WA5 or ECBA

[seacard]

I don't know if there is anybody that has heard both of these amps, but if you have, which one did you like better. And if you haven't but know a lot about tube amp design, which one is better designed / made?

I'm looking for the best possible amp for both the K1000 and the HD800 and now that I am leaning towards a tube amp, these two seem to be the leading candidates. Unfortunately, I know nothing about tubes or tube amps.

(p.s. let's put aside the fact that Eddie Current is also balanced since (a) it doesn't matter for the K1000 and ( while I may buy a balanced cable for the HD800, I likely won't be reterminating other headphones with hardwired cables.)

[HeadphoneAddict]

I liked the BA at CanJam more than the WA5, which seemed a little underpowered with my K1000. I only got to hear someone elses HD800 single ended on the BA which was very nice, but my own 4-pin XLR HD800 were in the TTVJ/Woo room at CanJam and those were pretty good with the WA5. I also don't think my K1000 sound quite as good with my ZDT as with the BA, but my ZDT is at least as good and maybe better than the WA5 was with my K1000. Craig Uthus says he thinks the BA is better for the K1000 than the ZDT, but I wasn't able to compare them side by side because the prototype ZDT didn't make it to CanJam. I think he recommended 300B tubes for K1000.

[atothex]

Yeah, buy Californian.

[Icarium]

I've never liked the woo5. It's really not bad compared to most of the competition, but 6sn7 + 300b amps are so over done. I wasn't a fan with the cary 300 sei and while the woo5 is better to my ears... pretty much any other tube seems way nicer.

Now that's a little bit hypocritical since the BA uses 6sn7 as a driver tube as well, but damn it's a tier or two up to my ears.

Consider the ZDT as well.. it's also superior to the Woo. I take delivery of my BA tomorrow so I'll get to spend some quality time with it... unless the AD1 issue requires some more tinkering.. god I hope not.

Yeah regarding the underpowered thing.. I think the partial silver transformers were tuned to a ratio better suited for K1ks and I don't think they really will sound underpowered with them, but I am unsure. I think foo_me still didn't think it was at the level of his Zanden though I don't know if that's presentation/sound signature related or underpowered sounding related. I'll have my pair next to me waiting for the darn amp so I'll know if its a power issue.. if its not then its possibly a sound signature issue or the fact that I have no crossovers in my k1k issue.

[Voltron]

These are two of the best choices available for what you want to do, but you should also add the TTVJ 307A amp to the mix. The key is that all three are great across the spectrum of headphones you might ever want to use: low impedance, hi impedance, and K1000. From my personal preferences, the 307A is at the top, with the BA being a very close second, and the WA5 third but still a great amp.

I think the WA5 with Western Electric 300Bs is a great sounding amp, and I prefer (from audio memory at least) the sound of that setup over the sound from those new Shungang Treasure tubes that were in the WA5 at CanJam. The level of detail, clarity and presentation are all great for a single-ended tube amplifier. It does not drive the K1000 as well as my Moth 300B with the same tubes, but that is a speaker amp only which is best for them, imo. On balance, the way I (and others) have seen the WA5 is that it is a Swiss Army Knife of amps and does everything very well, but nothing the absolute best available.

The 307A and BA both add in balanced drive and suitability for pretty much all cans. The 307A is probably slightly drier and more transparent, while the BA has a slightly warmer and full-bodied sound. Both are very transparent to the source, and neither of them crosses the line into too cold or too warm to my ears, but there is a definite difference in sound signature. If I were pressed, I would say the 307A is more neutral and can give you an even truer representation of the source. The 307A adds a gain selector that goes right down to IEM levels and I think that it actually succeeds even at that level. Both of them drive the K1000s well and easily, both of them sound great with the HD800s from short listening at CanJam (307A) and our recent meet (BA).

The last time I heard these two side-by-side was when the BA was in a prior prototype iteration, and I have been wanting to recreate that comparison sometime. The BA came in second then, but hearing it at CanJam and Burlingame its final production version is way better and it would be a harder decision.

[jp11801]

Now this in new thing for me but I would not get the BA for K1000 use not a great match and Craig will be the first to tell you that. Any other headphones I'd go BA and the HD800s are no exception.

The Woo 5 is a great amp not the last word in any of it's uses (speakers, headphones, powering a stax tranny or k1000s) but in the top class in everything it does.

TTVJ 307a great amp and will power both the HD800 and k1000 great choice, not my favorite as it sounds stiffer to me than the woo or EC but an awesome amp. I am shocked that more people don't own these for their sound and versatility. People spent mad money on SinglePower stuff some great some garbage but this well built top performing amp does not get nearly the love it deserves. Also Todd and Pete are top flight guys.

ED ZDT excellent amp great at everything you throw at it slightly more bloomy than the BA and not in the same resolution but you'll not get near the the quality of a ZDT for Craig's price of $2500. Anyone else that built the ZDT or BA would likely charge 20-30-% more for these amps based on parts cost and quality of sound.

[penger]

TTVJ 307a great amp and will power both the HD800 and k1000 great choice, not my favorite as it sounds stiffer to me than the woo or EC but an awesome amp. I am shocked that more people don't own these for their sound and versatility. People spent mad money on SinglePower stuff some great some garbage but this well built top performing amp does not get nearly the love it deserves. Also Todd and Pete are top flight guys.

Was the 307a amp even available say... 2-3 years ago when SP was super popular?

[guzziguy]

I remember it coming out just in time for CanJam 2008. Of course, my memory is shot these days.

[jp11801]

They overlapped for maybe a 6 months to a year, my point was people thought nothing of dropping 5k on a singlepower amp but for some reason the 307a which to me represents a better value than most of Mikhail's builds gets no love.

[penger]

True that.

[Hopstretch]

They overlapped for maybe a 6 months to a year, my point was people thought nothing of dropping 5k on a singlepower amp but for some reason the 307a which to me represents a better value than most of Mikhail's builds gets no love.

I think it's at least partly an aesthetics issue. Mikhail's stuff looked incredible and was shit inside. The 307a is the exact opposite, in my opinion.

[jp11801]

I never understood the beauty of the SP stuff just a black box with tubes coming out on top. The amps get decent looking with the big boxes but he ppx, mpx, extreme and supra were not particularly sexy to me.

I do agree though that at 5K Todd and Pete could dress the amp up a touch.

[Hopstretch]

Was really only thinking of the SP big boys in the alleged Lockheed chassis. Those really looked the business in an evil, purposeful sort of way.

[Dusty Chalk]

I suspect it's because they already spent the money, and weren't willing to spend it again.