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Post by autiger on Aug 3, 2011 9:34:27 GMT -5
Sweet set up. Hope it satisfies the itch for a long time. (30-60 days till you start rolling tubes  ) |
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DYohn
Emo VIPs 
Posts: 18,486
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Post by DYohn on Aug 3, 2011 10:44:29 GMT -5
I had a chance to listen to a Crack headphone amp last night. I have a friend who is a big-time Bottlehead enthusiast and he just got one. It was a factory-assembled model and he says it includes some sort of $99 power supply upgrade that they offer. Regardless, it is a damn fine amplifier. I took my Senns over since I am very familiar with how they sound, and spent about 20 minutes listening to a variety of music. Although this was a short audition, this thing is the real deal. I was very favorably impressed. It sounds better than the Grant, and is as good as any headphone amp I've ever heard including some very expensive rigs. For around $300 it is a steal.
BTW I also listened to his set of Bottlehead mono 300B amplifiers driving his very pretty Cain and Cain Ben loudspeakers, and they were very nice also. Not Shindo nice, but very very good especially for under $2K.
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Post by tonymc on Aug 3, 2011 12:21:32 GMT -5
I had a chance to listen to a Crack headphone amp last night. I have a friend who is a big-time Bottlehead enthusiast and he just got one. It was a factory-assembled model and he says it includes some sort of $99 power supply upgrade that they offer. Regardless, it is a damn fine amplifier. I took my Senns over since I am very familiar with how they sound, and spent about 20 minutes listening to a variety of music. Although this was a short audition, this thing is the real deal. I was very favorably impressed. It sounds better than the Grant, and is as good as any headphone amp I've ever heard including some very expensive rigs. For around $300 it is a steal. BTW I also listened to his set of Bottlehead mono 300B amplifiers driving his very pretty Cain and Cain Ben loudspeakers, and they were very nice also. Not Shindo nice, but very very good especially for under $2K. Glad you like it dyohn. the $99.00 upgrade is a constant current upgrade dubbed the "speedball." That will be next on the agenda for this amp other than tube rolling which will start next week. Did you have a chance to look under the hood? No smoke and mirrors just simple point to point wiring. So Tweakability is just about limitless. I think once I get the speedball kit I'll upgrade the inexpensive pot that came with the kit to an Alps Blue or maybe blow the wad on a nice stepped attenuator from Goldpoint. Then I'm planning on replacing the output caps with a couple Axon 91uF 250v units. We'll see where it goes from there.  |
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DYohn
Emo VIPs
Posts: 18,486
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Post by DYohn on Aug 3, 2011 12:29:13 GMT -5
I recommend an ALPS blue. I generally don't like stepped attenuators as too often the volume I want is between steps... I looked at the wiring and it was pretty simple. I thought the looks of the thing could be improved but it really sounded great. I may be soldering soon. |
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