[JamieMcC]

 The Daytons look a nice fit congrats

 

[i luvmusic 2]

 I would insulate those,My S.E.X. amp shorted out because of some uninsulated resistor thought it was far enough but i mistakenly pressing down one of the caps and touched the resistor.Better be safe than sorry! 

 

[rock-solid]

Short update of my crack journey:
New DAC arrived and is breaking in nonstop since 7 days now.
Same for the variety of tubes.
All I can say is wow - and as things break in it even gets better and smoother.
 
So far I like this combo most (out of the about-15€-Tubes, nothing fancy):

Telefunken 12AU7 and G.E.C. 6080.
 
Decision for the DAC has been done in 3 seconds - it was a night and day difference!
Now listening through my library like I never did before.
Before I do the next upgrade I have to come to the point that I skip a song - at the moment every single one sounds so amazing that I keep hanging on.
 
In the meantime I made new braided and shielded power cables for the Crack and DAC:

 
And to scjarrett87: I would feel the need to insulate those leads. 

 

[lextek]

Short update of my crack journey:
New DAC arrived and is breaking in nonstop since 7 days now.
Same for the variety of tubes.
All I can say is wow - and as things break in it even gets better and smoother.

So far I like this combo most (out of the about-15€-Tubes, nothing fancy):

Telefunken 12AU7 and G.E.C. 6080.

Decision for the DAC has been done in 3 seconds - it was a night and day difference!
Now listening through my library like I never did before.
Before I do the next upgrade I have to come to the point that I skip a song - at the moment every single one sounds so amazing that I keep hanging on.

In the meantime I made new braided and shielded power cables for the Crack and DAC:


And to scjarrett87
: I would feel the need to insulate those leads. 

What DAC did yo udecide on?

 

[Doc B.]

Those wires are ignorant mooches.

Well, he did say insulted.

 

[mcandmar]

Oops, bit of a spellchecker malfunction there. I think everybody else understood my intention though...

 

[rock-solid]

 What DAC did yo udecide on?

 
It´s an Audio-GD Reference 5.32. I am a fan of the good old PCM1704UK-Chips - in the Audio-GD there are 4 of them. Got one of the last models out there (discontinued because of the PCM1704 becoming rare) at a very good price.

 

[Jimmy24]

Dayton 100uF 250V Polypropelene Capacitor Review
 
Headphones: HD 650's
AMP/Tubes: Crack + Speedball w/ TS 5998 and CBS Hytron 5814a.
 
Wow.
 
So a few months ago I upgraded my Crack with Speedball and added some Tung Sol 5998's and CBS Hytron 5814a's. From the stock Crack to the Speedball + high tier tubes I heard some good improvements but nothing that made me want to come on the site and write something about it. Upgrading the electrolytics with Dayton 100uF 250V Polypropelene Capacitors was a different story.
 
Tracks: Coldplay - Politik, John Mayer - Neon
 
The first thing I noticed is that everything sounded more natural and realistic. It's almost as if the music came closer to my ears, yet separation of instruments and 3D imagining became more distinct and lifelike. I always hear people saying they turn around when they listen to music--this was actually the first time when I felt I could turn around and see the music being played next to me. These caps took my headphones to another level. I would highly recommend the Dayton 100uF 250V Film Caps. Definitely wowed me to write this review.
 
Happy listening folks!
 

 

 

[JamieMcC]

You will be adding a Teflon bypass next!

 

[Jimmy24]

You will be adding a Teflon bypass next!

The bypasses are def next on my list after I install the switches that would let me listen to the 12BH7A's and the 5687/7119's. Kavin keeps telling me how great the 7119's are. I get excited thinking about it.

 

[HolyCheese]

Well since I received no reply from bottlehead whatsoever  I started looking around again for the manual.
 
If anyone else lost their manual and can't find it online I have found a torrent for the files including speedball.
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:1446c8b4919fe5dc3287a7ac2e629cf0f32dc7ba&dn=bottlehead%20crack%20manual.7z

 

[krikor]

Posted this over at the Bottlehead forum, but figured I'd put it up here as well. Recently got my Crack with Speedball up and running - first time I've done a Bottlehead kit (can't speak highly enough of just how good these kits are in terms of instructions and guidance).
 
Really liking the sound of this amp. I also built it with the Dayton poly output caps mentioned several posts ago and used Kimber varistrand (PBJ) for the signal wire. Still need to finish the wood base, sometime.
 
Hmmm, now about all those tube rolling options... 
 

 

 

[Thebb]

Can someone with experience with tubes comment on which would be a better tube paired with a 5998:
- 12au7 RCA Clear Top
-12au7 Mullard
Thanks.

 

[JamieMcC]

  Can someone with experience with tubes comment on which would be a better tube paired with a 5998:
- 12au7 RCA Clear Top
-12au7 Mullard
Thanks.

 
Mullard pairs better imho

 

[Jimmy24]

Posted this over at the Bottlehead forum, but figured I'd put it up here as well. Recently got my Crack with Speedball up and running - first time I've done a Bottlehead kit (can't speak highly enough of just how good these kits are in terms of instructions and guidance).

Really liking the sound of this amp. I also built it with the Dayton poly output caps mentioned several posts ago and used Kimber varistrand (PBJ) for the signal wire. Still need to finish the wood base, sometime.

Hmmm, now about all those tube rolling options... 

Very nice build. Those daytons make the crack sound superb. Diggin the purple. I use to know someone who loved purple as well.

Happy listening my friend