[Cotnijoe]

Any suggestions for a tube amp to power the T90 guys? (or solid state amp... pretty open minded).
 
Was considering the Valhalla. Thoughts?

 

[punit]

My Recommendations (IMHO):
 
If you can DIY, please consider the Bottlehead Crack
 
If not & you want a budget amp, then Darkvoice 336 or WA3
 
If budget is not a consideration then WA2
 
I haven't heard the Vanhalla so can't comment.

 

[Cotnijoe]

  My Recommendations (IMHO):
 
If you can DIY, please consider the Bottlehead Crack
 
If not & you want a budget amp, then Darkvoice 336 or WA3
 
If budget is not a consideration then WA2
 
I haven't heard the Vanhalla so can't comment.

 
Thanks for the input. I rly wanna try the crack but im pretty scared of trying to DIY it myself...
 
I've heard that valhalla isnt very tubey and actually works better with darker sounding headphones... which kinda raises questions for me whether it works with the T90.
 
PS if you can answer - what exactly is the speedball mod of the crack?

 

[Koolpep]

  My Recommendations (IMHO):
 
If you can DIY, please consider the Bottlehead Crack
 
If not & you want a budget amp, then Darkvoice 336 or WA3
 
If budget is not a consideration then WA2
 
I haven't heard the Vanhalla so can't comment.

 
Having just bought @punit Bottlehead Crack and owning a Schiit Valhalla as well, I can only tell you:
 
Go TOTL. 
 
the Valhalla drives the T90 well. But the Crack and Darkvoice 336 do complement its signature better - they tame the highs ever so slightly without removing clarity and sparkle and the bass is much more impactful.
 
The Valhalla (just gave it new tubes from Schiit) is still a bit too bright for the T90s in my opinion. Better than other SS amps but once you heard the T90 on a crack (or Darkvoice 336 according to @punit) you simply can't go back.
 
Since the price for the Darkvoice is pretty much the same as the Valhalla, in this case, I would not recommend Schiit for this headphone. Even though I am generally a huge Schiit fan and find their line up great (have Asgard, Modi, Vali, Valhalla).
 
Check out aliexpress.com - you might get the dark voice there relatively affordable. 
 
Hope this helps.
K

 

[punit]

PS if you can answer - what exactly is the speedball mod of the crack?

Well I am also not very good with DIY that's why I bough a used Crack

As for as Speedball upgrade - it provides a constant current source for the plate circuit of the 6080 power tube (in layman's terms this means it provides better quality of power to the Tube which in turn provides a cleaner sound).

 

[Cotnijoe]

 
Having just bought @punit Bottlehead Crack and owning a Schiit Valhalla as well, I can only tell you:
 
Go TOTL. 
 
the Valhalla drives the T90 well. But the Crack and Darkvoice 336 do complement its signature better - they tame the highs ever so slightly without removing clarity and sparkle and the bass is much more impactful.
 
The Valhalla (just gave it new tubes from Schiit) is still a bit too bright for the T90s in my opinion. Better than other SS amps but once you heard the T90 on a crack (or Darkvoice 336 according to @punit) you simply can't go back.
 
Since the price for the Darkvoice is pretty much the same as the Valhalla, in this case, I would not recommend Schiit for this headphone. Even though I am generally a huge Schiit fan and find their line up great (have Asgard, Modi, Vali, Valhalla).
 
Check out aliexpress.com - you might get the dark voice there relatively affordable. 
 
Hope this helps.
K

 
Thanks a lot for the input! I've been around for a while but was always more into portable gear simply because im always on the move. Now that I can finally settle down and look into a desktop rig, suddenly i feel so new again 

 
I've heard some sketchy things about aliexpress.com 

 

[Cotnijoe]

Also I would love to hear some other thoughts from everyone! Though my budget is around 350 dollars 

 

[rev92]

Asgard 1 + modded T90 (sonolene 3014) is a great match, not as good as the T1's, but yet far better than hd600 and 880pro's IMO

 

[potatoe94]

I am using tbe t90 with the iCAN iDSD and iTUBE , how will the bottlehead sound when compared to my setup ? Because suprisingly , the bottle head costs about US$700 in singapore . Which is crazily expensive .

