[AcousticMatt]

Oh so so so many. I'm dm you with some of my favorites!

Sounds good! I suppose that's a bit off topic, ha! Thanks man.

There you are! I'm so happy you told me to try the WA23. Both myself, and eruilluvitar had religious experiences listening to that. I literally had goosebumps after listening to it with both the Stealth and Expanse. I too truly preferred it to the WA33 and the Riviera. For me it is still a toss up between this and the Zahl HM1. I suspect the Zahl wins slightly in technicalities, but from an emotional standpoint this is really where my heart is at. Glad you walked home with it too. If I am hearing you right, the Lina amp did play a part, but you suspect most of that heavy listening was with the amp correct? Mind sharing what DAC you use at home?

Yeah man! I was really happy to see you guys just as smitten with it as I was. I love talking with people at CanJam but have not had an experience like that yet in such a cool, communal way like we did with that amp. I agree - the Zahl is incredible, but emotionally this is hard to ignore. I literally meditated after lunch on Sunday and my soul was telling me - WA23, haha! So I went for it.

And correct, I think the Lina was part of the sound because it kind of has to be, but that was more me trying to explain that I was trying to be smart about it before I bought it by just looking at what else could have contributed to what I loved about it so much. I didn't want to get the amp, take it home, and then realize it didn't quite sound as spectacular as I remember. But now that I have it at home, that's not the case - it's just as engaging as it was there. I think getting a Lina would step it up even more, but that's out of my price range. I'm currently using a Chord Qutest and I think it's a great fit. The clean yet musical (some say otherwise with Chord, but I disagree) sound of Chord is working really, really well with the WA23. My other DAC is an iFi Pro iDSD Signature. Not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's got 3 modes (SS, Tube and Tube+). Tried both DACs, cycling through all 3 modes on the iFi and prefer the Chord so far with the WA23. Still will play around with the other DAC in the future, but enjoying settling on the Chord for now.

 

[AcousticMatt]

Finally I'm not alone appreciating wa23, but it is not good feeling to be the first one hyping a product facing questions and loneliness with no one else resonating with me, which always occured to me. Guess I could comfort myself as a pioneer then.

For wa22, it is a must to roll tubes, but not necessary at the level of Wa23. I would strongly advise folks to try the stock tubes if you want the be blown away by the bass, slam and dynamics. I definitely have requested stock tubes for my order as I am very familiar with both stock and pasvon sounds. I have also prepared Sophia 300B, of which I'm very fond, to upgrade the rectifier. Even though so far no one has tried that combo including woo himself, I'm sure stock tubes with Sophia 300B could reach very close to wa234.

Yeah, I think it's cool that others are now loving this amp too. That's kind of how I felt at CanJam. No one seemed to have this on their radar, but @HONEYBOY and @eruilluvitar and I all had, as @HONEYBOY said, a religious experience with it.

Let us know if you find some tubes that you think are great for it! Happy with what I have now, but will need to change out at some point, I'm sure..

 

[eruilluvitar]

I think the Lina was part of the sound because it kind of has to be

I dunno, I was kinda disappointed with the Lina stack. It just didn't deliver what I think a stack of that price should do on any of the headphones I tried with it. TBH, I actually like my Expanse and my Stealth on just the RME ADI-2 Pro's balanced out mode better than I did on the Lina stack.

No one seemed to have this on their radar

I did, actually, but there was a line for it, so I left, got utterly distracted, because ADHD, and so I forgot about it. I'm kicking myself now that you beat me to the take-home-able unit

 

[AcousticMatt]

I dunno, I was kinda disappointed with the Lina stack. It just didn't deliver what I think a stack of that price should do on any of the headphones I tried with it. TBH, I actually like my Expanse and my Stealth on just the RME ADI-2 Pro's balanced out mode better than I did on the Lina stack.


I did, actually, but there was a line for it, so I left, got utterly distracted, because ADHD, and so I forgot about it. I'm kicking myself now that you beat me to the take-home-able unit

Interesting about Lina. I actually really enjoyed the Lina stack. It sounded refined to me and the sense of space and reverb was amazing. I suspect a lot of that was the DAC and Word Clock. The WA23 was only connected to the DAC, but I think that sense of space I can only assume was in part because of that. But listening now with the Chord Qutest, it's pretty good damn good at that, too.

Ha! Sorry man. I was worried someone else might've grabbed it too, but figured I'd meditate on it and if it was meant to be mine, it was meant to be. And it was, apparently. Excited for you once you get yours though.

