[phoneslave86]

I'm on the lookout for my first (OTL) tube amp to pair with the HD800(s), and I'm seeing first gen of these pop up for extremely reasonable prices, say €250-400. Would this amp still hold up in 2023 or would I be better off checking out something like the Feliks Echo II, Xduoo TA-26 or Eufoniks/Bottlehead?

WA6 SE is so good! Can't go wrong kind of thing. Pretty much perfect IMO. I'm not sure the WA6 would drive a HD800s ideally though. You probably would be leaving some on the table there with such a nice headphone. The WA6 SE has a larger range that it can drive than the WA6 for both lower and higher impedance stuff plus there is a sonic improvement by separating the transformer ect.

 

[der Koekje]

WA6 SE is so good! Can't go wrong kind of thing. Pretty much perfect IMO. I'm not sure the WA6 would drive a HD800s ideally though. You probably would be leaving some on the table there with such a nice headphone. The WA6 SE has a larger range that it can drive than the WA6 for both lower and higher impedance stuff plus there is a sonic improvement by separating the transformer ect.

Thank you for the response. Leaving performance on the table how?

 

[hotjava13]

Thank you for the response. Leaving performance on the table how?

Well, the WA6 is a very good SET tube amp. think phoneslave86 is implying that 300ohm impedance may be a factor, the HD800s are rated at 102db the WA6 will drive them well. I would ask Mike Liang at Woo (mike@wooaudio.com), he has guided me through my purchase.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

The WA6-SE is the amp so nice I bought it twice (at the same time)! I'm a Woo fanboy, but I don't know that there's a better bang-for-the-buck value out there, especially on the used market. Rectifiers are your friend with the Woo amps, and some of the best can be had in the $35-$50 range....

 

[phoneslave86]

Thank you for the response. Leaving performance on the table how?

The HD800s is a TOTL endgame type of headphone. It has a large range of scalability with equipment. I'm just guessing you might have an even better shot at extracting more value from the HD800 with a WA6 SE vs a gen 1 WA6. Looks like the WA6 can drive the HD800 fine though that is good.

 

[der Koekje]

So I bought the WA-6. It popped up on ebay for $100 and no one else bid on it. A nice deal I hope even if it's not the SE. It'll come soon, but I'm not really all that familiar with tube amps. I know they are using different, less standard tubes in the older WA-6 so I guess I need an adapter? Or try to find tubes that fit?

What would be the best way to move forward here? Which tubes would be recommended?

 

[phoneslave86]

So I bought the WA-6. It popped up on ebay for $100 and no one else bid on it. A nice deal I hope even if it's not the SE. It'll come soon, but I'm not really all that familiar with tube amps. I know they are using different, less standard tubes in the older WA-6 so I guess I need an adapter? Or try to find tubes that fit?

What would be the best way to move forward here? Which tubes would be recommended?

That is incredible value. I'm guessing it came with no tubes. Just need to get some cheap tubes to start and make sure everything works nicely. The WA6 uses most of the same tubes and can even use some tubes the WA6-SE cannot. I'd go for Sylvania yellow 13DE7 pair (just try to find matched pairs or NOS, never used, or 2-3 singles is ok that are in good enough shape) and a Sylvania Yellow 13FD7 matched pair to start for drivers and you don't need buy adapters. To keep it cheap and start nice I'd go for a Brimar CV1863 5Z4G as has been recommended many times. That recti would likely go with an HD800 pretty nicely if I had to guess.

 

[jonathan c]

So I bought the WA-6. It popped up on ebay for $100 and no one else bid on it. A nice deal I hope even if it's not the SE. It'll come soon, but I'm not really all that familiar with tube amps. I know they are using different, less standard tubes in the older WA-6 so I guess I need an adapter? Or try to find tubes that fit?

What would be the best way to move forward here? Which tubes would be recommended?

If the WA6 is Generation 1, having “6DE7” sockets for the driver tubes, you can look for 6DE7 tubes. Or you can use 12AT7 / ECC81, 12AU7 / ECC82 tubes with ‘12AU7 —> 6DE7’ adapters from Xuling Audio Lab (on EBay).

