Violectric V222 vs Woo Audio WA6

Short answer

  • More power: the Violectric V222, with 2.70 W into 32 Ω; the Woo Audio WA6 has 580 mW. The Violectric V222 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the Woo Audio WA6 cannot (Symphonium Titan).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the Woo Audio WA6 publishes no noise figure.
  • Price: the Violectric V222 costs $146 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are desktop amplifiers, $1245 against $1099.

The Violectric V222 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Woo Audio WA6 on 566.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationViolectric V222Woo Audio WA6
Power into 32Ω2.7 W580 mW
Power into 150Ω2.7 W536 mW
Power into 300Ω1.8 W460 mW
Power into 600Ω1.1 W400 mW
Output impedance0.25 Ωnot published
Output noise6.15 µVnot published
Price$1245$1099
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		567566

Not published means the maker leaves it out, so that axis cannot be compared.

Balanced output

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

BalancedViolectric V222Woo Audio WA6
Socketbalancedno separate rating
Power into 32Ω2.7 W—
Power into 300Ω1.8 W—
Output impedance0.5 Ω—
Output noise6.15 µV—
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		567—

Only the Violectric V222 has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here. The Woo Audio WA6 may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

LoadViolectric V222Woo Audio WA6
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩPublishedPublished
600 ΩPublishedPublished

Both makers publish a power rating. Violectric V222 publishes at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω; Woo Audio WA6 at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

What separates them

The headphones that tell them apart

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the Violectric V222 but not on the Woo Audio WA6 — Symphonium Titan.

566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

On real headphones

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Audeze LCD-2 Classic: Violectric V222 has +36 dB of headroom there against +28 dB. 8 dB is about 6.3 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Woo Audio WA6 because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsViolectric V222 headroomWoo Audio WA6 headroomViolectric V222 hissWoo Audio WA6 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+44 dB+36 dB30 dBnot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+24 dB+16 dB10 dBnot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+36 dB+28 dB8 dBnot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+35 dB+29 dB4 dBnot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+24 dB+18 dB3 dBnot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+29 dB+24 dB-3 dBnot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+24 dB+18 dB-7 dBnot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+18 dB+10 dB-9 dBnot published
What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Violectric V222 costs $146 more than the Woo Audio WA6. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 1 more model driven to 100 dB.

Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Next

Both pages in full

Each in full: Violectric V222 and Woo Audio WA6.

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