[TDinCali]

I didn’t have such an visceral reaction when I finally received the EE JPS version over the SE. better? Yes. I’m using the KR tubes that I had on the SE. The biggest thing for me was the clarity. As crazy as that might sound, that’s what stood out the most. I had to recalibrate my brain a bit because at first I was questioning whether the amp was just brighter but that wasn’t it.

 

[Drewligarchy]

What should we listen to today, boys?

 

[Drewligarchy]

My Raymour and Flanigan motorized recliner is highly underrated. With independent controls for back, legs and - especially neck - you can dial in the Abyss for maximum comfort.

 

[ThanatosVI]

What should we listen to today, boys?

LCD-4 on Wa33

 

[Drewligarchy]

Just gonna leave this here. Sick of my photos yet

 

[ThanatosVI]

Just gonna leave this here. Sick of my photos yet

Beautiful, even in the wrong color
I really like the woo Adapters, they take nothing away from the premium feel of the Wa33

 

[SalR406]

Just gonna leave this here. Sick of my photos yet

That would be... "no". Always fun to see photos. Great shot of that amp. (Hello from a fellow New Yorker.)

 

[TDinCali]

An adapter for every tube type? I haven’t seen that before. What tubes are you running?

 

[pippen99]

He has adapters for the WE 417a drivers in front. The other tubes are KR Audio which uses white bases for its top tubes.

 

[hawk13]

Just gonna leave this here. Sick of my photos yet

Gorgeous! I have the same stand in black/carbon fiber. Now just need the black WA33 is all Seriously though, gorgeous.

 

[Drewligarchy]

Beautiful, even in the wrong color
I really like the woo Adapters, they take nothing away from the premium feel of the Wa33

Haha. I have always liked silver, but black would be a lot easier to match. I wanted to get an Auralic Aries g.2 and reached out to Auralic Chief Xunqian Wang to see if I could get a special g.2 that was powdercoated. He said "We are like Naim now, we don't do that".

 

[Drewligarchy]

He has adapters for the WE 417a drivers in front. The other tubes are KR Audio which uses white bases for its top tubes.

Incidentally, I really like the WE 417a's with the full set of KR tubes. I listened to the EH Gold pins (with the same KR tubes) at first for a week as they were new, I wanted to make sure they were all good, and wanted to see what differences I could detect between drivers. As many of you are aware, the KR tubes with the Elite are warm and lush with beautiful mids, and lots of slam and resolution. The WE 417a's added the last bit of clarity to the KR tubes, and are more extended on top and bottom - so you get the beautiful mids of the Wa33 Elite and KR, with just a dash of additional clarity mixed in - which I think is a perfect balance. This is all with the Abyss. The other main benefit I heard with the WE417a is a ridiculously deep soundstage. With Dave/Mscaler and Wa33 SE I though the sound stage was deep, but now Im hearing more depth a long with additional discrete layers between those sounds that are deepest in the sound stage and those that are closest.

I have the Tak 274b which I know a lot like with the KR tubes, and for my ears, it added too much treble with the Abyss specifically when combined with the KR tubes and either driver. I do use the Tak with the PSvane ACME 2a3s and the LCD-4 as that tube complement pairs best with that headphone, imo. Also, I know you had the Tak fail a month after your warranty - so I also have the USAF 596 which I used with the ACMEs to similar effect, in case the Tak doesn't last.

 

[pippen99]

Looking forward to trying the WE 417a out soon. My adapters should be here in the next week. I am waiting on BF to order the KRs since I could not find any used.

 

[Drewligarchy]

Looking forward to trying the WE 417a out soon. My adapters should be here in the next week. I am waiting on BF to order the KRs since I could not find any used.

I am interested in how you like them with the LCD-5. I haven't heard it yet - and I'm interested in upgrading my LCD-4, but really like it's sound, so want to know what I'm getting and what I'm giving up.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Haha. I have always liked silver, but black would be a lot easier to match. I wanted to get an Auralic Aries g.2 and reached out to Auralic Chief Xunqian Wang to see if I could get a special g.2 that was powdercoated. He said "We are like Naim now, we don't do that".

Yeah sad to hear that.
Sometimes small companies go the extra mile but stop when they become bigger.

I used to have a used Rockna Wavelight in silver. Bought it for 2500€.
After I managed to get all other components in black it started bothering me, so I reached out to my Dealer.
The plan was to send my unit to Rockna and they put the internals into a black chassis, charge 400€ and send it back to me.

In reality I sent my unit in and they just shipped a completely new black Wavelight to me. No new invoice, no extended warranty, but a completely new Wavelight.
Sure black is the other Standard color but it was still nice to get this treatment.
Including shipping I basically paid 3000€ for a brand new Wavelight. And ever since then my setup is classy Black from head to toe.

Even my Elite is an all black special edition.