[alwaysec]

hey guys from Australia (bigsby and stainless,etc) could you pls confirm the volt of your psu is set to 220v ( i mean the switch is set to the position where it shows "220v") ?

 

[stainless824]

Yep, I checked right when I just got it. I've had stuff blowing up because I got the voltage wrong in the past so i'm especially vigilant

 

[carsany]

Quote:

SO glad there are more of you with WA7's now! Not so glad to hear about these two issues, but at least they are relatively isolated.
 
The only issue i HAD (now resolved) was i messed with the midi settings, clicking back n forth fast through them all to try to hear differences, and the DAC got angry. It went digitalised on the low end. Since then, (although I think its like this out of the box) ive discovered i dont get ANY sound out of the unit when i first plug it in- unless i reset the HZ setting to 42000 in the midi settings menu, then go back to 192000 and it runs perfectly. Again, i think it was always like this and could also well be my ancient MBP or file type.
 
I more likely suspect this is a firmware thing, and only a minor issue that doesnt bother me at all. Now that i know what it is, its just part of my process when turning on the unit. Im guessing there will be a download to fix these issues in the future. the actual amp/dac itself and all hardware and manufacturing are perfect for me! No heat issues (runs quite cool actually), no issues at all really. 
 
Being a gen 1 product there was bound to be some anomalies occurring. The great part about WOO Audio is their stellar reputation for addressing these issues and resolving them with good customer service. 
This is good advice to start with. 
 
I myself am going to also take some of the other suggestions here and buy myself an infrared thermo just to have at home for other reviews etc, i have a lot more gear coming more regularly now.
 
Carsany: are you running MAC? you may need an OS update to fix the issue, or a simple restart and check those midi settings. Most DAC issues like that are often the computer. If this doesnt fix it try it on another  MAC that runs the minimum OS requirement +, failing that you can email Jack regarding a software update.

Thanks for all the good info.  I'm running a iMac with all the latest updates so doubt there is a issue there.  I'll do a little testing on my MBP retina that is  clean software wise and see if the issue arises.  It's no big deal so far, seems to only happen in the beginning of a listening session.  After the first 30 minutes or so, I went 2 hours with no issues.  The WA7 was left on for 3 hours before I even started, so it was warmed up.  Seems the data has to pump thru it for a while before it all starts running smoothly.  It happened with the sovtek and EH tubes, so no affect there.  Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

 

[mrbigsby]

Im still not convinced this temp thing is a serious problem. I was reminded of the Valhalla today, after only 40 mins on that thing it was like an absolute OVEN.  I remembered my recent thread, where i auditioned a bunch of tube amps at A2A when heading down to buy the Pan Am. Thread can be found here. I rang Mark today to check. His a guy I met recently through work who owns a Valhalla and is a diehard fan. Ive listened to his amp recently and asked again (since noticing the extreme heat the first time) how hot it gets. He said again, as he had the time before: "Hot enough to cook your breakfast man, but still sounds good and never had a problem in the year or so ive had it".
 
I found i was SHOCKED by the heat of the Valhalla there too, so it couldnt have been an anomaly on Marks end or the demo at A2A either. Obviously its better if gear runs cooler, but we are talking tubes here- they get hot! My bassman guitar amp, or any of my other vintage moody tube amps etc, all get HOT- i mean H>O>T, but its just a given for vintage tube amps (guitar ones anyway). Perhaps the temps on the WA7 are ok? Im going to run mine for a few more hours tonight and get back to you. If i cant, try as i might, replicate your temps ill concede. 
 
Ive already emailed Jack this morning to comment when he has the time on temps. In the meantime, im going to "suffer" through hours upon hours of music and movies and frequent checking amp and psu temps.

 

[mrbigsby]

Quote:

Thanks for all the good info.  I'm running a iMac with all the latest updates so doubt there is a issue there.  I'll do a little testing on my MBP retina that is  clean software wise and see if the issue arises.  It's no big deal so far, seems to only happen in the beginning of a listening session.  After the first 30 minutes or so, I went 2 hours with no issues.  The WA7 was left on for 3 hours before I even started, so it was warmed up.  Seems the data has to pump thru it for a while before it all starts running smoothly.  It happened with the sovtek and EH tubes, so no affect there.  Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Thanks dude. Hopefully its nothing. If Jack gets the time to check in here im sure he will address everything. Im sure theres a quick fix or reasonable explanation. At least all of us have working great sounding units!

