[TSIG]

Add another WA7 review to the mix!
 

 

[money4me247]

  Add another WA7 review to the mix!

 
lol good review. just three comments:
 
1) finding well-made tube amplifiers with black backgrounds isn't that hard anymore. The Schiit Vali, Schiit Lyr, and Project Ember are all mid-entry tube amplifiers with with silent black backgrounds on low impedance & are priced much more competitively. The only tube amplifier that may not have had as black a background in my experience was the budget sub-$100 Bravo V3 tube amplifer, and even then the noise floor was too low to be really noticeable unless the volume was very extremely high (beyond comfortable listening volumes).
 
2) disappointing to hear that the $100 modi dac outperforms in the dac inside the Woo WA7. I actually have the Stoner Acoustic UD110v2 dac that was like sub-$60 and I couldn't identify an upgrade going to the Woo WA7 internal dac yet. would like to do more direct blind comparisons though. can hear an upgrade in the dac performance jumping to the Schiit Bifrost, but if you are already spending $1k+ on a combo unit, I don't think it really makes sense to have to purchase another mid-entry dac.
 
3) getting a $1k amplifier for sub-$150 entry-level headphones doesn't make that much sense to me as those headphones do not really scale that much with additional components. The M50x can be easily driven without an amplifier and in my experience, additional amplification does not really boost its performance when doing a volume-matched comparison.
 
enjoy listening to your review though!

 

[abvolt]

I also enjoyed your review video of the WA7..

 

[dL.]

Just want to share my recent experience with cables. I was never a big believer that cables can change much for the value, until I've demoed the Nordost first hand. I attended a Nordost event in Vancouver, BC yesterday and all I can say is there is definitely a NOTICEABLE difference up to a certain point. IMO their Heimdall series is the best deal. Blue Heaven is a nice improvement but not as WOW as the Heimdalls. And my untrained ears can't really appreciate anything higher than Heimdall.
 
For those who don't believe in upgraded cables, be thankful because your wallet won't be bleeding like mine 

 As for me, I'm patiently waiting for the Heimdall 2 USB cable to arrive for my WA7 + TP. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to share my experience with the Heimdall USB cable when it arrives.
 
Happy listening everybody 

 
dL

 

[abvolt]

  Just want to share my recent experience with cables. I was never a big believer that cables can change much for the value, until I've demoed the Nordost first hand. I attended a Nordost event in Vancouver, BC yesterday and all I can say is there is definitely a NOTICEABLE difference up to a certain point. IMO their Heimdall series is the best deal. Blue Heaven is a nice improvement but not as WOW as the Heimdalls. And my untrained ears can't really appreciate anything higher than Heimdall.
 
For those who don't believe in upgraded cables, be thankful because your wallet won't be bleeding like mine 

 As for me, I'm patiently waiting for the Heimdall 2 USB cable to arrive for my WA7 + TP. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to share my experience with the Heimdall USB cable when it arrives.
 
Happy listening everybody 

 
dL

 
Thanks for your thoughts, I also noticed a difference when I did an upgrade to my ubs cable, and yes I'd be interested in hearing more..

 

[malla1ml]

+1 I'd like to hear your thoughts about the Heimdall USB as well.

 

[vasunshine]

Just want to share my recent experience with cables. I was never a big believer that cables can change much for the value, until I've demoed the Nordost first hand. I attended a Nordost event in Vancouver, BC yesterday and all I can say is there is definitely a NOTICEABLE difference up to a certain point. IMO their Heimdall series is the best deal. Blue Heaven is a nice improvement but not as WOW as the Heimdalls. And my untrained ears can't really appreciate anything higher than Heimdall.

For those who don't believe in upgraded cables, be thankful because your wallet won't be bleeding like mine   As for me, I'm patiently waiting for the Heimdall 2 USB cable to arrive for my WA7 + TP. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to share my experience with the Heimdall USB cable when it arrives.

