[eeagle]

No. The RCA line outs provide an analogue signal which will not drive speakers without external amplification.

They are an output allowing the use of the WA7 DAC and bypass its tube amp section and its volume control..

 

[unfunk]

Does anyone here know how to differentiate the 2nd gen wa7 from the 1st gen? I am about to buy a used 2nd gen, and just wanted to make sure.

Edit: Found my answer, apparently 2nd gen have orange USB sockets.

 

[Niteblooded]

Originally had the WA7 hooked up to my laptop since that's where the majority of my music was. That laptop is old now so trying to move the WA7 to my old gaming PC but I cannot get any sound out of it. The PC is up to date on all other drivers and updates.

1. Verified WA7 is still set to USB
   
2. I downloaded the 1st gen WA7 driver from the Woo Audio website but the Windows 7 setup.exe does nothing
3. Tried the Win10 for nothing, it at least started to do something but properly recognized i'm not on Win10 with that machine
4. I downloaded the 2nd gen WA7 driver and it installed the driver but asked me to unplug the device and replug the device, which I did but Windows failed to correctly install the device drivers (#2 step of 3 - HD audio)
5. I downloaded the R2.82 audio driver from Realtek
   
6. I tried finding a site that has the HD audio driver but the manufacturer website only has product detail PDFs
7. Tried multiple USB slots, including 2.0 and 3.0

Really want to enjoy my WA7 again, please help.

 

[groovyd]

just fired up one of my WA7 for use at work after a long hiatus. sounds a bit veiled and flatter then i remembered. needs new tubes?

 

[Slashn77]

How does the DAC in the W7 compare to the 4490(regular or Multibit)DAC in Schiit Lyr 3 and Jotunheim?

 

[robo24]

Just joined the WA7 gen 1 party. Also just completed all 165 pages in this thread over the past couple weeks to learn any tips I could. Was able to get used on ebay on 15% off day, so got it with the SS power supply. As I'm quite the noob to all of this, I can't tell great differences between the 3 sets of tubes (EH used for 4 years, Stock Sovtek, & Reflektor cryo). They all sound great to me. Had been using Fiio Q1 MarkII and Dragonfly Red, and also tried both with a Bravo V2. They all sound good, but the WA7 seems to increase the soundstage on my HD700s and brought new life to my HD6XX (which I didn't LOVE) until this combo. Zero issues using a 2014 iMac. Already wanting the tube power supply, but it's hard to find used, and it seems crazy to spend more on the power supply than I paid for the WA7 itself. Have a Topping D50 on the way from China, which I'll use to bypass the DAC in the WA7. I like the WA7 slightly better using the Dragonfly Red DAC, so I imagine a much better model ESS Sabre DAC will be a step up and approximate the Gen 2 with it's 9018.

 

[eeagle]

Well my 4 year old gen 1 WA7 USB/DAC seems to have failed. I've tried the obvious usb cable exchange, computer reboot, driver reinstall but get
"This device cannot start [code10}"
on both my normal Windows XP music server machine, and a newer Widows 7 machine. Has anyone successfully cured this problem?

Anyone have experience with sending back to Woo for repair?

I see Woo offers a $499 gen 1 to gen 2 upgrade:
DAC upgrade program for 1st gen WA7 customers. The upgrade would replace the entire digital section in your 1st gen WA7 to 2nd gen DAC. This includes the new 24/384kHz ESS SABRE DAC and XMOS USB controller with “high retention” USB connector (orange color), premium Teflon tube sockets and new LEDs. This is the same digital section used on the latest 2nd gen WA7 Fireflies.

Has anyone used the upgrade offer? Are you happy with it?

 

[groovyd]

I upgraded my units and it seems to reduce the output via the DAC significantly over the gen1 DAC. Hard to say it's a clear 'upgrade' overall I felt like the gen1 might have had more clarity and punch to it.

 

[eeagle]

I upgraded my units and it seems to reduce the output via the DAC significantly over the gen1 DAC. Hard to say it's a clear 'upgrade' overall I felt like the gen1 might have had more clarity and punch to it.

Thanks, that's an interesting data point.

Sounds like you actually liked the gen 1 TI DAC better than the upgraded ESS SABRE DAC.

I have never been dissatisfied with the gen 1 DAC, and in fact used it as an input to my beyer A20 amp, and a just acquired Massdrop x THX AAA 789. I only occasionally fired up the class A tube side of the Fireflies, I may just pick up a new DAC to drive them all. $499 would buy a decent DAC

 

[robo24]

Well my 4 year old gen 1 WA7 USB/DAC seems to have failed. I've tried the obvious usb cable exchange, computer reboot, driver reinstall but get
"This device cannot start [code10}"
on both my normal Windows XP music server machine, and a newer Widows 7 machine. Has anyone successfully cured this problem?

Anyone have experience with sending back to Woo for repair?

I see Woo offers a $499 gen 1 to gen 2 upgrade:
DAC upgrade program for 1st gen WA7 customers. The upgrade would replace the entire digital section in your 1st gen WA7 to 2nd gen DAC. This includes the new 24/384kHz ESS SABRE DAC and XMOS USB controller with “high retention” USB connector (orange color), premium Teflon tube sockets and new LEDs. This is the same digital section used on the latest 2nd gen WA7 Fireflies.

Has anyone used the upgrade offer? Are you happy with it?

Does it work if you use a separate DAC and feed the RCA inputs? I slightly prefer my Gen 1 with a Topping D50. Seems like if they’ll allow an upgrade on a non-working unit that’s a good option, though if a DAC works instead, obviously cheaper and possible to have an overall improvement over the Gen 2.

 

[eeagle]

Does it work if you use a separate DAC and feed the RCA inputs? I slightly prefer my Gen 1 with a Topping D50. Seems like if they’ll allow an upgrade on a non-working unit that’s a good option, though if a DAC works instead, obviously cheaper and possible to have an overall improvement over the Gen 2.

Thanks for the interest; yes the RCA in Amp section works fine.

I have a SMSL SU-8 V2 DAC on order; to be shipped 1Feb19.

The SU-8 @$199 looked to have the ESS Sabre DAC implemented even better than the Woo Upgrade plus it has both RCA and Balanced out which I can use with other components like my THX AAA 789 and beyer A20.

 

[Focux]

Any comparisons with the Gen 2 and Hugo 2?

 

[Luke-]

Just got a gen 2 with solid state power supply is it worth me getting the EH gold pins or just stick with the stock tubes ?

 

[Dogmatrix]

Just got a gen 2 with solid state power supply is it worth me getting the EH gold pins or just stick with the stock tubes ?

Always a good idea to have a spare set .

 

[kyle1010]

Just got a gen 2 with solid state power supply is it worth me getting the EH gold pins or just stick with the stock tubes ?

My experience with the EH vs stock is EH if you like the sound more flat, neutral, and detailed, stock Sovtek tubes if you like the sound more warm, full, and euphonic.