The amp being a class A DHT single ended non-otl tube amp plays a great role of what kind of sound signature can be achieved in the end. Some people just seem to mistake that simple design topology with low quality while in fact done well has been a magical combination for decades. Basically most of the characteristics Joshua mentioned in the video are pretty much what you can expect of any high performing amp using the same topology irregardless of it being a power amp for speakers or a headphone amp. Joshua could have easily been talking about my mono block power amps for my speakers which use the exact same topology, just are a couple times heavier with beefy output transformers etc meant to drive speakers instead of headphones but that type of sound characteristic he described is pretty much way this topology is still relevant after decades. You only find this type of sound signature with this topology, other tube topologies sound differently, let alone non-tube stuff.

Ordered my wa23 a few days ago. Iam looking forward like a little boy!! Can`t wait. Greetings from germany!

@@AniketKapse lol already have it! Bought it a little over a year ago 😁

I was looking at the Woo Audio enclosed cube style tube amps because I am concerned I'll whack the tubes on this or anything with a similar form factor. Any idea how those compare to something open like this one with much bigger tubes?

@@yarbles66 Yeah, the Fireflies are great little tube amps. That being said, they have a pretty different sound compared to this. Their sound, while warm, is more neutral than this is and they don't stage nearly as well as this does. However, I don't think I'd worry too much about hitting the tubes on this - they're already somewhat protected by the chassis of the amp and they're pretty robust to boot. That said, you should always avoid touching tubes directly with your hands, as the oils on your hands can reduce their lifespan.

@@eruilluvitar saw the price on these. 9K isn't in budget for me right now unfortunately. Also I'm quite sick and basically live in bed with all my gear on bedside tables. I'm usually on heavy meds for pain and I've broken far less fragile stuff by knocking it not quite in my right mind 😅 I could go 1500 (soonish - at a push!) I may just get something cheap to see if I actually like the tube thing & guys who review v high end stuff have said the Xduoo TA-26S is fantastic value at a few hundred. Annoyed the DROP collab they did sold out 😩 as that looks a bit better for not much more. Gonna pass on the Firefly as def don't want neutral. Kind thanks.

@@yarbles66 The TA-26S is indeed excellent; it's super fun and easy to tube roll with. It's also much better built than the Dark Voice. I'd also recommend the xDuoo MT-604, if you want something tubey and balanced - it's also fun for tube rolling. If you're looking at the 1500-ish mark, you may want to check out the WA8 from Woo audio. It's a really nice little portable tube dac/amp with good punch (though it struggles to drive harder headphones like the Susvara or Tungsten). Lastly, the WA6-SE is right at that 1500 mark new and equally great - Jack and Mike at @WooAudioUSA can recommend some great non-stock tubes to try with it. I hope your health improves and if not that it at least keeps up so you can keep enjoying the music!

The primary reason to run balanced is for the power output, but single-ended has come such a long way that the difference between that and balanced is pretty much negligible. There are plenty of single-ended amps that are providing 4W+ per channel on single-ended which should be more than enough for 99% of the headphones out there.

There are reasons to run an SS amp balanced other than power output. For a tube, single-ended (SET) actually means a more musical topology than balanced (push-pull).

Nope, unless preampted from the source

You think you are in the position to be done with headphones just because you had woo33 with 1266? Lmao

Nope, Cuz IEM r mo sensitives then headphones bra.. Peace!

Lololol

This costs about the quarter of a normal car.. So if you get along without a car you could easily pay it off within a year. Like me, and I’m a nurse, not a rich person.

Okay, lets remove the percentage and add a few words from ( from the original comment ): An absolute beast for the mentally ill viewers who can buy it if they decide to spend the rest of their lives walking everywhere ​@@steelbiker70

@@steelbiker70who the f*k would pay off a headphone amplifier over a YEAR? horrible financial decision ..

@@steelbiker70what cars are $9k anymore?

That what she says too right?

these big baller pieces of equipment could do with longer videos. I take pleasure in your cinematics and lack of waffle, which by making them longer would perhaps be paradoxical, but hey, I'd enjoy it!

And which exact 600$ amp sounds like this one?

@@Peace_Guard$60 amp 😂

blind - if you sit and listen to this, the a90d, a schiit piety and i dunno, a yamaha receiver from the late 90s... you are not going to be able to pick the expensive one vs the cheap one vs the audiophile specific one. they're all going to sound just about perfect. any difference won't be a sudden boost in clarity or in quality of any component of the sound. any difference, again, unsighted, is going to be ever so minute - like a tilt shift of a degree off center. sighted - you 100% can wax poetic about them for however long you need to. but blind...? no... that isn't how electricity or a modulated signal works. capacitors and resistors and valves aren't rated by price. they're rated by capacitance and resistance. QC and stability to environment. the signal doesn't care how pretty the amp is, or what it costs. the signal doesn't care about varying topology. you can filter electricity with 4 parts or 400 exotic parts. the electricity out the other side is the exact same. filtered. consider this... via measuring equipment infinitely more sensitive and infinitely less bias than a human, there is no electrical or spectrum related differences to the output of dacs and amps. 1v is 1v - 80mw is 80mw. again, if there is noise in the audible band, something is broken - hell my PC motherboard doesn't have noise on the signal. which is more likely - all this stuff sounds exceedingly similar and we have to sell it with flowery details... or... a $10,000 amp, magically can imbue electricity with clarity and an expanded sound stage...? yes, gear is different from other gear. yes there are all manner of details i'm glossing over, but the lie in this hobby is that the difference keeps scaling with price. it does not. when there is a variance, it's... a slight step off from center. anyone selling you differently... TDLR - amp differences are infinitely smaller than reviewers let on. there is no amount of auditory clarity that approaches $9000... if you listened to this and a topping a90d blind, you will not pick one or the other as the "better" one - different maybe, better no. @@Peace_Guard

@@sauhamm3821 And you guys have auditioned, blind or not, against high-end amps? Because no one who has writes such things. You know auditioning can be free, right? You don't need to spend any money to verify if you're right or not, but you do need to have a will to do so. Otherwise it's like those guys saying that one TV is no different than other, because it's all the same electricity. And there's literally no one who will listen to Wa23 and A90D blind and not think that Luna is much better. Worth the price is a different thing, as this depends on what can someone afford, but the difference is not comparable, especially when you compare a shrill abrasive SS like chi-fi Topping and a high-end powerful OTC SET tube.

⁠@@sauhamm3821If a $60 amp can sound like a $6k one then logically I should be able to get a $6k speaker for $60, no? “Noooo nooo no that’s different!”

Ikr, but it's insane to me how these reviewers make it seem like it's worth the money. Like why do they have to put so much effort into making us believe it's anywhere near worth the insane price tag when it's clearly not?

Not necessarily that, but I would say just in general people who are able to afford that kind of money, while at the same time being audio files