Woo Audio WA8 Eclipse

[Antonmb]

I’d been eyeing the Woo WA8 Eclipse amp/dac for a while, and finally had the opportunity to hear it at RMAF, with Sennheiser HD800s. In spite of the less-than-ideal circumstances at CanJam, I was impressed. When I got home, I ordered one using the 10% discount Jack Wu gave at the show (net price $1,619) and it arrived two days ago.

This is a great-looking little amp. It’s quite heavy for its size, and although it came packed in a nice hard case, it’s not exactly portable. Tyll Hertsens called it “transportable” - easily moved around the house or to the office, but not exactly one for the road. It’s battery-powered, with a rechargeable battery said to be good for at least 5,000 hours. Run-time on a full charge is 3-4 hours.

I’ve been listening to it using an iPad with a lightning-to-USB adapter (the old ”camera connection kit,” functional but not ideal), Shure SRH1540s, and MrSpeakers Aeon Flow closed phones. The sound so far is excellent: very clear mids and highs, solid bass, and a very nice overall balance. Like my other Woo amps, the midrange is really quite special. The little mini tubes also create a nice glow. At the moment I’m listening to Hawaiian slack-key guitar from John Keawe, and it’s beautifully resonant and clear, and spacious even with closed phones.

I have a Sonore MicroRendu streamer on order to go with it, which will be fed over the network by my SonicTransporter i7 running Roon. It will make a nice bedroom system.

If you’re in the market for a small tube amp/dac combo in this price range, I highly recommend it.

https://wooaudio.com/amplifiers/wa8