[PleasantSounds]

  Mine also lasted only 4 months before the major imbalance.  Hopefully this isn't the lifespan of them.  I heard somewhere that gold pin tubes do die a lot sooner then non gold pin tubes.  Not sure what the reasoning was but to me 4 months just won't do for $99 tubes. IMHO at that price they should be guaranteed for at least a year as the insurance policy was definitely paid for.

 
I remember reading on some Russian site that these tubes were notoriously difficult to make, and apparently the QC was very basic. As far as I know they are not being manufactured any more - if that's really the case then only a merchant could provide such guarantee. But many sellers advertise 5000 hours lifecycle so maybe that is something to call on.

 

[SamHeadFi]

Any thoughts on this with the HiFiMan he 500's?

 

[Dogmatrix]

  Any thoughts on this with the HiFiMan he 500's?

Yes its good
Type He 500 into the "Search This Thread" feature at the top of the page there are a couple of pages of references

 

[atomicbob]

Yes its good
Type He 500 into the "Search This Thread" feature at the top of the page there are a couple of pages of references

+1 thank-you.

 

[Angelbelow]

I have the wa7 and recently tried out my friends he500 and let's just say my next pair of headphones will definitely be the he500. I can see why a more powerful amp would be more ideal but no complains so far. Love the sound.

Any thoughts on this with the HiFiMan he 500's?

 

[Shini44]

wow the WA7 is the real deal!! swapped the old IE4 after two days on M-Stage and it was so different! i was able to increase the vol even higher lol and the IE4 way better!! :3 

my UM Miracle will be here in less than three weeks, can't wait to test it with the WA7, oh i always use the EH golden pins tubes, not a fan of the stock tubes

 

[pervysage]

After having used the EH Gold Pins since I got the WA7, I decided to pop in the stock Sovtek tubes just to see the difference.
 
Definitely not up to par compared to the upgrade tubes. I found quite a difference in the bass. The stock tubes seem to have sucked all the bass away! No kidding.
 
The gold pins had a more rich and full sound overall.
 
Should I even bother burning in the stock tubes? They've been used for about 6+ hours now. Already tempted to go back to the EH gold pins 

 
 
P.S. here's a pic of the WA7 in action.
 

 

[Shini44]

  After having used the EH Gold Pins since I got the WA7, I decided to pop in the stock Sovtek tubes just to see the difference.
 
Definitely not up to par compared to the upgrade tubes. I found quite a difference in the bass. The stock tubes seem to have sucked all the bass away! No kidding.
 
The gold pins had a more rich and full sound overall.
 
Should I even bother burning in the stock tubes? They've been used for about 6+ hours now. Already tempted to go back to the EH gold pins 

EH golden pins Tubes are U shaped and the Sock are n shaped, thats all as far as i know.

btw  guys i got the iFi-iUSB and it made my WA7 100% better, since i was using the WA7's DAC which is powered through the PC directly,  

the PC's power got a lot of distortion!! not like the non PC powered DACs, maybe due the PSU, mine is corsair and do provide dirty power...

iUSB fixed that for me.  i did A/B with Yulong D100 MKii so i make sure the iUSB did something or not.

check my review on the iUSB for more info ^^

 

[Shini44]

hey guys there is one thing i don't understand, why does the EH golden pins tube make the receded mids forward? or slightly forward? like with TH900, is it because this is a Tube amp and the upgraded tubes are more like tube/solidstate hybrid?  

 

[hydesg]

I just received my WA7 today, what headphones do you think I should pair it with?
Currently, I have the Beyer DT880 and the MTH50.
 
I listen to a wide genre of music, Jazz, guitar instruments, heavy rock and some metal.
 
I am considering the following headphones, LCD2r2, LCD3, HD800 and TH900.
 
Any advise, please?
 
ps: Was previously using the Xonar STX. The WA7 sounds thicker, and somehow the voice of norah jones now sounds up close and sweeter. There is less background noise also.
Overall very happy. But am looking to upgrade my phones to a better one.
 
Thanks!

 

[Shini44]

  I just received my WA7 today, what headphones do you think I should pair it with?
Currently, I have the Beyer DT880 and the MTH50.
 
