Tube suggestion for Woo WA6 SE headphone amp?

[Exophile]

Just ordered a Woo WA6 SE headphone amp. Will use it with some Grado 500e. I like the rather analytical sound of Grado. For headphones I tried Grado from 60 through 325 (incremental improvements), B&W something (mush), Focal Elear (dull), MacIntosh MPH 1000 (close to the grados but WAY more expensive). On the amp side I auditioned a Macintosh MHA150 (nice but don't need a speaker amp), an Audeeze Deckard (too analytical, and don't need a DAC), and a Woo WA6 (without SE). I selected the WA6SE for flexibility and possible later upgrade path. I listen to a wide variety from medieval and baroque through indie & punk to electronica (no regular rock/pop or jazz/classical), both from vinyl as well as digital sources.

I read that the stock tubes on the WA6 SE are a not highly rated. I am completely new to tubes and "tube rolling" so could use some pointers in the right direction. I understand that Woo has a limited list of approved tubes, so do not want to venture outside of those and risk invalidating warranty. I also do not know how much of a difference different tubes make. Is it more like the incremental changes in the Grado series, or is it night & day as say Grado vs. Focal or B&W headphones? And what are the contributions of the driver vs rectifier tubes to sound?

Thanks for your help in that matter.

[User211]

Edit: deleted bad advice. Thought it used 6080.

[paulf-2007]

Just ordered a Woo WA6 SE headphone amp. Will use it with some Grado 500e. I like the rather analytical sound of Grado. For headphones I tried Grado from 60 through 325 (incremental improvements), B&W something (mush), Focal Elear (dull), MacIntosh MPH 1000 (close to the grados but WAY more expensive). On the amp side I auditioned a Macintosh MHA150 (nice but don't need a speaker amp), an Audeeze Deckard (too analytical, and don't need a DAC), and a Woo WA6 (without SE). I selected the WA6SE for flexibility and possible later upgrade path. I listen to a wide variety from medieval and baroque through indie & punk to electronica (no regular rock/pop or jazz/classical), both from vinyl as well as digital sources.

I read that the stock tubes on the WA6 SE are a not highly rated. I am completely new to tubes and "tube rolling" so could use some pointers in the right direction. I understand that Woo has a limited list of approved tubes, so do not want to venture outside of those and risk invalidating warranty. I also do not know how much of a difference different tubes make. Is it more like the incremental changes in the Grado series, or is it night & day as say Grado vs. Focal or B&W headphones? And what are the contributions of the driver vs rectifier tubes to sound?

Thanks for your help in that matter.

im not familiar with that headphone amp so not much help to you,
but listing the valves fitted might help someone suggest something. Maybe you can help me, I have grado 325 with walnut cans, what headphone amps have you found to work well with them.

[Exophile]

Just got the amp in today and listening to it as I write this :-) The stock tubes are 13DE7 for power and 5U4G for rectifier. I went ahead and ordered some alternate power tubes off e-bay as matched pairs: 13EM7, 13DR7, 13FD7 and also got the Woo 13DM7 to 13DE7 adaptors. Now have to break in the amp for something like 150 hours. Oh the hardship we have to endure ...