[Koolpep]

So I finally broke down and have joined the club. Here is my setup now.








Many more of my pics here.. https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdtv00/sets/72157651442294571/ if anyone is interested.

So that's a Aune T1 for DAC into the crack w/speedball. And I'm sooooo confused now...
Ok so I have Senn HD 560 Ovation II's(which lacked bass), HD 650's that I thought were to muddy even yea sure it's very slight to much mids, and HD 700 which were clearly to bright. Now explain to me how this setup fixed every single issue I had with each pair of headphone. I LOVE them all now, seriously. 560 has more bass it's just wonderful. The 650's have great clear highs now that work better with the mids and bass is just fine. And somehow the 700's aren't a harsh mess anymore. I liked these the least but now I don't hear that harshness they had. What the hell is going on here, am I just drinking the cool-aid or what...I'm so confused. I have a Orange globe in the T1, NOS Tung Sol 5998 and Telefunken 12au7 in the crack.

Either way at times , which is most of the time it sounds AMAZING. I now get why Miles Davis Kind of Blue is raved about, I seriously have people in my head now playing live instruments, amazing. And some bells and what not from Bjork stuff I've heard 1000+ times blowing my mind.

Hey, I have the same setup with different tubes on the crack. It indeed brings out the best in headphones...at least my T90 and the T1 of a friend. My HD650 should arrive today so I will test them on it soon too. I guess the crack magic really shines with high impedance Senns and Beyers.
Enjoy!

 

[DDDamian]

Congrats on the new Crack - love how the wood turned out! Enjoy it.

 

[wareaglefan21]

Planning to buy a crack/speedball in the next week or so, really looking forward to pairing it with my new HD 650s. I need to get a soldering iron or station though: does anyone know if this one http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station-75.html is going to be of decent enough quality to get the job done without giving out? I was looking for something with enough power to give me the option of using lead free solder if i so choose, this claims it could handle it. It's about half the price of most decent soldering stations, which gave me pause.
 
Thanks guys!

 

[ZachPtheDude]

Planning to buy a crack/speedball in the next week or so, really looking forward to pairing it with my new HD 650s. I need to get a soldering iron or station though: does anyone know if this one http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station-75.html is going to be of decent enough quality to get the job done without giving out? I was looking for something with enough power to give me the option of using lead free solder if i so choose, this claims it could handle it. It's about half the price of most decent soldering stations, which gave me pause.

Thanks guys!

Never heard of it. I went for a Hakko FX888D soldering station and it was definitely worth every penny.

 

[Serenitty]

  Planning to buy a crack/speedball in the next week or so, really looking forward to pairing it with my new HD 650s. I need to get a soldering iron or station though: does anyone know if this one http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station-75.html is going to be of decent enough quality to get the job done without giving out? I was looking for something with enough power to give me the option of using lead free solder if i so choose, this claims it could handle it. It's about half the price of most decent soldering stations, which gave me pause.
 
Thanks guys!

I went with this one and was very happy.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-Programmable-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B00BSW69LI/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1427107387&sr=8-7&keywords=soldering+station

 

[i luvmusic 2]

Is 1/2 watt resistor good enough for 20K Passive Pre amp?
 
Thanks!

 

[ZachPtheDude]

Currently I own a pair of HD 650s but I am in the market for a cheap $50 or under) pair of high impedance headphones for my dad, he might have some crack fever! Any recommendations?

 

[JamieMcC]

Currently I own a pair of HD 650s but I am in the market for a cheap $50 or under) pair of high impedance headphones for my dad, he might have some crack fever! Any recommendations?

If you don't mind buying used then the 250ohm or 600ohm (but harder to find) Beyer DT770 PRO may just fall into you price bracket if you are lucky but normally a little more than $50.

 

[PETEREK]

If you don't mind buying used then the 250ohm or 600ohm (but harder to find) Beyer DT770 PRO may just fall into you price bracket if you are lucky but normally a little more than $50.

Much more than $50. Like 3 times more at least.

 

[JamieMcC]

Much more than $50. Like 3 times more at least.

 
brb whoops my mistake I was thinking used in UK pounds not dollars.

 

[FunyunBreath]

Finally finished the kit I've had sitting around since last summer!
 
This is the second Crack I've built, got a good deal on it in a group buy and wanted to build another to replace the one I've had for a few years. I took my time with it and made a few modifications right from the start:
 
-Connex Premium tube sockets
-Socket PCB adapters for easy soldering
-50K Alps Blue Velvet pot (works better than 100K with the HD650 I think)
-Cardas Quad Eutectic solder (this stuff is a dream to work with, things practically solder themselves)
 
I'm really happy with how it came out. It sounds excellent, noise is completely non-existent, even with the volume pot at maximum. I left the speedball off for now because I want to do some A/B comparisons with my other kit that has the speedball installed.
 
I'll post pics of the finished build too, I have something special in mind for the base
 

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I like the old 600 ohm AKG K240DF, my last pair was £30 delivered.

 

[Beefy]

  -50K Alps Blue Velvet pot (works better than 100K with the HD650 I think)
 

 
How does the value of the pot make it better for a particular set of phones? It is a voltage divider; a 50k and a 100k audio taper pot are exactly the same for all intents and purposes.

 

[FunyunBreath]

   
How does the value of the pot make it better for a particular set of phones? It is a voltage divider; a 50k and a 100k audio taper pot are exactly the same for all intents and purposes.

 
Maybe someone who's more versed in circuit theory than me can chime in here, but I think being that it's a smaller spread (50Kohm -> 0Kohm) you have a bit more range on the volume knob. On the original 100K pot, smaller adjustments change the volume a lot more dramatically than on a 50K pot (since the same range on the knob is accounting for a larger change in resistance).

 

[Beefy]

   
Maybe someone who's more versed in circuit theory than me can chime in here, but I think being that it's a smaller spread (50Kohm -> 0Kohm) you have a bit more range on the volume knob. On the original 100K pot, smaller adjustments change the volume a lot more dramatically than on a 50K pot (since the same range on the knob is accounting for a larger change in resistance).

 
No, it doesn't work like that. A volume pot is a divider - so at 'half' the volume knob, approximately half of the source voltage gets through, regardless of the value of the pot. Using a different value pot doesn't just mean you can turn the volume down more or less.
 
The only difference would arise if the pots have a different attenuation curve. But unless something is borked, or one was audio and the other linear, there will be no difference.