I listen to a wide genre of music, Jazz, guitar instruments, heavy rock and some metal.
 
I am considering the following headphones, LCD2r2, LCD3, HD800 and TH900.
 
Any advise, please?
 
ps: Was previously using the Xonar STX. The WA7 sounds thicker, and somehow the voice of norah jones now sounds up close and sweeter. There is less background noise also.
Overall very happy. But am looking to upgrade my phones to a better one.
 
Thanks!

make sure you get the upgraded tube unless your main goal is to make the sound shape more like "n" using the stock tubes, the upgraded one are like U shaped yet the mids are even better than most of solid state amps, even the TH900's mids isn't as receded on it.

 

[PleasantSounds]

  I just received my WA7 today, what headphones do you think I should pair it with?
Currently, I have the Beyer DT880 and the MTH50.
 
I listen to a wide genre of music, Jazz, guitar instruments, heavy rock and some metal.
 
I am considering the following headphones, LCD2r2, LCD3, HD800 and TH900.
 
Any advise, please?
 
[..]

 
I have examined all of the above and ended up with HD800, which to me work together with the WA7 extremely well. Didn't like the LCDs with this amp at all. The TH900 was somewhere in between.
As far as the tubes go, I'd recommend the EH goldpins, the cryo treated version if you can find them.

 

[hydesg]

   
I have examined all of the above and ended up with HD800, which to me work together with the WA7 extremely well. Didn't like the LCDs with this amp at all. The TH900 was somewhere in between.
As far as the tubes go, I'd recommend the EH goldpins, the cryo treated version if you can find them.

 
Nice, PleasantSounds, what kind of music do you listen to? I listen to mostly rock, fast paced guitar instrumentals also...I wonder if the HD800 works well in this situation paired with the WA7.
I am using the gold pin EH tubes though.. listening to it for the past 4 hours or so.. so it might need some burn-in.
For fast paced music with lots of mids, I find that the DT880 (about 40hrs on them) blurry in the mid range. I wonder if this was the case of burn-in issue also...
 
I am listening to all FLAC version of the music, and connected to my 10year old USB cable (I wonder if I should replace it with a better quality one like belkin?)
 
 
 

  make sure you get the upgraded tube unless your main goal is to make the sound shape more like "n" using the stock tubes, the upgraded one are like U shaped yet the mids are even better than most of solid state amps, even the TH900's mids isn't as receded on it.

 

[PleasantSounds]

   
Nice, PleasantSounds, what kind of music do you listen to? I listen to mostly rock, fast paced guitar instrumentals also...I wonder if the HD800 works well in this situation paired with the WA7.
I am using the gold pin EH tubes though.. listening to it for the past 4 hours or so.. so it might need some burn-in.
For fast paced music with lots of mids, I find that the DT880 (about 40hrs on them) blurry in the mid range. I wonder if this was the case of burn-in issue also...
 
I am listening to all FLAC version of the music, and connected to my 10year old USB cable (I wonder if I should replace it with a better quality one like belkin?)
 
 

 
I listen to pretty much everything, but mostly rock and jazz. So far I haven't found a genre that the HD800 / WA7 combo would not handle to my satisfaction. The sound is spacious, detailed, with pretty good positioning and layering. Enough slam in the bottom range, and rendering of mids which to me seems addictive. 
Burn in may help, but don't go overboard with it - the changes will be subtle, and in the end the tubes have limited life span.
Regarding the USB cable, to me the only differentiating factor is the ferrite choke that some cables have. It may help filtering out some noise from the power supply, but it must be pretty bad to be noticeable. Other than that you could perhaps color match the cable with the rest of your setup, and that'd be the biggest benefit of the upgrade.

 

[olegausany]

I don't want to start the war but I have tried 5 different USB cable priced from $80 to $200 and while difference is little but noticeable I found 2 cables DH Labs and Furutech which gave me highs with no sparkle on highhats or guitars , on Cardas it was barely noticeable and only Audioquest Carbon and Magic Bus had the sound was after so since Carbon is cheaper and I heard no difference whatsoever between Carbon and Magic Bus I'm using well regarded Carbon