Happy listening everybody 

dL

Great! I have heard others praise the heimdall. Could you do a blind test and let us know the result?

 

[abvolt]

I see now what you mean now about your wallet bleeding, expensive cables indeed mine was only 50 bucks Lol.. But as they say you get what you pay for these days. Let us know what you think about that cable..

 

[rage3324]

I suspect the answer is one of or all of the tubes are going south but I will ask the question anyways..
 
Yesterday the WA7tp got pretty darn hot, hotter than usual after about 2 hours of music at regular listening levels. I decided to turn the amp off to let it cool down for a few minutes. When I turned it off, I might have heard a pop.. maybe. I honestly cannot recall. After about 5 minutes, I decided tried to power it back and nothing. After unplugging the power cable from the outlet and plugging it back in, the power started to work again. Now, it feels like the amp is not as loud as it used to be. I never turned it above 11 o'clock, but now I need to turn it about 12 o'clock for normal engaging listening levels. The sound quality sounds fine overall.

 

[Dogmatrix]

  I suspect the answer is one of or all of the tubes are going south but I will ask the question anyways..
 
Yesterday the WA7tp got pretty darn hot, hotter than usual after about 2 hours of music at regular listening levels. I decided to turn the amp off to let it cool down for a few minutes. When I turned it off, I might have heard a pop.. maybe. I honestly cannot recall. After about 5 minutes, I decided tried to power it back and nothing. After unplugging the power cable from the outlet and plugging it back in, the power started to work again. Now, it feels like the amp is not as loud as it used to be. I never turned it above 11 o'clock, but now I need to turn it about 12 o'clock for normal engaging listening levels. The sound quality sounds fine overall.

Fuse may be loose

 

[rage3324]

 
Fuse may be loose

I will take a look. How can I tell if it "loose"? Should I just reseat it and test?

 

[HiFiGuy528]

  I will take a look. How can I tell if it "loose"? Should I just reseat it and test?

 
Try reseating the tubes.  The fuse won't have anything to do with the sound if the system powers ON.

 

[rage3324]

   
Try reseating the tubes.  The fuse won't have anything to do with the sound if the system powers ON.

Thanks, I will give this a shot. I turned the amp back on after having it off for just over an hour and it sounds normal now. Odd

 

[abvolt]

  Thanks, I will give this a shot. I turned the amp back on after having it off for just over an hour and it sounds normal now. Odd

 
Hi rage3324  just curious how your amps been sounding hope no issues, that popping you heard does sounds tube related, let us know how it goes..  

 

[comzee]

  Just want to share my recent experience with cables. I was never a big believer that cables can change much for the value, until I've demoed the Nordost first hand. I attended a Nordost event in Vancouver, BC yesterday and all I can say is there is definitely a NOTICEABLE difference up to a certain point. IMO their Heimdall series is the best deal. Blue Heaven is a nice improvement but not as WOW as the Heimdalls. And my untrained ears can't really appreciate anything higher than Heimdall.
 

Did you blind test them, having someone put two of the same pair of headphones with the different cables on your head randomly? Was the lesser comparison cable provided by Nordost? 
 
I've researched this topic extensively, and came up with anything that has the twisted pairs correctly done, and decent shielding (any $10-15 cable) cannot be improved upon.
 
I went to Audio Perfection (only audiophile store in MN) and tested cables myself. Tried cryo frozen cables, (analogue only) different types of digital cables (optical and USB) and I couldn't hear any difference between anything they had versus my Amazon Basics cables (USB/Toslink/RCA). 
 
I looked up the "Heimdall 2 USB" cable on Google, is it really selling for $500? That kinda makes me want to vomit. I'm only posting this for any ill advised consumer eating up the endless rhetoric on these forums. Maybe I can save somebody $480. 
 
EDIT: http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/speakers-when-is-good-enough-enough.2512/page-2#post-15412
Note, this was done using analogue cables, which have a much greater tendency for interference, then digital cables (like USB).