 

[eruilluvitar]

Ha! Sorry man. I was worried someone else might've grabbed it too, but figured I'd meditate on it and if it was meant to be mine, it was meant to be. And it was, apparently. Excited for you once you get yours though.

Hey, I'm just glad someone who loves and appreciates it as much as @HONEYBOY and I did got it! It's probably best I didn't take it home, though - as excited as I am for it, I need the delay to make some space for it .

 

[hifixman]

Interesting - I actually didn't find the Riviera to be that special - at least not with the Expanse. It felt flat to me, especially compared to the WA23, but even compared to the HM1. The WA23 and HM1 both had better dynamics and better soundstage, with the WA23 being much better soundstage-wise. However, I have heard from several other folks that it is great with the Susvaras, but I don't have those and thus didn't try them on it. For me, and for the headphones I tried on it, it just didn't work as well as either the WA23 or HM1.

Very interesting! My question would be doesn't Expanse sounds flat to you via say wa23? The thing is as a owner, I can ganrantee that Riviera definitely has better stage especially the height and depth than Woo23. Woo23 is good at micro not macro details.

Your comments inspired me largely in that I feel even my beloved Mytek Empire sounds like a two dimensional plane close to my face lacking layers and spatial information via Expanse. I admit I'm not a fan of Expanse at all ( my wishful thinking was it could be a normal plannar with TC' bass, but it is far from it personally speaking.) so I was wondering if the lack of space is caused by the headphone per SE or by the amp, or perhaps most likely by both. Frankly I was so disappointed at Empire via Expanse especially after listening to the spatial king DCS, in that the combo sounds spatially lacking, and incorrect with artificial Hifi colorization.

 

[hifixman]

I went to CanJam SoCal this past weekend and ended up buying this, which was the unit that Woo used for the show.

I had a budget of around $8000 and was looking for an amp to drive all my headphones (Susvara, ZMF Atrium & VC, and Audeze LCD3).

I had a list of amps to try, most of which were ones that I had heard before or were recommended particularly for Susvara. I tried a lot (Zahl HM1, Riviera AIC-10, Enleum AMP 23R, Feliks Envy among them), but then, I made my way to the Woo room. I had heard a little bit about this amp, but figured it wouldn't be as good of a fit as the WA33 for Susvara. I listened to this first of all amps in the room and was totally struck by the imaging, controlled yet powerful bass and overall clean lushness that I was hearing through my Susvaras. This and the WA33 were sharing a DAC (dCS Lina) and iPad, so the person next to me chose a few songs to listen to. I was blown away and engaged in the music in a way that I had not been with any other pairing at the show with each song that came on, including the ones that weren't even my choices. I then tried my Atriums (@eruilluvitar - those were probably my Atriums you tried!), which I had just bought at the show. Yes, all the same qualities were there, just with the ZMF tone. The low and high impedance option was really helpful in making it work for both headphones, as well as the option for high or low gain. I then tried the WA33. While really good, it was immediately obvious to me that I preferred WA23's sound over it.

I came back later with my LCD3s (probably my favorite for their particular combination of ambience and slam) and loved the amp just as much on them. The sound continued the love affair. My wife was at the show with me and listened and was captured by the sound as much as I was, even though she's not an audiophile per se. The look and design of this amp is gorgeous, which we both agreed on. It's also a lot smaller than the WA33.

I tried some other amps and DACs afterward just to see if there was anything that might sway me another way, but man, I kept coming back to this. It checks all the boxes. I talked with some people near the Headphones.com (love those guys) booth about the Zahl, but I told them that the WA23 was where it was at for me. Musicality was on another level vs. any solid state (or really any other tube amp) I had tried.

In buying something like this, I tried to do some homework on how much of what I was hearing had to do with the chain. I wasn't familiar with dCS stuff, but I'm sure the Lina DAC was an important piece. Also, the cables they used looked really high quality. As @hifixman mentioned, they also weren't using all stock tubes.

I talked to Jack though, and he sold me the show unit with the upgraded tubes (Psvane WR2A3 power tubes). I'm listening currently right now through my Atriums and Chord Qutest DAC. Sounds sublime. I'd really recommend listening for yourself if you get the chance!

I have a feeling that I might meet you and your wife. Ring a bell that someone told you you are lucky to have a wife sharing the same hobby with you?

