Gadgetory

everybody how you doing audio head here today we have a headphone amplifier from Wu and it is a doozy this is actually the W a 7d with the separate power supply that's new the wa7 T P this one the labeling is actually so new that they didn't have the D added yet so adjust as wa7 but this is the W a seven D model the d stands for duo in this case for dual digital inputs will get a little bit into that later however I just want to show you guys a shot of the front here you can see that it's very similar in design in that they both have the same kind of round button however if you look at it this button here is actually for power you push in the rotation doesn't have any particular form function for this unit but you push it in and push it out and that turns the power on for both of these simultaneously and this is your triple good turn on this knob by the way I know it's a small thing but there's a nice resistance to it that makes it feel kind of top-end so I really do enjoy that these are two solid blocks of glass that just rest on here they are heavy this is a solid block of glass it actually kind of gives the unit a lot of weight but it is just a free piece of glass that sits on the tubes can come in and out for those who want to like to roll but it's like a nice way T solid piece of machinery like everything else that will make so he did a really good job I think from a design element here just kind of looking at it all together I think they look very beautiful very elegant piece you know it could be a talker talking point for your someone comes over to your house and sees it it's excellent the other thing that I'd like to point out is he has two jacks here but this one here is actually intended for in-ear monitors favorite of the audiophile crowd and I have to say he did us all a really good service by adding it on that way it's not just for your run-of-the-mill headphones although it will work when you plug in a pair of in-ear monitors the noise floor is the lowest I've ever heard with a tube full-size amplifier because that usually is usually buzz or you know crackly you hear the tubes through in-ear monitors because they're so sensitive not the case of this if you're looking for a little more versatility that little Jack adds it in a very big way very good job by kind of adding that diversity but still pointed directly at the audiophile crowd nicely done so overall this is generally going to be used as a full sized headphone amplifier sonically this amplifier falls in line with a lot of other woo products it's it's - it's a tube amplifier but isn't necessarily overly to be has a nice almost solid like ish tone to it that I find really nice clarity a little bit of warmth but not not too much now the stock tubes that are installed on this one that it could that will come with I found have it they have a nice frequency curve not so much billing but they have a little bit of kick around the bass drum so you might feel a little bit of a boost right there but if he varies from I'm sure of tube to tube sometimes but swapping out tubes does make a difference in the frequency response but the stock ones that I have that I listen to this one critically are very nice nice punch in the bass so the frequency givers pretty much as flat as the rest of my solid-state stuff just a little extra punch in that bass so I actually think that some people might find that quite enjoyable overall tonal structure tonal density the texture the detail the extension is very good on both sides so if you're into a tube type sound but don't want to you know go too far because the problem you run into is some tube amps is that they get there just really to be a little loose in the pace and they lose a little bit of focus because there's so much tube action going on that is not the case with this app very nice so you can see from the back of this unit that there is a high and low gain to it which is nice for the harder term phones I prefer to listen on the low gay and I think it's a little bit more suitable for most headphones and then just turn the volume up louder if possible I really only resort to the high gain if it's a very very hard to drive headphone this is the power supply section where this connects right to here so these two are joined that's the power supply from the separate PSU unit here on an off switch USB input this is an input so if you want to use this isn't it use your own deck or another source be it a vinyl or whatever turntable from your phone onstage you can use this as an external amp without the DAC section which is nice here's the addition of the optical input so you have to do that's what makes it the duo the USB and the optical here and here's the switch to switch between those three inputs now this does differ from the regular wa7 in that on the wa7 there's no optical and this position here is actually reverse as this so you could use the USB DAC session as an out external DAC so DAC into here comes out to another amplifier if you want I don't think it's a big sacrifice with this one I don't know why you would spend this much money on the head amp and not use it so I think that this setup is just fine more inputs into the DAC you know the design here is just an elegant kind of desktop piece so it's not it's not too bad I think that the the three inputs in this is a very suitable use for the way it's intended to kind of beating so the price on the original wa7 was just a couple bucks shy of a thousand and with this update the price is now just a couple bucks shy of 12 if you want the the separate psu the W a 70 P here on the right that'll run you an extra four hundred so that's kind of how the price breakout is but it is you know it's a it's a very very nice unit overall good sound good texture great design nice weight nice half nice build just kind of a nice elegant piece would make a great addition to just about any place desktop you know a nice a nice kind of talking piece the tubes light up pretty it looks beautiful it sounds good so a very nice execution by Jack you over there who audio much thanks to those guys for sending out for review appreciate all their support and until next time guys have a great one