 

[alwaysec]

Quote:

Im still not convinced this temp thing is a serious problem. I was reminded of the Valhalla today, after only 40 mins on that thing it was like an absolute OVEN.  I remembered my recent thread, where i auditioned a bunch of tube amps at A2A when heading down to buy the Pan Am. Thread can be found here. I rang Mark today to check. His a guy I met recently through work who owns a Valhalla and is a diehard fan. Ive listened to his amp recently and asked again (since noticing the extreme heat the first time) how hot it gets. He said again, as he had the time before: "Hot enough to cook your breakfast man, but still sounds good and never had a problem in the year or so ive had it".
 
I found i was SHOCKED by the heat of the Valhalla there too, so it couldnt have been an anomaly on Marks end or the demo at A2A either. Obviously its better if gear runs cooler, but we are talking tubes here- they get hot! My bassman guitar amp, or any of my other vintage moody tube amps etc, all get HOT- i mean H>O>T, but its just a given for vintage tube amps (guitar ones anyway). Perhaps the temps on the WA7 are ok? Im going to run mine for a few more hours tonight and get back to you. If i cant, try as i might, replicate your temps ill concede. 
 
Ive already emailed Jack this morning to comment when he has the time on temps. In the meantime, im going to "suffer" through hours upon hours of music and movies and frequent checking amp and psu temps.

if every unit is equally hot, then it is just a hot amp. when some guys' are pretty cool or just a little bit warm but the others suffer the overheating issue, we need to find out why. what we have are the first batch of the products, there are probably some unexpected bugs that need to be ironed out. 
 
i dong think it is relevant to the drivers. i tried it on both my rMBP and Dell mobile workstation. it is just HOT . 
 
Jack does have some thoughts, but at this stage he is not sure about it either.  one thing i am pretty sure is that woo audio will sort out the issue and everyone will be happy at the end of day. i just want to enjoy the amp, my headphones and the music in a COOL fasion. 

 

[mrbigsby]

ok at least 4 hours so far possibly more. Continuous loud usage. I gotta admit, my unit is warm, but not hot. PSU is warm too but slightly less than the amp itself. This temp would not concern me, especially knowing its a tube amp (think high voltage light bulbs). SO if your unit is running hot, theres likely an issue.
 
As far as drivers go, this was not in refernce to the heat- but in reference to the stutter or high/low problems some of us had temporarily.

 

[stainless824]

does anybody know how these compare to the Schitt Lyr Btw. They've been the reference for sub 1k LCD-2 amps for some time now

 

[belisk]

yep mines set to 220
 
ok had time to try out the HD650 and Q701 as well as the stock tubes
 
i found the stock tubes to do well with the HD650 only, but gold pins all the way, that said, the HD650 and Q701 don't come close to my Signature Pros.
 
My last test was seeing what my SigPro's were like with the Dragonfly vs Fireflies(gold pins), as i suspected the WA7 had more soundstage and weight.
 
So thats my final setup, WA7(EH GoldPin) + SigPro = win.

 

[mrbigsby]

Quote:

yep mines set to 220
 
ok had time to try out the HD650 and Q701 as well as the stock tubes
 
i found the stock tubes to do well with the HD650, but gold pins all the way, that said, the HD650 and Q701 don't come close to my Signature Pros.
 
My last test was seeing what my SigPro's were like with the Dragonfly vs Fireflies(gold pins), as i suspected the WA7 had more soundstage and weight.
 
So thats my final setup, WA7(EH GoldPin) + SigPro = win.

Nice.
 
Im interested though. Do you find that the cans change their general characteristics in the WA7? I found that each set of cans sounded just like each set of cans and wonder if it was only me?
I mean you we all know what our headphones general signature is like...But you know how some amps just sound terrible, then you change cans and the amp suddenly isnt that bad. Because somehow a bit of the fat it was carrying awkwardly, just so happened to be in the exact places that next set of cans was a little thin- and together it worked? (again this might be just me). But with the WA7, although we all agree its not a reference amp, the sparkle and glow it adds at either end (which i love) are consistant. Meaning an even playing field for all cans, albeit a not perfectly flat one (which again i prefer its not), but never the less and even one.
 
Personally i found: WA7+ any cans you happen to like most= win. I dont think this trait is unique to this amp, its just lucky that this amp shares that trait with some of the other amps ive learnt to love.

 

[belisk]

the HD650 is quite a veiled can imo, so yea big difference using the WA7 with my other cans, to be honest its my least favourite can, i really want to sell them along with my Q701. The SigPro really is king here, have you tried them? i think A2A have a demo pair on display.

