They are opposite, elite has better highs, air, resolution, and dimensions; WA23 has way more body, slams, musicality, and dynamics to my ears. Wa23 sound nothing like any versions of Wa33, such as WA33 with stock tubes, Wa33 with upgraded tubes, or Wa33 Elite with upgraded tubes I have heard.

I personally dislike the synergy between these wa33s with susvara due to the shortage of body and authority. Plus as susvara is smooth, it will be too smooth with the smooth sounding WA33s, maybe except with some super beefy sources as Wavedream.

WA33s could be very very good with TC. As you know, SUS and TC are tuned very differently, and it is hard to find an amp could drive both equally good, except maybe Riviera, the only amp in my experience that could drive everything good somehow.

Comparing WA23 with Riviera, I feel WA23 has way better bass, slam and authority than Riviera. Comparing Riviera and WA33s, Riviera has more body, accuracy and organic sound than WA33s for my taste. Yet the elite version with upgraded tubes did bring me physical reactions due to that out of the world trebles many years ago.

In the nutshell, as I mentioned, Wa33s is better for TC while Wa23 is for susvara.

Besides, honestly I don’t think WA23 could drive everything equally good with stock tubes. I would even call it picky to headphone pairing. It does add crazy low extension and slam to the original sound in my opinion. For example, It might not be a good combination with1266TC. With stock tubes and netural not to mention bass heavy source, TC might sound too heavy and fatiguing driven by wa23 due to that emphasized weight. Diana Phi, and Diana TC are good though with Wa23. 1266 TC might not be a good match to WA23 for excessive bass and slam with stock tubes and neutral to dynamic source.

WA33 JPS elite drives susvara perfectly fine but i have to agree it lacks body for susvara. WA33's perfect synergy headphone is 1266TC.

 

[hifixman]

Seriously though, I am curious, are you the gentleman who bought my WA33 Elite? I sold it off pretty damn cheap. It was in great condition as I babied it.

We are old friends

WA33 JPS elite drives susvara perfectly fine but i have to agree it lacks body for susvara. WA33's perfect synergy headphone is 1266TC.

agree totally

 

[F208Frank]

We are old friends

agree totally

I am guessing you to be Ran, anyways why so cryptic bro, lol.

 

[helljudgement]

Bass heavy DACs as Wavedream and even Terminators

Wavedream is incredibly dynamic sounding especially the signature with plenty of slam when it calls for but I’m not sure I’ll classify it as bass heavy dac. It is capable of resolving any dynamic swings within the mix but also fully capable of being subtle and nuanced. I also find it pretty neutral but brutally revealing thus a perfect match for most of the tube amps I’ve tried it with. Ymmv tho.

 

[F208Frank]

Anyone try the wa23 with the tc1266?