[Wes S]

I guess I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around the price.

I get the fuse is pricey, and it's the reason only one of my components has one so far, but I plan to upgrade all my components with them eventually. The price to performance ratio is actually just about right with the Purple fuse in my opinion. I have paid the same amount for NOS pairs of tubes, power cables and interconnects and the fuse had just as much or more of an impact on the sound. I am not trying to sell these fuses and push them on people, but I will say it's made a substantial improvement in my system and they have a 30 day no hassle return policy for those that are bit skeptical.

 

[Contrails]

I tried a fancy power cable with the WA6-SE. Luckily I got to borrow it from a friend cos I can’t hear f*ck all difference!

Interestingly enough, I have tried different interconnects and speaker cables and I have definitely heard a difference.

 

[Barnstormer13]

@Astral Abyss

Cables and fuses are one of the more controversial areas of audiophilia and there’s a wide spectrum of opinion. I’ve been an audiophile long enough to accept that things I wouldn’t expect to make an audible difference sometimes do, so more power to those who find they improve the sound.

That said, I believe in the following ranking of importance in the audio chain (assuming the headphone and amp work well together):

1: Headphone
2: Amplifier
3: Noise filters and other ground loop fixers (if used)
4: tubes (this one is very amp dependent)
5: DAC
6: headphone cables
7: patch cords
8: power cords and fuses.

This ranking isn’t set in stone for me, but it’s worked well enough over the years when deciding where to spend my money for maximum improvement.

 

[jonathan c]

@Astral Abyss

Cables and fuses are one of the more controversial areas of audiophilia and there’s a wide spectrum of opinion. I’ve been an audiophile long enough to accept that things I wouldn’t expect to make an audible difference sometimes do, so more power to those who find they improve the sound.

That said, I believe in the following ranking of importance in the audio chain (assuming the headphone and amp work well together):

1: Headphone
2: Amplifier
3: Noise filters and other ground loop fixers (if used)
4: tubes (this one is very amp dependent)
5: DAC
6: headphone cables
7: patch cords
8: power cords and fuses.

This ranking isn’t set in stone for me, but it’s worked well enough over the years when deciding where to spend my money for maximum improvement.

Ear examinations?

 

[Barnstormer13]

Ear examinations?

Good point- we all hear differently and age makes a huge difference. At 55 yo I can’t hear above 15khz any more.

Younger people able to hear all the way to 20khz and beyond hear something different than what I do.

 

[Odin412]

I tried the new Linlai Global-Hifi 274B rectifier tube with my WA6. Nice tube with spacious midrange and smooth treble, but a tiny bit bass light for my taste.

 

[Alfred Oz]

I tried the new Linlai Global-Hifi 274B rectifier tube with my WA6. Nice tube with spacious midrange and smooth treble, but a tiny bit bass light for my taste.

I also have the elite series 274b rectifier in my WA6 SE. I went from stock to sophia princess then gz32 and have now settled on the linlai I agree with your comments, though I thought the bass sounded just right for me but I'm limited to what I can compare it to. I'm also using the stock 13de7 tubes. Maybe it's my LCD-X headphones making the bass just right.

 

[Odin412]

I also have the elite series 274b rectifier in my WA6 SE. I went from stock to sophia princess then gz32 and have now settled on the linlai I agree with your comments, though I thought the bass sounded just right for me but I'm limited to what I can compare it to. I'm also using the stock 13de7 tubes. Maybe it's my LCD-X headphones making the bass just right.

I was tempted by the Elite series 274B but it's not cheap so I started with the Hifi series. I'm glad that the Elite working out well for you - I'll probably get one a bit later. It's interesting how some tubes just 'click' with certain headphones - that's part of what makes this hobby fun!

 

[blackdragon87]

.

 

[Odin412]

One of the reasons that I enjoy my WA6 is that it's versatile. Here are the headphones that pair beautifully with the WA6 to my ears: Audeze LCD-XC, Focal Elear and Elegia, and MrSpeakers Aeon Flow Closed - a pretty diverse list!

 

[jonathan c]

One of the reasons that I enjoy my WA6 is that it's versatile. Here are the headphones that pair beautifully with the WA6 to my ears: Audeze LCD-XC, Focal Elear and Elegia, and MrSpeakers Aeon Flow Closed - a pretty diverse list!

Spot on….from efficient low-impedance planar (Audeze LCD-X, 20 ohms) to inefficient high-impedance dynamic (Beyer DT-880, 600 ohms), the WA6 delivers the musical goods!

And, even being output transformer coupled, the WA6 is quick and exciting. [My intuition: the tube rectification has a lot to do with the responsiveness of the drive tubes ]

 

[Odin412]

[My intuition: the tube rectification has a lot to do with the responsiveness of the drive tubes ]

That may well be - I've certainly noticed sonic differences using different rectifier tubes. Sometimes I think the rectifier tube makes a bigger difference than the driver tubes, and I don't really understand why that may be. However, I hear what I hear.

 

[chriscarstens]

I'd love to try this amp out.

 

[senseitedj]

All,

Curious about the 274B-HP KR Audio tube; It is one of the recommended tubes by Woo Audio for WA6 SE. Anyone can share their experiences using this particular bulb?

https://wooaudio.com/tubes/kraudio-274bhp-each

 

[Contrails]

So a guy bought my WA6-SE but he wanted to test the amp before he gave me the funds. I told him to bring his headphones along to my place. He rocks up with some tube powered CD player and a Musical Fidelity MF-200 pair of headphones. Specs - 64ohm, max input power of 30mw with a sensitivity of 99db. I say to him are you sure you wanna plug those as there might be too much power? Oh they will be fine he replies. He then listens to a few songs and then says oh this amp is not for me. I say to him yeah I think there is a mismatch between the amp and the headphones. He says yeah but he's not gonna spend large on headphones. Why the f*ck are you looking at buying a WA6-SE then for $1700 NZD and while using those? Grinds my gears when people don't research stuff before pulling the trigger at an auction.