“Upgraded the power supply rectifier tube to the Sophia 274B Mesh Plate tube and the soundstage opened up just as they said it would. The amp is dynamic and clean with great bass, clear voices, and smooth highs.”
“Built like a tank. Quality components, attractive physical design, perfect fit and finish, and heavy- this is not a toy. Tons of power- when listening to music in the chain Oppo UDP-205 -> Woo WA6-SE-> Sennheiser HD650, the volume control rarely needs to go beyond 9 o'clock. Totally black background- no hum. To me, the WA6-SE has very full, clear sound, not euphonic like a 300B amp, but not thin like the sub-$400 THX-based SS headphone amps popular at the moment. Is it worth $1400 in 2021? If you want something that will last decades, yes.”
“I gifted this to myself thanksgiving morning it was sitting on my porch the following sunday morning awesome service from Audio Adviser the wa6se amp is packaged so well protected that it could almost be sent airmail if you know what i mean Double boxed injection molded foam and VOILA, a beautiful amp set these are big, heavy,(over 20 pounds) and so well built you instantly know youve gotten you monies worth put the tubes in hook it up and fire it up . It automatically preheats the tubes and then your ready and WOW is this thing powerfull I's certainly warmer than my fostex HP-A8c or my new ifi neo dsd dac/amp but not soft and gooey like so many tubes the wa6se has incredible bass presence far more than I expected it excels in all aspects of the sonic spectrum and is very forgiving of tonal deficiencies resulting in poorer quality recordings im not going to entertain hyperboles but will finish with the wa6se pairs great with all my cans oppo pm-1 sennhieser 650/700/800s focal elears,akg, and my favorite modded klipsch HP-3 This amp loves jazz, blues , digital/techno and classical yet still pounds rocknroll If your looking to spend over a grand , i really really do recomend the wa6se Ive seldom ever been this satisfied No buyers remorse here CIAO”
“I've had this headphone amp for about a year. It has excellent resolution, and great detail. i'm able to hear subtleties that I have not heard before. I get somewhat better sound from this headphone amp with my Sennheiser headphones than I get from my Krell amp and my B&W Matrix speakers. This headphone amp also has a great build quality.”
“Upon opening the box (with custom foam inserts protecting the unit and tubes) I was immediately blown away by the size of the units. They're larger than the photos might lead one to believe with the face plates being roughly the same size a Burson Soloist SL but the units are deeper. Build quality is as good as all the online reviews state which is to say...extraordinary. That you can get this level of quality for this price is really really something, you just have to see it in person to appreciate it.
Sound:
Right out of the box the sound into my Sennheiser HD660 is clean, impactful, dynamic, and...sweet. Just a really fun sound. The units haven't even burned in yet (I've got about 10 hours on it). I also own Senn HD650, Grado GS2000e, Grado SR325e, and AKG K712. This amp makes all of them sound better than any of my other 4 headphone amps. The search for that satisfying sounding amp is finally over. This amp really does make good headphones sing. The dynamics are so impactful that you really have to hear it. Listening to Orbital's Halcyon+On+On and Township Rebellion's Ramses is really nice with this amp. The WA6-SE truly delivers. No noise, no harshness, just sweet pleasing valve sound. The fact that you can further personalize the sound by tube rolling is just icing on an already very sweet cake.
If you're an audiophile head-fier you really owe it to yourself to hear (and see) the WA-6 SE. Thanks Woo.”
“I have to admit that I'm old enough to have seen the transition from analog to digital, and to a lesser degree, the transition from tubes to solid state conductors - the digital and CD era couldn't come fast enough for me. The change from vinyl with its limited capacity, noisy surfaces and bulky media to CD was pretty slick. No longer did we have to record our records onto cassettes to play them in the car. And the sound was pretty darn good. As decades went by and files were crunched down to fit onto smaller and smaller devices for the sake of being able to store more tracks, sound quality suffered. I feared the end of hi-fi as I knew it.
Fun to see the resurgence of vinyl and renewed interest in sound quality. As digital sound quality was being improved through increased audio sample rates, I still wanted to return to analog and make it one of my listening options. So I bought a turntable, a phono preamp and wanted to listen through headphones with a dedicated amplifier. It turned-out to be a good thing when I learned the headphone amp from my headphone manufacturer was no longer available - it forced me to start looking at other options. Though I'd wasn't looking specifically for a tube amp, everything I read about them lined-up well with my return-to-analog project and that's how I landed on Woo.
The stock WA6 SE sounds great right out of the box. Lots of power - something like 2W into a 32ohm headset. I was really surprised how dead quiet it is - no hiss, no hum. It is a handsome amplifier - a separate power supply with a large, rectifier tube and the amplifier with its two power tubes - both units are really well built. Through Woo's website, I did opt for the upgraded tube offering specific to this amp -- though the improvement is incremental, the WA6 SE sounds even better. Bass is strong, tight and resonant; midrange is smooth and revealing; highs are clear and crisp. Depending on the source material, you can hear more of the room the recording was made in -- though I think I'm still in the break-in period for these components, I am really enjoying what I'm hearing.
The WA6 SE has two switchable inputs - I use one for my turntable and the other for the DAC connected to my music server - to which I've ripped all of my CD's (uncompressed). The best of both worlds! Regardless of your source material, I think this is one terrific headphone amplifier -”
“I'm hoping to give a 5 star rating.....still haven't set up my new system and just ordered rack system & power cord yesterday from AA, but I'll put in a review as soon as set up & break in are complete (also have a new cd player as part of this. so I'm expecting great sound!”
