Woo's New Flagship WA33

[mahesvara]

A month ago I was preparing to move to a different state ... and one thing that led to another, I decided to sell my old WA22 (it was shocking how fast it got sold) and put in an order for the WA33. Thanks to Jack Wu and Mike Liang (@HiFiGuy528) at @WooAudio, the beast arrived a few days ago. I already have the Takatsuki 274B so I installed the rectifier along with the stock tubes (which are very nice given that they are stock) and was immediately blown away when I plugged in my Focal Utopia.

I once thought that when I maxed out my WA22 with TungSol 5998, RCA 5962, and Takatsuki 274B, it would come close to the WA33. It doesn't. Not by a mile. The WA22 loses out to the flagship in every way. The WA33 is dead quiet, its soundstage wide and deep, and its imaging spectacularly precise. I have a few 96Khz/24bit songs from a band I particularly like and never before did I manage to perceive the positions of the various instruments all "around my head" so clearly. There is this sense of huge power and authority behind every note that is quite impressive. I loved my old WA22 to death, but it couldn't deliver music with such effortless grace and ease the way the WA33 does.

I just wish I have a better camera so I can do justice to the beautiful appearance of this silver beast. When I turned off all of the lights in the room, the glow of the tubes is simply mesmerizing, something beyond what the crappy iPhone camera can capture.

This is nothing that anyonehas to have. But to those who is passionate enough about music quality (and more importantly, with sufficient conviction to overcome empty-wallet-phobia), I think the WA33 is worthy of being your end-game tube amp. I certainly would not be looking to replace it with anything else for a very long time.

All in all, I'm super happy with the WA33, and will enjoy it as-is for another while. When the end of the year comes, I may finally max it out with upgrade driver/power tubes and see what more the WA33 is capable of.

 

[WooAudio]

A month ago I was preparing to move to a different state ... and one thing that led to another, I decided to sell my old WA22 (it was shocking how fast it got sold) and put in an order for the WA33. Thanks to Jack Wu and Mike Liang (@HiFiGuy528) at @WooAudio, the beast arrived a few days ago. I already have the Takatsuki 274B so I installed the rectifier along with the stock tubes (which are very nice given that they are stock) and was immediately blown away when I plugged in my Focal Utopia.

I once thought that when I maxed out my WA22 with TungSol 5998, RCA 5962, and Takatsuki 274B, it would come close to the WA33. It doesn't. Not by a mile. The WA22 loses out to the flagship in every way. The WA33 is dead quiet, its soundstage wide and deep, and its imaging spectacularly precise. I have a few 96Khz/24bit songs from a band I particularly like and never before did I manage to perceive the positions of the various instruments all "around my head" so clearly. There is this sense of huge power and authority behind every note that is quite impressive. I loved my old WA22 to death, but it couldn't deliver music with such effortless grace and ease the way the WA33 does.

I just wish I have a better camera so I can do justice to the beautiful appearance of this silver beast. When I turned off all of the lights in the room, the glow of the tubes is simply mesmerizing, something beyond what the crappy iPhone camera can capture.

This is nothing that anyonehas to have. But to those who is passionate enough about music quality (and more importantly, with sufficient conviction to overcome empty-wallet-phobia), I think the WA33 is worthy of being your end-game tube amp. I certainly would not be looking to replace it with anything else for a very long time.

All in all, I'm super happy with the WA33, and will enjoy it as-is for another while. When the end of the year comes, I may finally max it out with upgrade driver/power tubes and see what more the WA33 is capable of.

Thanks for sharing our impression. It is delightful to hear you are enjoying your new amp. Indeed, the WA33 will certainly remain in our portfolio for a long time.

 

[dawktah2]

A month ago I was preparing to move to a different state ... and one thing that led to another, I decided to sell my old WA22 (it was shocking how fast it got sold) and put in an order for the WA33. Thanks to Jack Wu and Mike Liang (@HiFiGuy528) at @WooAudio, the beast arrived a few days ago. I already have the Takatsuki 274B so I installed the rectifier along with the stock tubes (which are very nice given that they are stock) and was immediately blown away when I plugged in my Focal Utopia.

I once thought that when I maxed out my WA22 with TungSol 5998, RCA 5962, and Takatsuki 274B, it would come close to the WA33. It doesn't. Not by a mile. The WA22 loses out to the flagship in every way. The WA33 is dead quiet, its soundstage wide and deep, and its imaging spectacularly precise. I have a few 96Khz/24bit songs from a band I particularly like and never before did I manage to perceive the positions of the various instruments all "around my head" so clearly. There is this sense of huge power and authority behind every note that is quite impressive. I loved my old WA22 to death, but it couldn't deliver music with such effortless grace and ease the way the WA33 does.

I just wish I have a better camera so I can do justice to the beautiful appearance of this silver beast. When I turned off all of the lights in the room, the glow of the tubes is simply mesmerizing, something beyond what the crappy iPhone camera can capture.

This is nothing that anyonehas to have. But to those who is passionate enough about music quality (and more importantly, with sufficient conviction to overcome empty-wallet-phobia), I think the WA33 is worthy of being your end-game tube amp. I certainly would not be looking to replace it with anything else for a very long time.

All in all, I'm super happy with the WA33, and will enjoy it as-is for another while. When the end of the year comes, I may finally max it out with upgrade driver/power tubes and see what more the WA33 is capable of.

This was very detailed, did you own another Woo amp prior to the WA22, namely the WA5? Whenever I get close to pulling the trigger for the WA33 I hesitate since I only own the WA8 and I don't know if its too big of a jump.

