[JamieMcC]

 
Thank you, now I get it!
Why do I liked D600 with Crack -- it has much less prominent bass, healing overall balance. 
 
But T1 with Crack is just awesome. The sound is stunning, I could not stop listening. May be it is due to my first experience with tube amps (Shiit Magni, Audinst mx2, Fiio e17 my previous)?
Highs and mids are so beautiful, clear and liquid like. On the other side, while bass is pretty good, but not at the level of mids and highs. I am wondering would it be healed by Speedball Upgrade?

 
The speedball does exactly what it say on Bottleheads product page
 
"The most immediate thing you will notice is a better sense of clarity. Things get tighter and quicker, bass and midrange get cleaner and more dynamic sounding, and the background gets more quiet. As with all of our upgrade kits, the improvement is easily heard"
 
You might want to take a little look later on at the Cracks upgrade path.  The T1's just scale amazingly well with a few selective easy to do mods. There are a few T1 users running modified Crack combos here. 

 

[indydieselnut]

Hey guys, as a former Crack owner I thought I'd let people on this thread know that I just posted some beautiful custom Crack bases and an assortment of 6AS7G and 6080 power tubes over in the FS/accessories forum.  I sold my amp a while back and these have been hanging around since then.  Cheers!  

 

[Doc B.]

   
Most Senns have an impedance peak around 100 Hz due to resonance, how does this impact control in the bass region by OTL amps (which need high impedance cans for best performance)?
If we take the HD598 for example with a nominal impedance of 50ohm, but with an actual impedance of > 120ohm in the 50-200Hz region: would that impedance peak mitigate the problem of controlling its low frequencies?
In other words, if the impact of a bad dampening factor is mostly heard in low frequencies, would these cans perform a little better than one would expect based on their 50ohm nominal impedance (even though they would still be a bad match overall)? 
 
Or is the impact of an impedance peak due to resonance to be understood differently?
 

I think the graph probably answers the question. The hump of the 598 will mitigate some of the bass problem compared to a headphone that doesn't have as high an impedance hump. But the overall impedance is much lower than the other cans represented on the graph, even the bass hump. 800s and 650s are generally considered to sound good with the Crack. 700s maybe OK but not as good.  So the graph might allow one to infer that for the most perfect pairing you want the impedance up above 300 ohms and the bass hump even higher. That has been my own experience.

 

[dreame77]

I guess I will wait for a week or so, to become familiar with pure Crack sound. 
After that would install Speedball Upgrade. Hope to hear the same level of improvement as in case Magni->Crack =)
 
By the way, is there anything from Bottlehead to upgrade from Schiit Modi?

 

[olegausany]

While HD700 is not as good as HD800 with the Crack it's still worth getting one, I owned both together for several months and really enjoyed the sound

 

[Doc B.]

We will be releasing a DAC soon, but it is not at all in the same price category as the Modi, it will be around $1500. The Modi is pretty great bang for the buck.

 

[Jmstrmbn]

A while back I bought a Mullard tube from Upscale Audio and have been using it with my crack since then.  Just switched it out and immediately noticed the bass is much less present.  I like that the treble is more forward though.  Anyone know a tube that will work with the Mullard to get the better highs while maintaining the awesome low end? 
 
In case I wasn't clear looking for a power tube.

 

[JamieMcC]

  A while back I bought a Mullard tube from Upscale Audio and have been using it with my crack since then.  Just switched it out and immediately noticed the bass is much less present.  I like that the treble is more forward though.  Anyone know a tube that will work with the Mullard to get the better highs while maintaining the awesome low end? 
 
In case I wasn't clear looking for a power tube.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soviet-Double-Triode-Tube-6N13S-ECC230-6AS7G-2pcs-/251648362482?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a976947f2
 
 
Svetlana "winged C" Don't let their low price put you off they are nice sounding tubes this is the seller I brought mine from I doubt you can go wrong for the money. You will often see them rebranded under the more well know names Mullard Amperex Hytron etc for $30-$50 a tube!

 

[MIKELAP]

   

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soviet-Double-Triode-Tube-6N13S-ECC230-6AS7G-2pcs-/251648362482?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a976947f2
 
 
Svetlana "winged C" Don't let their low price put you off they are nice sounding tubes this is the seller I brought mine from I doubt you can go wrong for the money. You will often see them rebranded under the more well know names Mullard Amperex Hytron etc for $30-$50 a tube!

I agree but some of them (RADIOKOMPONENT )advertise one thing and send you another and after say it was a mistake send them back for a refund they say which means we never had those tubes to start with, which pisses me off especially when you bother to ask beforehand  if the tubes are same year as picture .

 

[JamieMcC]

  I agree but some of them (RADIOKOMPONENT )advertise one thing a send you another and after say it was a mistake send them back for a refund they say which means we never had those tubes to start which pisses me off especially when you bother to ask beforehand  if the tubes are same year as picture .

I have had quiet a lot of varied gear from Romanian, Lithuania,  Bulgaria, Russia etc over the last couple of years including some quiet large and heavy items and have never had any issues using ebay, just be sure to use the guys with good feed back ratings.. In the link above with 1764 positive ratings in the last 12 months and only 1 negative and a rating of 99.9%  I would think the chances of getting what you have purchased are very high! I have used them at least half a dozen times and they have provided a very good service. 
 
The old saying buyer beware still applies and it pays to be cautious and ask questions, most sellers are I think pretty genuine.

 

[Jmstrmbn]

Jamie, How do you like the tube?  I currently have whatever came with the kit.  It says slyvania in yellow lettering on the base.  What can I expect if I purchase the Winged C

 

[JamieMcC]

  Jamie, How do you like the tube?  I currently have whatever came with the kit.  It says slyvania in yellow lettering on the base.  What can I expect if I purchase the Winged C

I have a couple which I purchased out of curiosity and they have turned out to be a bit of a surprise, I like them with the E80cc up front for the input tube and the performance to price ratio I would consider is way above average. Most probably you will need to be looking at tubes like the Tung sol 5998 or Bendix 6080 to find a really noticeable improvement on it and they cost 10-15 times as much! Premium 6080's like  the GEC 6080 & Mullard 6080 would most probably be considered superior sounding tubes, each has its own strong points in different areas of presentation while the Winged C is perhaps not quiet at the same levels of performance offers a more overall balanced presentation close on their heels. I find myself using it more and more for general listening and would chose it any day of the week over the standard RCA or Sylvania 6as7g's types I've tried in the past. Their inexpensiveness and Russian origin I think puts some people off who might tend to go with more familiar brands. If you are curious give them a go, tube rolling really doesn't get any cheaper for new old stock tubes.
 
PS. Its also nice to be able to turn the amp on and leave it on of a evening and not worry about wasting the life of some expensive premium tube if I get distracted by other things (kids, wife, etc) and don't get back to listening for a couple of hours.

 

[JamieMcC]

I'm starting to list a few of the spare tubes I accumulated in the classified section as the Bottleheads Sex amp which is underway uses a different type so a thinning out seems in order.
 
 http://www.head-fi.org/t/736493/tung-sol-bendix-6080-wb-graphite-column-plates-free-uk-delivery
 

 

 

 

[Loquah]

No doubt there'll be a few gems in that lot!

 

[ben_r_]

Has anyone out there tried using a toroidal transformer with the crack?