It's been harrowing and mad this Crack obsession! I keep thinking this will be the last upgrade,--one more, one more, one more--but now I think it really will be...because I plan to order the Crackatwoa soon.
For my last mod, I decided to set up my last PS cap for bypass cap rolling. I set up the leads to allow alligator clips to easily attach. There is also adhesive Velcro on the caps to make sure each bypass stays put.
A special thanks to Doc and PB for informing me how to safely handle charged caps--they advised I make a bleed resistor tool (5W 10K ohm) to discharge the PS cap before handling.
I plan to buy just a couple more bypass caps to roll and experiment with (cheaper ones). But here is my grail piece: the Audyn True Copper Cap (As Audyn says, "No contamination by strange mixture of various metals and fairylike oils." haha). I've dreamt about it for sooooo long. It's about $40, and while that's sane compared to V-Caps or Jupiters, I still always try to be frugal. It's been torturous holding out, but finally this is the one comparatively lavish exception for me! For a while, I settled with the Audyn Tri-Reference, which is a high-quality piece already, but I'm happy to now close the book on my upgrade addiction. This thing is weighty and feels serious!
Audyn True Copper Impressions: It's too early to
fully assess, but right from the get-go, the treble is noticeably more controlled and refined, and the focus of the imaging more precise. The scale of the presentation is bigger/wider. If you've read my thoughts on the Crack before, you know I value bite during crescendos to rile me up. Versus the Tri-Reference, the True Copper takes a tiny bit of the bite away from tracks that used to give me serious goosebumps, but the clarity and refinement are eye-openingly improved. So, I'm in a place where I thought I would never give up ANY PART of the bite, but am now really being seduced by what's on offer. I am honestly disappointed that the True Copper didn't retain the bite AND introduce the refinements... but I'm becoming more aware that the bite seems like it's a result of the treble flying off the handle a bit; not being fully controlled. It's kind of like a minecart lifting a bit off the track during a high-speed turn...not fully controlled but makes the experience exhilarating. Whereas the True Copper stays locked on the tracks. It's nice to know I can easily swap the caps now depending on my mood or curiosity. As I get more bypasses and do more listening tests, I'll post my impressions. Cheers and stay safe everyone.
Every part of the sound got better, as in more realistic/lifelike sounding.
