The Crack has a 2.5 kohm resistor as a bleeder/load, which is why it is fine to power up, power down, and generally leave the amp without headphones connected. It won't damage the amp. I'd just question the need/motivation. The vast majority of the benefits to 'warm up' happen in the first...

Thanks for the heads-up! Currently $20 off and free shipping to Canada is a win.

Even with a The single tubes still have two different sections for each channel, and they can behave very differently. Matching between sections is particularly important for the input tube, so that they have the same gain. Extremely hard to diagnose a single pop though. Could be the tube...

UGH, I think a lot of people make a pretty major oversimplification on this point. There's nothing un-tubey about the Speedball, it brings better speed, clarity and detail, while maintaining the same warmth in tone and timbre. People associating slower, duller amps with 'tube sound' is just...

Well, for another data point, I think Speedball is absolutely essential. The stock Crack is tonally good, particularly with phones like the HD650, but it is generally pretty limp and fuzzy. Speedball gives it clarity and detail, and is a huge step up.

I'm glad you found this! What a journey. But you want to know what's funny about this? If you are indeed ready to start seeing the humor in it all?

That high frequency roll off is an interaction of cable capacitance with high output impedance, into a low impedance load. Buying an uber expensive fat boutique headphone cable doesn't guarantee low capacitance. So reiterating what I said way upthread, high output impedance amps just aren't...

I'm not quite sure why you feel so attacked, because that wasn't the intention. I specifically said why I thought someone might prefer the well-known effects of high Z out, 'wrong' was specifically in air quotes, and I certainly didn't use the word garbage.

Not the Feliks specifically, and not the RS1X specifically, but every Grado and other low impedance phone out of every OTL I've heard follow exactly the same pattern. Elevated but less-impactful bass, less sparkle in the treble, mids a mixed bag. It all makes perfect sense from the high...

I hate that I might defend the measurement crew here, but I mean, it's not at all hard to understand why someone might prefer a Grado from a high Z out amp, and it would be pretty easy to see why with the right measurements...... It's going to cause a huge bass bump, in phones that are typically...

Completely different amps. The Crack has a bleeder resistor on the output. The Woo SHOULD have a bleeder resistor on the output.

Check it with a multimeter. It depends on your caps and tubes, but I see a 9-12VDC spike on both power on and power off.

Yeah, I found your thread on the Bottlehead forum. You're more patient than me; I would have set a great big bonfire by now, and moved onto more productive things. Back in the day, I always used to tell people don't DIY if you aren't willing to throw away the entire purchase price. And that...

Not for the Crack, there should not be contrasting opinions. Never leave phones in during power on or switch off. Have you tried shielding your tubes? A steel cover or aluminium foil tent just to see. I could hear WiFi beacons through my Crack with many different input tubes, and a tube shield...

First things first.... You should never have phones connected in the first 10 seconds of powering on the amp. When the output tube starts conducting, there is a big DC offset until the output caps charge, and this is very bad for your phones. So, stop doing that. Does this noise continue at...

Well, you wire the input to the input. Signal and ground from the left/white RCA goes to Lin and Gnd. Signal and ground from the right/red RCA goes to Rin and Gnd. From distant memory, the Crack suggests tying grounds at the RCA...? If so, you could just run a single ground and connect it to...

There's nothing fun about industrial deafness. Lifelong hearing is more important than whatever you want now. If your Clear is clipping, you are listening too loud and you are damaging your hearing.

Picked up a Forza Claire HPC Mk2 for my Focal Clear. I didn't hear the heavens part or the angels sing with revolutionary changes in sound quality, but the physical handling and appearance of the cable is absolutely sublime. Can't believe something with so many nubbles has such a complete lack...

It's probably only a couple of ohms. I can't imagine any modern laptop shoots for IEC level output impedance deliberately. I predominantly listen at low volumes too, and you just have to appreciate that low volume listening doesn't bring the best out of these phones. If you're listening at 70...

It's not really power the Clear needs, it's control. With very little mechanical damping, the burden falls on the amp, and there's a lot of back EMF to deal with. High output impedance reduces electrical damping, and makes things less well defined across the entire frequency range.

That impedance graph is very misleading versus others I've seen. On a linear scale the hump at 60 Hz is huge, according to the old Inner Fidelity review. Oh, and ASR concurs, very large impedance peak (even though that review is an abomination). Long story short: make all attempts to keep...

Yeah, it's a tough one. The maker said a lot of horrible things, and doubled down on many of them when called out, but has also seemingly kept to himself since. How long does someone have to pay for things like this? Not my place to say. A used copy might be a good option. I've heard very, very...

I've been in Canada so long, I don't consider myself an immigrant. But yeah, the accent has proven very resilient. And that makes total sense with it being @zoobabwa upping the bass, and him owning the Verum, LOL! Thanks! I've always been happy with it, but it's so hard to appreciate how the...

@Armaegis, congratulations! As they say, happy wife, happy life! This was the first meet I attended in 15 years, and it delivered in spades. An absolute orgy of headphone goodies to try. My goals were: To prove I exist. Listen to lots of phones on my own DIY Soekris/M3 rig. Listen to my Focal...

Oh lord, please no. I just can't see how it makes any difference, because most power bars put nothing in series with the mains current. And the dynamic current draw on the mains voltage side of a headphone amp is incredibly low - especially when you consider energy stored in the transformer...