Affordable ultra high-end headphone amplifier

(Credit: Woo Audio)

Would you buy a Ferrari for $1,050? OK, how about a $1,050 headphone amplifier?

The Woo Audio WA6 Special Edition headphone amp is built to Ferrari levels of quality and performance. Even before I listened to it, I knew it was going to be amazing.

It's a two-piece design. One chassis contains the power supply, the other is the amplifier proper. The pewter color, die-cast chassis parts are finished to a high standard, fully equal to $10,000 stereo amplifiers I've reviewed, but the WA6-SE is a good deal smaller than your average high-end amplifier. The two chassis together fill just 11.25 inches by 10.25 inches of shelf space.

The WA6-SE is a pure tube design, without a single semiconductor or integrated circuit in the entire amp. It's hand-crafted in New York's Queens borough, and there are no printed circuit boards; all wiring is point-to-point hand-soldered. Woo Audio builds each amp to order, so it can incorporate custom options and offer a wide range of upgraded parts. Current build time is about three to four weeks.

Woo Audio offers an extensive range of headphone amplifiers. Prices start at $470 for the Woo Audio 3; the top-of-the-line WA5 LE runs $2,400. When I heard the $585 WA6 amp a few months ago, I was knocked out by its sound.

Using my Grado headphones (more about that in tomorrow's post), I compared the WA6-SE to the headphone jack of a $1,000 A/V receiver, and guess what? It wasn't remotely close in quality. The receiver's sound was mushed together, so it was harder to distinguish individual instruments on dense, heavily mixed recordings like those on Led Zeppelin's remastered The Song Remains the Same CD.

Switching between the Woo and the receiver was like comparing a 128Kbps MP3 to a Super Audio CD. It wasn't so much that the receiver sounded "bad" as it was that the Woo sounded better. Bass went deeper, treble reached higher, the difference in clarity was flat out astonishing.

Well, WA6-SE ought to blow away the receiver; the receiver was loaded with every up-to-the-second surround-processing gizmo, and it could deliver 100 watts per channel to seven speakers, blah, blah, blah. But as a purveyor of sound to headphones, it was just passable.

Clearly, the receiver's designers put their time and budget into making the best home theater receiver they could. Headphone sound isn't a priority. If home theater is your thing, buy an A/V receiver.

But if you listen to a lot of music over headphones, treat yourself to a Woo Audio amp. It's built to provide decades of use and will be around long after most of today's A/V receivers and $1,799 MacBook Airs are taking up space in landfills. They're not built for the long haul.

High-end audio components are, and that might be part of how you rationalize the dough you spend on the good stuff.

Tomorrow, I'll cover the sound of a bona fide high-end audio system for about $2,000. And yes, it includes the WA6SE and the Grados.

[kcar27]

Seriously, I have to wonder whether all these high-end devices could stand up to a controlled "blindfold" listening test. Just about every area of consumer electronics has seen dramatically falling prices--but with audio equipment, there's a lot of hand-waving and spouting of pseudo-science to explain obscenely high prices.

Steve, I'd also really, really love it if Cnet could keep up with the release of new A/V receivers. If you guys can't afford to do full reviews on all the new models, please at least report these new releases.

[ndurantz]

So, Steve, I assume you'll tell us tomorrow what kind of kick-ass CD player you'd hook up to this amp?

[UITD]

I hope you didnt test with MP3s. They suck. The quality of that format is so horrendous, it isnt funny.

[soundman45]

Interesting design. Ugly though. probably some of the best sounding paperweights in the esoteric audio industry.

[cardes]

"Even before I listened to it, I knew it was going to be amazing" ... And thats where I stopped reading.

[DaveOCP]

What an utterly pointless comparison. Just because a tube driven headphone amp and a receiver cost about the same, doesn't mean they should have anything to do with each other. OBVIOUSLY the makers of the receiver are going to be slightly more concerned about the digital processing, video switching, and the actual amplifier people are actually going to use. The headphone jack is just there as a convenience. How about comparing this thing to, I don't know, other headphone amplifiers? The PS Audio GCHA also costs $1000, why not start there?

[jkollar]

Yes, this makes my IPod earphone pods sound Sooooo much better.

Sorry, don't buy it that just because it is handmade, uses tubes, uses point to point wiring and uses no circuit boards or integrated ciruits makes this inherently better.

[make_or_break]

I'd like to see the Woo get video signal out to your flat panel LCD. You mean it can't? How rude...

I think that's all that needs to be said about apples and oranges...

Only in the audio industry does the consumer base praise old technology. Where else would you want 1960's tech over 2000's tech. You new car? How about a TV? Flying in an airplane? Recording studio music? It is a great industry for manufacturers cause they don't need to innovate and can just charge more money to saps who eat it up. Anybody want to invest in a start up with me?

[paskunyak]

Golden ears never go deaf, nor dumb! I remain dismayed that most audio reviewers are charter members of the golden ear club constantly praising the sound quality of amplifiers, especially tube amplifiers and their "warm" sound. If an amp is doing its job correctly, it shouldn't have any sound at all, just boost the volume of the sound source. Of course, as a number of readers have pointed out, your comparison of a specialized headphone amp with an A/V receiver is an example of apples and oranges. Here, I must believe the Woo would be much better driving any good headphones than the A/V receiver. And as audio reviewers have been pointing out for decades, headphones are not receiver designers top priority. Still I'm curious to see what you will recommend for a speaker system.

[tedtks]

I thought the lead said ' affordable ' ?

[dcstephens]

Wow. The AV guys never cease to amaze me with their negativity toward anyone that dares to say "this sounds better than that."

If you want to see comparisons of the Woo to their true competition, other headphone amps, roll around over at www.head-fi.org where you'll see comparisons to all price ranges. Woo consistantly is one of the top contenders. If you don't trust your ears, then stick to AV and don't worry about the two-channel guys.

I think it's neat that Steve is offering his views to this audience, but I'm amazed that he might find it rewarding. Thanks to The Audiophiliac for sharing his views.

Dave

[atbglenn]

I see there aren't too many audiophiles here. Most of you probably think Bose headphones are top of the line, coupled the 128kbs mp3's. Sad, very sad.....

[techenvy]

thank goodness for your reviews, i will definitley be purchasing a woo headphone amp, i only wish i had known about there products sooner, i am so bummed , today i just recieved my $200 headphone amp direct from japan ($40 shipping )the audio technica AT-HA250D. plenty loud, i specifically bought because it has optical input, and me being knew to headphone amps, automatically assumed it had a bass and trebble control. ticks me off couldve got american! any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated , why oh why do many of these not have bass n treble control, whats the difference, i just hope to heck the woo has the controls, cuz i think ill loose it big time if i fork out 600 and no cigar!