I didnt want to deal with the wood frame of my Bottlehead Crack vacuum tube headphone amplifier so I decided to print.In this case, a Bottlehead Crack. It’s usable with a narrow range of headphones, but for those that it works well with the listening experience is warm, smooth, fun, and very enjoyable.Writing a review after Mike’s interesting and complete 2 page impressions on Facebook isn’t easy, so don’t shoot me if this review turns out short □l bottlehead crack 3d models. The Bottlehead Crack is not the most technically proficient headphone amplifier in its price range, but for this reviewer it is among the most enjoyable.
![]() I did try it briefly with the Hifiman HE-400 and while that worked, I didn’t really experience any distortion like Mike, it doesn’t really need the Crack and it also doesn’t do anything special to it. Most of my other headphones have low impedance or are orthodynamic headphones and the Crack wasn’t developed with those in mind. I specifically bought the Crack for this headphone after seeing raving posts about this combination over and over. Looks do matter when buying an amplifier but in the end the sound it produces is more important, and that’s where the Crack really shines.I’ve only been using my beloved Sennheiser HD650 with the Bottlehead amp. ![]() Both sound great and if I would describe the 339 as “lush”, the Crack would be “clean”. This last one is overall warmer sounding, has even smoother mids, more rumble in the bass (but looser) and has less pronounced treble as the Crack. It is quite a different sound signature as my other OTL amplifier, the Lafigaro 339 (review coming later). Bottlehead Upgrade And WasNowadays the Crack is available for $279 (+27%) but it still is an extremely good deal if you can build it yourself. Getting this kind of sound for such a low price is simply amazing and an absolute bargain. Only needing one power tube and one input tube, tube rolling is one of the most fun things to do with the Crack, and you can easily tune the sound to your liking.This basic version of the Crack doesn’t have the speedball upgrade and was available for $219 as a DIY kit. I tried the very popular Tung-Sol 6AS7G and the rare GEC 6AS7G brown base in combination with the RCA 12AU7 I rolled in earlier but after several listening session I kept going back to the stock Westinghouse branded 6080 Tung-Sol. I found myself listening for 6 straight hours to the Senn & Crack combo during work without even taking one break, that’s how hard it is to get off Crack (I just had to make one lame drug joke).Of course it’s easy to modify the sound somehow using different tubes. After spending more time with it, I don’t think that is the case anymore. The under $300 Crack is all you need and it will get you addicted for life.I had said before that I found the K550 to be just a tad analytical sounding. Something to think about.In conclusion: if you are DIY’er looking for an OTL amp to power your high impedance headphones and prefer sound quality over looks (or just like the looks of the Crack like me), don’t look any further. Unfortunately for those not having the time or knowledge to build it themselves, the Crack is getting close to the prices of amps like the WooAudio WA3($495) and the LaFigaro 339($550) which have a more professional look and an equal or better sound quality. If there is any noise, it will be heard. That is a bit of a concern to me because on some of my classical (MN orchestra’s Beethoven’s 7th per instance), the dynamic range is INSANE, and is frequently almost whisper quiet. You had mentioned… somewhere, that there was some noise when the K550 and the crack were paired but it was very minor. I was going to pair them with the asgard, but it is hard not to notice the way you rave about the crack. I had planned on getting a MS2+ to go with it, but I am starting to think that the dacport LX would match the sound of the K550 better (I would love to hear your thoughts on that, yes, this post does relate to the crack, i just believe in a good origin story). The placement of the power switch makes me reach past the tubes, hence I burn my arms on the tubes. Slotted hardware is just blah. The tube sockets aren’t that great. You aren’t getting a nice headphone jack nor potentiometer and knob. You can get something equivalent that doesn’t need to be built, isn’t just a plate that sits on an open box, doesn’t take 2 months to arrive, and quite frankly is better looking for around the same price or less. Firefox for mac leapord$125 for a few PCBs, a few transistors, a few resistors, a few LEDs, some heat sinks and mounting kits, and standoffs and screws… I could build and sell the same thing with a better PCB design for $50 and still make plenty of profit…and not have it take 2 months to arrive.If a friend asked me if they should buy one, I would tell them no, and I would just offer to make them one for much less than they could buy it, including the labor. I still doubt that with the numbers they’re getting that they cost a lot.Their Speedball is really way over-priced. The only thing that prevents a person from making this kit themselves is that the power transformer is custom-wound by some manufacturer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJessica ArchivesCategories |