 

[eruilluvitar]

Very interesting! My question would be doesn't Expanse sounds flat to you via say wa23? The thing is as a owner of both, I can ganrantee that Riviera definitely has better stage especially the height and depth than Woo23. Woo23 is good at micro not macro details.

Your comments inspired me largely in that I feel even my beloved Mytek Empire sounds like a two dimensional plane close to my face lacking layers and spatial information via Expanse. I admit I'm not a fan of Expanse at all ( my wishful thinking was it could be a normal plannar with TC' bass, but it is far from it personally speaking.) so I was wondering if the lack of space is caused by the headphone per SE or by the amp, or perhaps most likely by both. Frankly I was so disappointed at Empire via Expanse especially after listening to the spatial king DCS, in that the combo sounds spatially lacking, and incorrect with artificial Hifi colorization.

I first want to preface this: I only heard the Riviera for a few minutes during CanJam this weekend, and the same goes for the dCS Lina stack, so these are all just my impressions during that short time in very non-ideal listening environments.

I found the soundstage to be quite good on the Lina stack, but the lack of punch was really what disappointed me and what I meant when I said "flat". The Riviera had a bit more punch to it, but not as much as the WA23, as far as I could tell. I tend to listen at really low volumes, so I look for good punch and a strong sub-bass, since both of those aspects tend to disappear at lower volumes. It is also for this reason that I'm not as concerned with soundstage as I am with these other properties - expansive soundstage at low volumes feels weird to me, but if I really want it, I have the HD800S for that.

 

[HONEYBOY]

@hifixman have you tried the WA23 with the Mola Mola Tambaqui?

 

[hifixman]

@hifixman have you tried the WA23 with the Mola Mola Tambaqui?

Nope but I appreciate what Mola mola does, and I believe it will be good match for a netural sound if you don't need the full dynamic bass from Woo23

Personally speaking, for my speaker system, I prefer Mola mola's tuning in that I don't want too much bass hanging in my room. But for headphone setup, I'm a bass head also cause my cans are all bass shy. That's why I bought Wa23 in that I need the high current from the tubes to generate hard hitting bass. Otherwise I would go solidstate to avoid the tube issues.

 

[AcousticMatt]

I have a feeling that I might meet you and your wife. Ring a bell that someone told you you are lucky to have a wife sharing the same hobby with you?

Maybe. I did talk to a few people about my wife being there. She's not so much into the hobby though, just pretty supportive with mine!

 

[Ciggavelli]

I had the AIC 10 on loan for like 2 months while my WA33 EE JPS was being made. It was alright and reminded me of the standard edition WA33 I had before. However, the Riviera had a flaw I did not like. It got muddy at times, especially with fast passages on songs (I listen to extremely fast music at times). Other forum members noticed the same thing. @mammal said the muddiness goes away with a different tube though. I was just using stock, so you may be able to fix AIC 10 flaws with different tubes.

I haven’t heard the WA23, but I love my WA33 Elite JPS. I like Woo Audio a lot and I’m sure the WA23 is great. I hope to hear it some day.

 

[eruilluvitar]

I had the AIC 10 on loan for like 2 months while my WA33 EE JPS was being made. It was alright and reminded me of the standard edition WA33 I had before. However, the Riviera had a flaw I did not like. It got muddy at times, especially with fast passages on songs (I listen to extremely fast music at times). Other forum members noticed the same thing. @mammal said the muddiness goes away with a different tube though. I was just using stock, so you may be able to fix AIC 10 flaws with different tubes.

I couldn't tell for sure if it was just being on the show floor or not, but I also thought it sounded a bit muddy. While I'm glad it  can be fixed, for the Riviera's $18k asking price, I wouldn't expect it to  need to be fixed.

 

[WooAudio]

Thank you all for coming out to CJ and got to listen to some nice music.

@AcousticMatt congrats again on owning the WA23 Luna. Thank you for sharing your home listening impression. The Luna looks gorgeous in the backdrop of the forest. I couldn't be happier to see the amp find a new home that fills with music and joy! You truly put the amp to the test by throwing in a wide range of headphones.

Jack

 

[eruilluvitar]

Thank you all for coming out to CJ and got to listen to some nice music.

@AcousticMatt congrats again on owning the WA23 Luna. Thank you for sharing your home listening impression. The Luna looks gorgeous in the backdrop of the forest. I couldn't be happier to see the amp find a new home that fills with music and joy! You truly put the amp to the test by throwing in a wide range of headphones.

Jack

Thanks so much for creating such an incredible amp!