[Bullpride]

What's the Crack's secret? It measures terribly according to this review

That isn't a review of a Bottlehead Crack, so I am very confused by this post.

 

[matti621]

That isn't a review of a Bottlehead Crack, so I am very confused by this post.

Link fixed.

 

[Bullpride]

Link fixed.

Maybe I don't see it, but where does he summarize that it does not measure well? I do not know enough about measurements to read/interpret them myself.

 

[carlman14]

What's the Crack's secret? It measures terribly according to this review. EDIT: link fixed

Maybe I don't see it, but where does he summarize that it does not measure well? I do not know enough about measurements to read/interpret them myself.

I'm in the same boat. I don't necessarily know what good measurements look like... but he did have good things to say about it overall. Also, he's not using the speedball upgrade, which I'm sure would help the measurements a lot. I could be wrong... but don't tube amps generally measure pretty poorly (At least compared to solid state amps)? Tubes add distortion and coloration, so I imagine that no tube amp would measure that great.

 

[Little Bear]

I can't hear measurements.

 

[chrisdrop]

... glow test passed. Part way through my 1st Crack build ...

Whenever I get time in the next few days, phase 1 should wrap up. Then, onto speedball..

Fun build project.

 

[Bullpride]

... flow test passed. Part way through my 1st Crack build ...

Whenever I get time in the next few days, phase 1 should wrap up. Then, onto speedball..

Fun build project.

Nice looking build. Spend a week or so with it stock, then consider adding the speedball. That way you can train your ear to hear the difference. Just a thought. I built mine about a month ago, added just the first small board.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

I need to post a rant about why objective measurements of a subjective medium are silly...but - objectively - I don't have time right now.

Literally in every other area of life we match up products that work well together even though separately, they might not be the best standalone product. Some things just have a synergy.

For instance, try throwing a bunch of CEOs together and ask them to start a business with no other employees. Good luck finding a good receptionist from a bunch of CEOs...or a good CFO for that matter...or a good HR person...which you might want for a good business. Audiophiles think things that do well separately should pair well, but that's not reality.

Or...for a more audiophile example. Zeos reviewed the Verite (which I don't own so I might be out of my depth here) and paired the headphones with a bunch of crap amps. He never paired it with the amps that everyone raves about using those headphones with. He then said they were 'meh.' Well, if I pair my HD800s with my SS amp, they are meh, too. They are great with the BHC, though. And likewise, if I paired some LCD-4s with the BHC, they'd sound like crap. But they sound amazing on my SS amp.

So there you go. I guess I did a mini rant.

 

[cddc]

... glow test passed. Part way through my 1st Crack build ...

Whenever I get time in the next few days, phase 1 should wrap up. Then, onto speedball..

Fun build project.

Good progress...

I'd agree with @Bullpride, give it one or two weeks before adding the speedball upgrade.

I always regret that I did the speedball upgrade too fast, only 3 days after finishing the Crack. I vaguely recall the stock Crack has a very nice tubey sound. So spend some time with the stock Crack and get a good handle on how it sounds. Then you can hear what the Speedball upgrade brings.

 

[cddc]

What's the Crack's secret? It measures terribly according to this review. EDIT: link fixed

I don't get it. Would you elaborate on how Crack measures terribly?

I read the article just a few mins ago, the OP actually says Crack sounds pretty good to his taste.

Now onto the measurements, if you're comparing Crack's measurements to other tube amps' measurements, it would be fair. But if you're comparing Crack's measurements to solid state amps' measurements, it would not be fair anymore, coz it's no longer an apple-to-apple comparison. We all know tube amps bring distortion compared to SS amps. So I don't think tube amps will measure as good as SS amps, but they do sound better than SS amps, at least to my ears.

 

[Wes S]

675 pages and still going. . .I think that speaks volumes for how famous the BHC is. I hear over and over about how the BHC Speedball, sounds as good as or better than tube amps costing much more. People can take there measurements, but who gives a crap when the amp sounds as good as it does.

 

[CAJames]

I can't hear measurements.

I'm with you. No one gets a Stradivarius or a Chateau Margaux or a Rembrandt based on measurements, and I'm not getting an amp based on them either.

 

[matti621]

1. Is it true the Crack is extremely similar to the Van Waarde of headwize? A Single-Ended OTL Amplifier for Dynamic Headphones. – HeadWize Memorial
Is it original in design?
2. Is any SS amp similar to it sonicaly?

 

[PsilocybinCube]

1. Is it true the Crack is extremely similar to the Van Waarde of headwize? A Single-Ended OTL Amplifier for Dynamic Headphones. – HeadWize Memorial
Is it original in design?
2. Is any SS amp similar to it sonicaly?

I don't know an answer to question #1, but as someone who owns like 4 SS amps, I can say that the differences are subtle from SS. That's not to say it's not noticeable, but everything in audiophilia is a game of inches.

That said, what you have with a tube amp that you don't necessarily have with SS is the ability to tweak the sound in an incredibly short amount of time by simply changing a tube. Also, there are some headphones that seem to have an odd synergy with tubes (think high impedance cans from German companies). I don't think you really hear about that with SS amps. And again, that's not to say I don't like SS, but tubes hooked me in a very short amount of time.

As a musician I liken the difference between tube amps and SS to the difference between a digital synth vs. an analog synth. A digital synth can usually do a lot more than an analog synth and do all of those things well. But what an analog synth does well, it does really well, much better than the digital synth.

Keep the SS amp for those Audeze headphones. Buy the tubes for Sennheiser or Beyers or ZMFs (ooohhhh I want some ZMF headphones).

 

[GreenNeedle]

I notice on the BH page for the power cord assembly it looks like they are using the (quite) stiff PVC coated wire. Does it matter if you use silicone coated wire of the same AWG? I know it would be less inclined to stay as tightly twisted but in terms of sound?