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yzhuang
2
Nov 27, 2013
Has anyone listened to the HE-500s through a WA7 fireflies? Is it a good pairing? Some say WA7 is under powered for the HE500, while WooAudio demonstrated the WA7 with HE-500s.
Has anyone listened to both HE500 + Lyr and HE500 + WA7? Would love to know your opinion.
JDWarner
349
Nov 27, 2013
yzhuangThere's a lot more to electronics than raw watts. The amp I have (a Bottlehead S.E.X.) produces barely 2 watts, so based on "common wisdom" some would say it's barely adequate for the HE-500s. In reality, it has a silly amount of headroom to drive the HE-500s, and can in fact drive the HE-6 without breaking a sweat. This despite people saying ">6 watts or don't even bother" regarding the HE-6. Wattage ratings are guidelines, and sometimes they apply. But not always.
The WA7 pushes around 1 watt, from what I understand. I think this would be perfectly adequate for the HE-500, assuming the circuit and impedance matching was done correctly. You will probably need to have it set properly (for low-impedance or low-Z), because I believe the outputs are transformer coupled. The other option would not pair well.
But my opinions are academic, not firsthand. Check out this Head-Fi post for a firsthand comparison between the amps you requested: http://www.head-fi.org/t/649097/woo-hoooo-wa7-fireflies/165#post_9207657
yzhuang
2
Nov 28, 2013
JDWarnerThanks for the info! Based on the above link, looks like WA7 is the winner for pairing with HE-500.
LQDForce
538
Nov 28, 2013
yzhuangThe WA3 is also a good option, if you already have a DAC .
yzhuang
2
Nov 28, 2013
LQDForceJust looked up WA3, thanks for the advice!
I have a 24bit/96K DAC. So WA7's DAC is also an upgrade. Aesthetics wise, I think, WA7 wins hands down ( Can't resist its look :P )
The only upside of WA3 for me is that I already own some 6922 / E88CC tubes.
I think I'll stick to getting the WA7.
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