 

[joseph69]

I would think too big of a jump is a good thing (as long as the upstream gear is capable) than too little of a jump, no?
I'd feel I would be wasting my money if I kept moving forward in smaller increments and always wondering, what if, as well as having to sell at some loss to move forward again. I'm going from the WA6 right to the WA33 (standard edition) blindly with no fears whatsoever.

 

[dawktah2]

One thing I didn't realize regardless of which amp I buy is that most don't have remotes. My recliner is far enough away that I will need to adjust volume by getting up. Once my daughter is older (don't know safe age around tubes) I can move to a tabletop. I have a double 10U rack with locking door.

 

[andyschaub]

One thing I didn't realize regardless of which amp I buy is that most don't have remotes. My recliner is far enough away that I will need to adjust volume by getting up. Once my daughter is older (don't know safe age around tubes) I can move to a tabletop. I have a double 10U rack with locking door.

Simaudio makes a very nice reference-level headphone amp with balanced inputs and outputs (plus single-ended) that comes with a remote. It isn't the most powerful headphone amp on the market but will drive most headphones very well apart from, say, AKG K1000's or Abyss AB-1266's if you care about that: https://simaudio.com/en/product/430ha-headphone-amplifier/

 

[dawktah2]

Can anyone reference a good 300B vs 2A3 article? With Western Electric starting up production of the 300B again, don't have a crystal ball but wondering if a new 300B Woo amp is in the future.

 

[andyschaub]

Can anyone reference a good 300B vs 2A3 article? With Western Electric starting up production of the 300B again, don't have a crystal ball but wondering if a new 300B Woo amp is in the future.

I don't know of any reviews specifically comparing 2A3's to 300B's but, based on my own listening experience and the tube specifications, 300B's have a lot more than 2A3's but 2A3's sound tonally more neutral. It's just that you usually have to have at least two 2A3's per channel running in parallel or in a balanced configuration to have enough power to really drive anything, whereas a single pair of 300B's will do the job. The Western Electric 300B's have always had a special magic of their own that no other 300B can really compete with, but I don't know what the new production run WE300B's will sound like.

 

[dawktah2]

I don't know of any reviews specifically comparing 2A3's to 300B's but, based on my own listening experience and the tube specifications, 300B's have a lot more than 2A3's but 2A3's sound tonally more neutral. It's just that you usually have to have at least two 2A3's per channel running in parallel or in a balanced configuration to have enough power to really drive anything, whereas a single pair of 300B's will do the job. The Western Electric 300B's have always had a special magic of their own that no other 300B can really compete with, but I don't know what the new production run WE300B's will sound like.

Thanks for your reply,

They are due out this year so I'll hide my wallet until there are many reviews.

 

[mahesvara]

@dawktah2, I didn't own any Woo Audio amps except WA22 and WA33. I have heard the WA8 at shows, but you can expect that it can't match the WA22, let alone the WA33. Now funny you mentioned the 300B tubes. I was just emailing back and forth with Jack Wu himself about tubes and he said he would recommend the PSVANE WR2A3 tubes to use with the WA33 (I asked if there's a way I can add more warmth to the tonality) https://wooaudio.com/tubes/psvane-wr2a3. Turns out the WR23A is a hybrid between 2A3 and 300B tubes.

 

[dawktah2]

@dawktah2, I didn't own any Woo Audio amps except WA22 and WA33. I have heard the WA8 at shows, but you can expect that it can't match the WA22, let alone the WA33. Now funny you mentioned the 300B tubes. I was just emailing back and forth with Jack Wu himself about tubes and he said he would recommend the PSVANE WR2A3 tubes to use with the WA33 (I asked if there's a way I can add more warmth to the tonality) https://wooaudio.com/tubes/psvane-wr2a3. Turns out the WR23A is a hybrid between 2A3 and 300B tubes.

Is the WA5 in-between the WA22 and the WA33? It is price-wise how about sound-wise?

To complicate matters the Chord TT2 is coming out this fall...and yes it has a remote. Hmmmm...

I know it seems trifling but being fully reclined in your chair and switch genre and albums are recorded at different levels suddenly too loud or too quiet...grumble

Is there a pre-amp solution?

 

[Majestiic]

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their 2a3 tubes. Other threads i have read for amps that use 2a3 tubes seemed to have reliability issues. Specifically i was wondering @melb0028 if you have had any quality control issues with your KR2a3 since I am contemplating putting those in. I'm still on stock tubes at the moment but was looking to replace all of mine. Thanks

 

[melb0028]

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their 2a3 tubes. Other threads i have read for amps that use 2a3 tubes seemed to have reliability issues. Specifically i was wondering @melb0028 if you have had any quality control issues with your KR2a3 since I am contemplating putting those in. I'm still on stock tubes at the moment but was looking to replace all of mine. Thanks

One of my 2 KR2A3s went bad within the first couple weeks- so maybe there is something to what you say about quality control. Woo audio replaced it - took about 3 weeks in total to get a new one back. During that time I was using my stock 2A3s. All I can say is holy moly the KR 2A3s just kill the stock tubes. I was counting the days. It’s well worth any possible hassles or risk of a bad tube in my book.

 

[Majestiic]

Ok thank you very much for that @melb0028 . How long now have they been problem free?

 

[melb0028]

Ok thank you very much for that @melb0028 . How long now have they been problem free?

I’ve been running them several hours daily for about 8 weeks. My understanding is the bad ones show themselves typically within a couple weeks of use...