 

[der Koekje]

That is incredible value. I'm guessing it came with no tubes. Just need to get some cheap tubes to start and make sure everything works nicely. The WA6 uses most of the same tubes and can even use some tubes the WA6-SE cannot. I'd go for Sylvania yellow 13DE7 pair (just try to find matched pairs or NOS, never used, or 2-3 singles is ok that are in good enough shape) and a Sylvania Yellow 13FD7 matched pair to start for drivers and you don't need buy adapters. To keep it cheap and start nice I'd go for a Brimar CV1863 5Z4G as has been recommended many times. That recti would likely go with an HD800 pretty nicely if I had to guess.

Thanks! Great recommendations, I'll read up on them. It does come with the (stock I assume) tubes so I can at least get a reference.

If the WA6 is Generation 1, having “6DE7” sockets for the driver tubes, you can look for 6DE7 tubes. Or you can use 12AT7 / ECC81, 12AU7 / ECC82 tubes with ‘12AU7 —> 6DE7’ adapters from Xuling Audio Lab (on EBay).

Thanks, yeah I did see that adapters are apparently a thing. No major downsides to them? I do see 12AU7 pop up a lot so I'm guessing that's a good value for money option.

 

[phoneslave86]

Thanks! Great recommendations, I'll read up on them. It does come with the (stock I assume) tubes so I can at least get a reference.



Thanks, yeah I did see that adapters are apparently a thing. No major downsides to them? I do see 12AU7 pop up a lot so I'm guessing that's a good value for money option.

Nevermind me actually. Looks like 6DE7 is the standard driver for the 1st gen WA6. It is different than 13DE7 which is the standard driver (the driver the amp was built around) for the WA6 SE. I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to WA6 1st gen whatsoever apparently!!! Sorry about that. jonathan c knows much better.

 

[b0lt 0ns]

So I bought the WA-6. It popped up on ebay for $100 and no one else bid on it. A nice deal I hope even if it's not the SE. It'll come soon, but I'm not really all that familiar with tube amps. I know they are using different, less standard tubes in the older WA-6 so I guess I need an adapter? Or try to find tubes that fit?

What would be the best way to move forward here? Which tubes would be recommended?

As was recommended the brimar CV1863 is hands down the best rectifier tube for the money. out of all the tubes I have so far it might be the best period. Jonathan c posted a link where to buy them I believe from England directly.

For drivers I can't help you there because I have a 2nd gen SE so it uses different tubes

 

[jonathan c]

WA6 Gen 1 and WA6-SE Gen 1 use 6DE7s as driver tubes. WA6 Gen 2 and WA6-SE Gen 2 use 13DE7s as driver tubes. The 6DE7s and 13DE7s are not interchangeable.

 

[jonathan c]

As was recommended the brimar CV1863 is hands down the best rectifier tube for the money. out of all the tubes I have so far it might be the best period. Jonathan c posted a link where to buy them I believe from England directly.**

For drivers I can't help you there because I have a 2nd gen SE so it uses different tubes

** https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/5z4gycv1863-kbfe-stc-brimar-nos-boxed/#

 

[Ralf Hutter]

There's some newly listed 6DE7's and 6FD7's for sale right here at HF forums. Check out the classifieds.

 

[der Koekje]

Well the issue is that I don't have much of a reference. I don't know which tubes affect the signs in what way. I figured each pair would have their own sound signature but it seems like instead it's the type of tube that does most of the heavy lifting? For example, I found this:

"6DE7 - (require warmth and bass (more punch and bloom)) Beyer T1, Mrspeakers Ether C (non flow), Sennheiser HD800
6EW7 - (require soundstage, with little emphasis on bass and seperation) Hifiman HE1000se, TH900, Sennheiser HD820, Focal Utopia
6FD7 - (a little bass but more emphasis on definition, with big soundstage) Hifiman HE1000se, Sennheiser HD800s
6SN7 - (require highs and very good soundstage and seperation, bass definition) Hifiman HE1000se, HD820, Meze Empyean (from memory)"

All I can say was that the HD800s experience with the Feliks Audio Echo II was amazing. The treble was tamed, the bass pretty qualitative., warm but with authoritative presence without affecting the signature much. So anything that could get me in that ballpark would be very interesting to explore.