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I've got a Woo WA6 and AKG K701 combination and find it fantastic. It'll match up well with your CD source now and as you improve it. My sources are an Oppo 981HD and a Pro-ject RM10 turntable through a Pro-ject Tube Box SE.
The 701s are very transparent and musical, with deep, solid bass and a smooth, smooth, smooth midrange. The will not hide any weakness in your source. I think your Cambridge is good enough, but the 701s will lay bare any digital hardness, just like the very best speakers.
Go over to www.head-fi.org and search the threads for comments about the 701s. Some of the guys complain about initial shrillness of their 701s. I think it's because they're using crappy digital sources.
With digital you need a good source or it'll wear you out. The Woo helps with that edge, but it's flat, transparent and revealing also.
The head-fiers claim that the 701s need 300-hours of burn-in. My sounded good right out of the box, but the bass opened up considerably by about 100-hours.
The WA6/701 combination is a VERY sweet rig. Given a half way decent source (I suspect yours is, but know for certain) it'll bring you very pleasant listening. As you improve your sources these cans will get better and better.
Dave
Thank you.
You might also consider the DarkVoice 337 dual mono tube amp.
It sounds great with my K701s.
Check out the 337 thread at head fi.
You can get this amp for less than 700.00 delivered and it's owners consider it world class.
I think that the DarkVoice and Woo WA6 are the two most popular tube amps with the 701, based on my rolling around at head-fi. Woo is made in the USA by Jack Wu. You buy direct and talk to Jack if you have questions. They're shipped with good tubes and very well packaged. The WA6 is under $700.
Tom, where'd you get your DarkVoice? I looked for a source once, but didn't find a coherant dealer. So many talk about the DV that there must be a good dealer, but I didn't find it. Things were crystal clear with Woo so I chose that option.
Dave
The local dealer here in town carries the Opera audio conssanace cyber20 has anyone tried this amp?
Fascinating that the DarkVoice 337 is truly dual mono - it even has two powercords going into its two separate power supplies.
I have a Single Power headphone amp and recommend these as well.
I didn't like the 701's (too bright, exhausting) but have not heard a pair with 300+ hours on them. I will need to take another listen on a well warmed up pair.
Love my Woo 6. 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 seems to flow from a dead black background. 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.
It pleases me that so many here have found the magic of the Woo6/AKG701 combination. I prefer my speakers, BUT it's really nice, like last night, to be able to listen to newly arrived LPs and DVD-As while my wife watches TV in the same room. There's no step down in sound quality, just the loss of impact from not having the speakers pound you chest and flap your pants legs.
Dave
Mine is a stock Woo 6. Did you buy any of the upgrades?
Tony
Tony, mine's stock also.
Dave
Dave, Have you ever listened to a good pipe organ recording on the 701's? I was amazed at the extension of the low end. The amp holds up well to about 1:00 position. I have some mint recordings of Leon Berry. Pretty impressive!
Oh yeah.
A favorite of mine is my D2D Crystal Clear recording of the Atlanta Brass with organ. The Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor is amazing. I'm torn as to whether I prefer the 701s or the Ultimate Ears Triple.fi Pro IEMs. They have incredible bass also, but the AKG's highs are just a little smoother.
Some bass-heads over at head-fi.org don't think that the AKGs have enough bass, but they wouldn't know natural bass if it hit them in the head.
Dave
I agree that most people are all consumed with boomy over pumped bass. I have a pair of Ultimate Ears super fi pro 5 I think there called. The main thing I really dislike about them is the fact they have no filter you can replace, and if you don't clean them after every use, you run the risk of clogging them permanetly. I also feel they are a bit bass heavy.
I've got the S.F5Pros also. I clean mine about every other use. When I was new to them I went on several trips without cleaning them and the right channel got totally blocked. I was able to clean it without pushing wax into the drivers.
Thanks to the isolation, I listen to my IEMs at pretty low levels. When used that way the bass seems in perfect context. Still, it's hard for me to imagine what the bass-boost version must sound like (probably totally unnatural, but there's evidently a market for that).
My Triple.fi 10 Pros are smoother overall than the S.F. The T.Fis rival my AKG 701s on overall smoothness, but I give the nod to the AKGs.
Dave
Dave have you ever rolled any tubes on your Woo 6? Just wondering if it's worth trying.
No Tony, but there's a guy at Head-fi that rolled a bunch of rectifiers and ended up with a metal based model that he thought blew everything else away. I copied the post into Word at home. It got me thinking that the worse case would be that I'd have a spare rectifier.
Hopefully I'll get time to find the file tonight and repeat the guy's post here.
I really don't want to get deep into tube rolling, but if there's a great one out there at a reasonable price, then I might try it.
Dave
Thanks Dave. I would really like to see that. Just finished listening to Shefield Labs Missing Link on my Musichall Mmf7 Shure V15 type 3 combo. Makes me very happy.
Dave, this is intriguing. Is the rectification tube based on this amp and thus he was swapping tubes in the power supply?
As better rectification improves the sound this appears to be a worthy experiment.
Here's a quote that caught my eye over at Head-fi.org:
"One thing I have noticed with this Amp, is that it is very easy to discern differences between Rectifiers. Have tried Mullard GZ34, Mullard GZ32, Amperex Brown Base GZ34, etc. All sound very good, all sound slightly different, but if you want to hear this amp at it's best, you've got to use a Holland made GZ34 Metal Base. AMAZING! Simply blows any of the other tubes away! If I knew earlier what I know now, I would have saved all the money I spent (wasted) on the other tubes and just bought the Metal Base to begin with."
I don't know this guy and he only has 30 posts at Head-fi, but he seems to have some sense and good taste in equipment.
Here's his rig:
Woo Audio WA6
Sennheiser HD-650
SAA Equinox LE
Rega Planet CDP
So I'm thinking about ordering one of those rectifiers.
Dave
Exactly.
Whoa. The first price I found for a Holland GZ34 is $620!!! More than the amp itself.
Tony, why don't you try one and tell me what you think?
Dave
Yes, Tony, let us know . . .
Upgrading the WA6 (new Caps) is worth it. Jack and father have now even made a two Box version of the WA6 that is suppose to be even better (from all reports). My WA6 is Maxed out with VCAPS and upgrades. And the design of the WooAudio Amps really responds well to tube rolling. I have played around with other amps and sometimes you could not tell the difference. But with the WA6 and WA5 that I have, I have been able to hear the difference with every tube that I have put in them. Really a fun (and costly) hobby.
WA6 is a great 'bang for buck' amp IMO.
Cheers,