 

[punit]

I am using tbe t90 with the iCAN iDSD and iTUBE , how will the bottlehead sound when compared to my setup ? Because suprisingly , the bottle head costs about US$700 in singapore . Which is crazily expensive .

$ 700 for the kit or a pre-built Crack ?

 

[potatoe94]

for a second hand pre built with speedball & alps blue potientiometer

 

[potatoe94]

but it cost about 700 there for a new built one here too . what do you expect from a country that charges US$330,000 for an Audi A6 . hahaha !

 

[Koolpep]

  but it cost about 700 there for a new built one here too . what do you expect from a country that charges US$330,000 for an Audi A6 . hahaha !

 
Geeeez - in the UAE we live in car heaven, German cars are cheaper here than in Germany and petrol is cheap too. (A6 starts at $44k here)
 
Ok, coming back to your Crack: $279 plus speedball +$115 = $394 plus $55 for shipping to Singapore = $449 so now you have all the parts. 
Then you need a good soldering iron, solder, paint, varnish, other tools etc. probably another $100-200 - so now you are already at the $550/$650 mark. Ok let's assume it's your first DIY project so you would need roughly 20 hours to build it. That means you can "pay yourself" for the build around $7.50 per hour (if you have a cheap iron) and $3.75 per hour for the build.
 
If you don't want to build it yourself you need one who can. An experienced builder will need around 10 hours to build the crack + speedball (and probably has all tools) if he does nothing else (people who did build it themselves please pitch in). So in that case you would pay him/her $250 for the building of your amp, including shipping back and forth. For 10 hours of his life...
 
I don't know about you but I don't find that expensive for a brand new Bottlehead Crack with Speedball and even a changed ALPS poti.
 
Oooops I even forgot the import duty/GST in Singapore which is 7% on goods above $400 so this makes the product (before build) even more expensive.
 
$700 is not expensive for a new & unused  - just build for you - crack with speedball etc. you can always save money and build it yourself....

 

[potatoe94]

Geeeez - in the UAE we live in car heaven, German cars are cheaper here than in Germany and petrol is cheap too. (A6 starts at $44k here)

Ok, coming back to your Crack: $279 plus speedball +$115 = $394 plus $55 for shipping to Singapore = $449 so now you have all the parts. 
Then you need a good soldering iron, solder, paint, varnish, other tools etc. probably another $100-200 - so now you are already at the $550/$650 mark. Ok let's assume it's your first DIY project so you would need roughly 20 hours to build it. That means you can "pay yourself" for the build around $7.50 per hour (if you have a cheap iron) and $3.75 per hour for the build.

If you don't want to build it yourself you need one who can. An experienced builder will need around 10 hours to build the crack + speedball (and probably has all tools) if he does nothing else (people who did build it themselves please pitch in). So in that case you would pay him/her $250 for the building of your amp, including shipping back and forth. For 10 hours of his life...

I don't know about you but I don't find that expensive for a brand new Bottlehead Crack with Speedball and even a changed ALPS poti.

Oooops I even forgot the import duty/GST in Singapore which is 7% on goods above $400 so this makes the product (before build) even more expensive.

$700 is not expensive for a new & unused  - just build for you - crack with speedball etc. you can always save money and build it yourself....

forget about the crack , i envy the affordability of your cars ... No wonder uae has so many high end vehicles there ... Just asking , how much does an aston martin vanquish volante cost there ? Its priced at S$ 1,138,000 ... Which is about US$911,000 ... A million dollar vehicle ... And did i mention , we have to pay off the 1 million in 10 years,so you got to make a crapload of money to afford one .A car only belongs to you in 10 years before it is scraped ... A pity

 

[rev92]

T90 with bottlecrack might be a great combo IMO