[ULUL]

Curious if anyone has tested both the Project Sunrise Horizon and The Bottlehead Crack (w or w/o Speedball) with the Sennheiser HD600, HD650 or HD800.  Love to hear comments about the difference and if one is definitely better than the other or are they about equal with different 'flavors'.  
 
Thanks!
 
UL

 

[hedphonz]

i second that - im interested in taking the plunge into diy tube amps and had only heard of the bottlehead but just recently discovered the sunrise on ebay - 
 
i would love to know which one drives the HD800's best

 

[cheaphifi]

Quote:

i second that - im interested in taking the plunge into diy tube amps and had only heard of the bottlehead but just recently discovered the sunrise on ebay - 
 
i would love to know which one drives the HD800's best

best place to buy sunrise, horizon or starlight in diy kit or already built is here:
http://www.garage1217.com/

 

[Jasper9395]

I am also very interested in how the horizon sounds but my suspicion is that its not going to be as good as the Crack. Also, the horizon looks less tweakable as it seems to have less internal space.

 

[cheaphifi]

Quote:

I am also very interested in how the horizon sounds but my suspicion is that its not going to be as good as the Crack. Also, the horizon looks less tweakable as it seems to have less internal space.

less tweakable?
 
Horizon can support multiple tubes, you can bypass input capacitors or select output resistance by jumpers, more info here : http://www.garage1217.com/graphic_design_003.htm

 

[Jasper9395]

Havnt looked at the horizon much to be honest but is there room for large MKPs in there though? Like a Mcap supreme or something nice like that? How about the power supply section, is there much room to upgrade components there? With the Crack you can really go crazy by upgrading the output coupling caps installing MKPs on the power supply, and adding chokes. 

 

[HPiper]

I have been looking at these two amps also. One thing for sure, the Bottlehead looks like it would be a LOT easier to build if you were going to build it yourself. The nice thing about the Project amp is you can have them build it for you and they don't appear to charge a lot to do that either.

 

[ULUL]

Thanks for all the interaction.  It's my understanding that both will drive the HD800 equally fine and it comes down to tonal preferences. And it seems to me that the Project Sunrise/Horizon may actually be easier to build than the Crack.  But I've not built either.  

IF I can find both used at good prices, I would be tempted to pick up both and compare them extensively. If anyone wants to sell yours, please PM me....

 
Thanks!
UL

 

[hedphonz]

im looking at buying the sunrise pre-built - cost isnt that much more ($60) and I know that if i build it im the sucker type to go for the quality expensive soldering station and other tools and that will cost me a darn sight more than $60.
 
This way i can take a look at the product and get a better idea of how its built and if i get the urge to build a kit then i can take a crack at the bottlehead

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

This way i can take a look at the product and get a better idea of how its built and if i get the urge to build a kit then i can take a crack at the bottlehead

 
nice pun

 

[hedphonz]

Quote:

 
nice pun

intended

 

[ULUL]

LOL.  Very punny.
 
I'll say that I've been impressed by Jeremy's communication at Project Sunrise.  Two thumbs up even if I'm not a customer yet. 
 
UL

 

[Zoza]

Jeremy is very communicative and a really nice person to deal with. I have soon had my premade Sunrise for a year. It works like a Swiss made clock. I'm curious about the new Ember amp they make. Another very good amp I can recommend is Custom Hifi Cables HA10SE. It's soundstage is even more spacious than Sunrise.

 

[ULUL]

HA10Se does look like a very good unit, but it is considerably more expensive than the Sunrise and Horizon on the USA side I think....
 
UL

 

[jh7000]

While I haven't compared the Project Horizon to a Bottlehead Crack, I have compared it to the following:
 
Amp purchases (in order)
fiio E10 (sold)
Aune T1 (sold)
Project Horizon
Asus Xonar Essence One Muses Edition
Woo Audio WA7
 
Driving Sennheiser HD 700, Beyerdynamic T1s, Beyerdynamic T5p, and Audeze LCD 2.
 
Headphones (and current amp preferences)
Sennheiser HD 700 = Project Horizon, WA7, Xonar
Beyerdynamic T1 = Project Horizon, WA7, Xonar
Beyerdynamic T5p = WA7, Xonar, Project Horizon
LCD 2 = Xonar, WA7, Project Horizon.
 
Both the HD700 and T1 seem to get slightly better bass slam to my ear with the Horizon.
 
I actually like all of the amps and they all sound very good to me. I just did a test switching between the Horizon and WA7 (both using the WA7 as a DAC) I have a hard time telling the difference in sound. To me just "slightly" better bass on the Horizon, but that may because of the tube...they really sound pretty similar driving the HD 700.
 
I am probably going to be selling my Horizon at some point though, as my desk really needs the space and the WA7 just looks so nice.