 

[mrbigsby]

Yeah i have actually, i really like them, but couldnt justify the price. They are a gorgeous headphone but more comparable to the mid priced cans out there now.
 
SO your in Melbourne? Are there many of us here? Perhaps we could do a shop crawl or meet some time. I know of a couple stores getting new and exciting things in very soon. Happy to arrange something.
 
In any case, thanks for your feedback. Im wrapped you have found your ideal setup- i think i have too, just waiting on two more sets of cans to arrive to add to the equation. Then ill be selling at least one set to make room for the others (and more).

 

[jckp919]

anyone know if 417a will work on WA7? coz these tubes are easier to find..
 
I did some research and found this:
 
 

[size=9pt]WE437A[/size]

[size=9pt]6.3[/size]

[size=9pt]0.45[/size]

[size=9pt]7.0[/size]

[size=9pt]250[/size]

[size=9pt]± 50[/size]

[size=9pt]11.1[/size]

[size=9pt]1.0[/size]

[size=9pt]3.8[/size]

[size=9pt]140[/size] [size=9pt]180[/size]

[size=9pt]-2[/size] [size=9pt]-3[/size]

[size=9pt]29[/size] [size=9pt]25[/size]

[size=9pt]950[/size] [size=9pt]980[/size]

[size=9pt]43000[/size] [size=9pt]42000[/size]

[size=9pt]41[/size] [size=9pt]41[/size]

[size=9pt]3A/167M[/size] [size=9pt]CV5112[/size]

[size=9pt]6.3[/size]

[size=9pt]0.45[/size]

[size=9pt]7.0[/size]

[size=9pt]350[/size]

[size=9pt]11[/size]

[size=9pt]2.5[/size]

[size=9pt]4.0[/size]

[size=9pt]170[/size] [size=9pt]150[/size]

[size=9pt]-2.5[/size] [size=9pt]-1.5[/size]

[size=9pt]40[/size] [size=9pt]40[/size]

[size=9pt]1000[/size] [size=9pt]1000[/size]

[size=9pt]47000[/size]

[size=9pt]47[/size] [size=9pt]47[/size]

[size=9pt][size=9pt][size=9pt][size=9pt][size=9pt]6C45[size=9pt][size=9pt]Π-[/size][/size][/size][/size]E[/size][/size][/size]

[size=9pt]6.3[/size]

[size=9pt]0.44[/size]

[size=9pt]8.0[/size]

[size=9pt]200[/size]

[size=9pt]± 100[/size]

[size=9pt]10[/size]

[size=9pt]1.8[/size]

[size=9pt]15[/size]

[size=9pt]150[/size] [size=9pt]175[/size]

[size=9pt]-1.5[/size] [size=9pt]-2[/size]

[size=9pt]28[/size] [size=9pt]27[/size]

[size=9pt]930[/size]

[size=9pt]56000[/size]

[size=9pt]52　 [/size]

[size=9pt]5842WA[/size] [size=9pt]5842/417A[/size]

[size=9pt]6.3[/size]

[size=9pt]0.3[/size]

[size=9pt]4.5[/size]

[size=9pt]200[/size] [size=9pt]180[/size]

[size=9pt]± 100[/size] [size=9pt]50[/size]

[size=9pt]9.0[/size] [size=9pt]9.0[/size]

[size=9pt]0.35[/size] [size=9pt]0.48[/size]

[size=9pt]1.75[/size] [size=9pt]1.8[/size]

[size=9pt]150[/size] [size=9pt]150[/size]

[size=9pt]60[/size] [size=9pt]62[/size]

[size=9pt]23[/size] [size=9pt]26[/size]

[size=9pt]1800[/size] [size=9pt]1800[/size]

[size=9pt]25000[/size] [size=9pt]24000[/size]

[size=9pt]45[/size] [size=9pt]43[/size]

 
from: http://hackeraudio.web.fc2.com/a-211-3.htmt
 
the site is in chinese btw

 

[CongeeBear]

Thanks for the great review Mr. Bigsby!
 
Now this is my 1st post as a Head-Fier, so this may be a silly question -- but what happens if you have, say, both a full-sized pair of cans AND an IEM plugged into the WA7 at the same time? Will music be playing from both, or is there a way to toggle between the two front outputs?
 
Due to my crippling laziness, I would love not having to plug/unplug stuff all the time -- spares the connectors too, I'd bet...

 

[Currawong]

I tried just now and plugging headphones into both sockets no sound comes from the 3.5mm socket.