Crack;Bottlehead OTL
Aug 28, 2014 at 7:23 PM Post #5,868 of 12,297
Hey guys and girls,
 
I'm currently running an HD-650 on an Asus Essence ST, but will be receiving a Bottlehead + Crackhead in a few weeks. I was wondering selling the Asus and buy an external DAC would be worth it, then I read this on Bottlehead forums:
 
I just wanted to add my kudos to Headfonia for doing God's work in pointing folks to great and affordable audio.  After spending significant time and coin on upgrading my Crack (see my posts) I was still frustrated with the tonal range and fidelity.  Putting her aside for (far too many) many months, I happened upon Headfonia's recommendation of the Topping D20 DAC and made the $129 plunge +39 for a decent Elpac converter.  Long story short, this DAC (via TOSLink from my PC) is the **** and the Crack is a now totally different animal - everything I was looking for in spades.  Thanks for the heads up Headfonia - you rock.   
 
Do you concur? Any other suggestions for DACs under $200?
 
Thanks! 
 
Aug 28, 2014 at 7:44 PM Post #5,869 of 12,297
  Hey guys and girls,
 
I'm currently running an HD-650 on an Asus Essence ST, but will be receiving a Bottlehead + Crackhead in a few weeks. I was wondering selling the Asus and buy an external DAC would be worth it, then I read this on Bottlehead forums:
 
I just wanted to add my kudos to Headfonia for doing God's work in pointing folks to great and affordable audio.  After spending significant time and coin on upgrading my Crack (see my posts) I was still frustrated with the tonal range and fidelity.  Putting her aside for (far too many) many months, I happened upon Headfonia's recommendation of the Topping D20 DAC and made the $129 plunge +39 for a decent Elpac converter.  Long story short, this DAC (via TOSLink from my PC) is the **** and the Crack is a now totally different animal - everything I was looking for in spades.  Thanks for the heads up Headfonia - you rock.   
 
Do you concur? Any other suggestions for DACs under $200?
 
Thanks! 

All I can say is that I was in the same place that the guy you quoted was, maybe not that disappointed but something was definitely missing especially in the low range, anyway I just received my Schiit Modi and the difference is freaking amazing, I can especially feel the difference when I am listening to electronic music, a genre which I like most but felt the crack is lacking in that point. 
Never thought a DAC will affect my setup so much.
Recommended DAC under 200$ are the ODAC and Schiit Modi.
 
If i were you I guess I would just take one step at a time, build the Crack, connect it to the Essence ST and decide for you self if you like it or not.. 
 
Aug 28, 2014 at 7:57 PM Post #5,870 of 12,297
You can take the patient route and do what atraf suggested, it is a smart option. However, no one said visiting this site was supposed to lead to smart decisions in life. 
wink_face.gif
 I would buy an affordable DAC to start with, if anything, to be able to do a comparison between it and the Essence soundcard you already have. IMHO, the Crack + Speedball and the HD-650 respectively punch above their price points to just before ~650.00 mark of their competition. You will still make some gains beyond your 200.00 budget, since,at that price point, you DAC will still be the weakest link. I will suggest a Modi or ODAC within your budget, however if you can stretch your budget higher, the rest of your gear will still scale up with it. All the best.
 
Aug 28, 2014 at 10:09 PM Post #5,871 of 12,297
Thanks for the inputs!
 
I will definitely try it first with my Asus Essence ST. Good thing is that a Modi or an ODAC isn't going to break the bank and can be tested fairly easily, on top of being easy to find on sale.
 
In any case, the SB + Crack should already bring some improvements.
 
Aug 28, 2014 at 11:43 PM Post #5,872 of 12,297
  You can take the patient route and do what atraf suggested, it is a smart option. However, no one said visiting this site was supposed to lead to smart decisions in life. 
wink_face.gif
 I would buy an affordable DAC to start with, if anything, to be able to do a comparison between it and the Essence soundcard you already have. IMHO, the Crack + Speedball and the HD-650 respectively punch above their price points to just before ~650.00 mark of their competition. You will still make some gains beyond your 200.00 budget, since,at that price point, you DAC will still be the weakest link. I will suggest a Modi or ODAC within your budget, however if you can stretch your budget higher, the rest of your gear will still scale up with it. All the best.

I agree. A Modi or ODAC would be a nice upgrade but keep in mind your gear is capable of revealing the qualities in DACs beyond the price range of either of those options. However it is nice to make small jumps, big ones lead to even bigger ones and poof there goes your money.
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 12:11 AM Post #5,873 of 12,297
How does an Audiolab M-Dac compare to Modi?
biggrin.gif
 I can get M-Dac with 890$. That seems a good price, because when I googled around, the best price I found outside the country where I live was 990$ (+ 25usd shipping). Im going to listen that dac today with my Crack + HD700 at the local shop, hope it is a nice one. Too bad my TS/Chatham 5998 tube has not arrived yet. 
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 12:36 AM Post #5,874 of 12,297
For what it is worth - Once the input voltages were matched, I heard no audible differences between the M-dac, Benchmark dac 1, MD11, Yulong D100, AMB Gamma 1, and ODAC. I'd go with whichever gives you the features you need (sample rates/dsd/inputs/outputs) and not worry too much about what they sound like. 
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 3:36 AM Post #5,875 of 12,297
As far as the Crack is concerned, the Modi does a good job on a budget. I preferred it to the ODAC but that's just a matter of opinion. 
 
