I decide I must take the time to post a review of this fine tube headphone amplifier, the Woo Audio WA6. Mine is the black finish and built in 2012.

First, the company. Woo Audio is a family operation run my CEO Jack Woo. They are very dedicated to a quality product and offer excellent customer service. I have had a few email questions that were answered by Jack Woo directly and appreciate that he is willing to take the time to reply himself. Not a common thing for a CEO to do these days!

The WA6 has a well deserved reputation as a excellent sounding and VERY well built product ( as is the entire WOO Audio line ). Attention to detail is evident both inside and out. Hand wiring, good tp excellent parts quality, and soldering looks just fine ay all connections. Woo Audio even builds their own output transformers to assure the performance and quality they demand. That too is very un-common in todays electronics manufacturing. Fit and finish are way above the norm for this price range.

For the record, I use Denon AH-D7000 and Sennheiser HD-600 headphones with my WA6. Since the WA6 offers a transformer coupled design, and switchable low/high impedance outout, it allows the use of both of these headphone types.

The WA6 is shipped with cheap chinese tubes, as is the norm these days. You MUST plan on purchasing better quality ( and likely older made NOS tubes ) to allow this fine amp to achieve it's true potential. The driver (gain) tube pair and the rectifier all need to be replaced. The good news is that Woo Audio selected affordable signal tubes like the 6DE7 and they are still available for well under $25 a pair in RCA, Sylvania, GE, etc and though not real common, pretty cheap for the sound quality. I selected the so called "fat bottle" stle of some late 1960's RCA's that sound excellent. They have full deep bass, smooth mids and highs, and decent drive. Mine were under $20 for the pair. I have however recently up-graded ( via a set of high quality teflon adapters Woo Audio makes in house ), to the use of 6SN7 tubes as the drivers. I did this to allow more selection in tube rolling, and I have settled on two types Il really like in this amp - RCA JAN 6SN7GT VT-231 WW2 1944 vintage, and Ken-Rad JAN 6SN7GT VT-231 WW2 1945 issue. Both of these tubes offer excellent bass, warm mids, and softer highs. I prefer a very warm "tubey" sound signature, so these meet my demands.

In the single rectifier tube used in the WA6, I have tried GZ34, 5U4G, 5R4GY, and 5V4G/GZ32 rectifiers, all good quality 1940-1950's made tubes. I have stayed with a 1955 vintage Brimar 5V4G and a RCA (labeled for Ken-Rad) 5R4GY WW2 vintage 1945 rectifiers. Both do different things to the sound signature of the amp depending on the driver tubes they are paired with. The WA6 by circuit design is greatly influenced by the rectifier tube - more so than some designs. This makes tube rolling both fun and rewarding.

I find the sound from the WA6 to be robust, well defined, decent deep bass, very slightly warm in the mids, and extended even highs, that approach solid-state units in this regard. I dont find this unit to be on the"tubey" side of reprorduction, and really kind if a hybrid tube-transistor over all presentation ( in a good way ) with standard tubes. My selection of tubes as listed leans it towards a warmer overall presentation, which I prefer.

Great headphone amplifier and highly recommended in it's price range. Wonderful sound and built to last. And it begs to be allowed vast tube rolling experimentation!!!!

Excellent build. Superb sound quality. Top notch support.

None.

Well,
Just received my new Woo 6 headphone tube amp. Man this thing is beautiful! Extremely well built, it has plenty of muscle to drive my K701's to very loud levels. This is my first tube product, and I must say I'm very impressed! I can't believe how good this old technology can sound. What really impresses me the most , is how quite the amp is. Music seem to flow from a dead black background. I only have about 12 hours on my amp, so an in depth review should wait I guess, although I'm not one of those die hard believers in burn for electronics, I do think it affects dynamic drivers though. So far the Woo is a class act, and Jack is a wonderful, passionate, business man, who pays attention to the smallest details. I can't say enough about working with Jack. The amp is worth the price just based on the support alone. Their are very few products I have been this satisfied with, in a world where service, and quality are much to often a distant memory. As a business owner myself, I applaud Wooaudio for it's passion in producing a top flight, quality product.

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