When upgrading to an Audio GD NFB2 (Wolfson based) there was a clear increase in technicalities (details, soundstage, etc). It was in another class.
 
Another clear upgrade was noticed going to the Audio GD DAC-19 (PCM1704UK). I'd imagine the recently updated NFB3 (now based on Sabre 9018) with the constantly updated USB32 would provide excellent value as well. 
 
For that money the Bifrost Uber with USB 2nd Gen is a decent value option too although I think you get more for your money in terms of audio out of the Audio GD. 
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 4:09 AM Post #5,876 of 12,297
Aug 29, 2014 at 4:17 AM Post #5,877 of 12,297
  Wow, I never thought you would be selling that beauty. Can't buy it unfortunately, but do you have a gallery on the Bottlehead Forum for it? It would be great if you could link to that so that I can reference to it in future. Hope you don't mind, but there are some build ideas I plan on copying.

It is one of the more unique and signature Cracks out there. I've always been impressed with it, and admired from afar. I can only pretend to think I can imagine what you have in store for your SEX amp. 
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 5:10 AM Post #5,878 of 12,297
  Wow, I never thought you would be selling that beauty. Can't buy it unfortunately, but do you have a gallery on the Bottlehead Forum for it? It would be great if you could link to that so that I can reference to it in future. Hope you don't mind, but there are some build ideas I plan on copying.


Hi to be honest I never thought I would sell my Cack either and its certainly not due its performance which I find simply intoxicating its more I have been bitten by the DIY bug and a recent promotion on Bottleheads Sex amp means I can enjoy the build experience all over again. While the new Sex will be primarily used for my headphones I'm also planning on building a set of speakers to try with it and have already found have some Fostex FX120 full range driver units to build some cabinets around.
 
Feel free to copy away I drew plenty of inspiration myself from others. For the most part I have only been standing on the shoulders of those knowledgeable giants of diy on the bottlehead forum and I cant give enough credit to all the guys who have contributed their hard won knowledge and helped point me in the right direction many times over.
 
Here is the link to some of my build pics and Crack modding distractions.
 
http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=5284.msg50963#msg50963
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 5:20 AM Post #5,879 of 12,297
 
Hi to be honest I never thought I would sell my Cack either and its certainly not due its performance which I find simply intoxicating its more I have been bitten by the DIY bug and a recent promotion on Bottleheads Sex amp means I can enjoy the build experience all over again. While the new Sex will be primarily used for my headphones I'm also planning on building a set of speakers to try with it and have already found have some Fostex FX120 full range driver units to build some cabinets around.
 
Feel free to copy away I drew plenty of inspiration myself from others. For the most part I have only been standing on the shoulders of those knowledgeable giants of diy on the bottlehead forum and I cant give enough credit to all the guys who have contributed their hard won knowledge and helped point me in the right direction many times over.
 
Here is the link to some of my build pics and Crack modding distractions.
 
http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=5284.msg50963#msg50963

Thank you. I am using a lot of other builds for inspiration as well. I like the way you documented all the different mods as it gives a nice baseline on how to build.
 
My Crack is currently still stock and I am yet undecided on whether to buy a new Crack and Speedball so that I can compare it to the old one, or just mod away on my current build.
 
I also used the recent 10% discount at Bottlehead. Was going to get a Q&Q combo, but realised that after adding in the PJCCS and bases, that the cost was close to the SEX. After adding in the C4S and impedance switch I realised I was pretty close to the price of a Stereomour. So hopefully the Stereomour & Impedance Switch does not take too long to ship
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 (looks like it will take about 6 weeks). Good thing a Paramount and BeePree combo is a significant step up, otherwise my credit card would have rolled over and died.
 
Funny thing, with my Crack I was pretty patient. I ordered the Stereomour on Tuesday and must have checked the Shipping Status page at least twenty times since then.
 
Aug 29, 2014 at 6:24 AM Post #5,880 of 12,297
NOOOOOO!!!! :wink:


YESSSS!!! lol and at just about the costs of the parts! Not including the custom case or carbon fibre work (my day job) you really don't want to know how much proper carbon stuff costs to do its just hideously expensive.
 
A custom one off piece like the Cracks top plate out of the same materials if building from scratch with labour would cost about the same as what I'm asking for the whole Crack!!! Just lucky I have a few pieces left over from previous jobs.
 

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