[bagwell359]

Dupe

 

[bagwell359]

Yeah, I suppose it would be difficult to find a tube with the signature from her majesty the queen, but the 12AU7 and 6080 NOS tubes that come with the Crack kit can easily be found $5 apiece.

Read much? Read my whole post.

 

[larcenasb]

high-frequency trash

Haha, yeah, I understand now. Thanks so much Even with the delay, I'm always happy to learn something new. Cheers

 

[GPJ7]

Fairly similar

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[Jonmakauu]

Finally found the time to build my kit. The woodworking was the only part I had trouble since it is my first woodworking project. Overall, I really liked how easy to understand the instructions were!

 

[Asterisk3095]

What's the general consensus around here on the Bottlehead Power Cord Kit? Does it noticeably change the sound of the Crack, and is it really worth over $100 extra? If I were on a budget, would it be fine to just skip over it?

 

[larcenasb]

It’s a good quality, durable cord. But changing the sound?… Some people will swear on it, but I’d challenge them to identify a fancier power cord over a generic one in a blind test. Remember, engineers will tell us time and again that there are miles and miles of generic wire bringing the electricity to our homes, so adding six feet of an “audio specialized” power cable dressed up in nice sleeving just doesn’t make sense in terms of making a difference.

To be fair, when Bottlehead first released the Bottlehead power cord, they explained it’s because they had a bunch of extra smaller gauge wire…so they decided to combine the wires for a thicker gauge and make it into power cord kits. They didn’t claim it would change a system’s sound, just that it’s a nice, durable cord and an easy kit for beginners.

In hi-fi there is so much pseudoscience only verified by sighted listening and wishful thinking. You can save lots of money by identifying what products make sense and can clearly change the sound of your system (headphones, ear pads, amp, tubes, DAC, etc.) and what products can’t outside of delusion (weights on top of electronics, cable risers, cryo treatment, power cords…).

 

[Asterisk3095]

It’s a good quality, durable cord. But changing the sound?… Some people will swear on it, but I’d challenge them to identify a fancier power cord over a generic one in a blind test. Remember, engineers will tell us time and again that there are miles and miles of generic wire bringing the electricity to our homes, so adding six feet of an “audio specialized” power cable dressed up in nice sleeving just doesn’t make sense in terms of making a difference.

To be fair, when Bottlehead first released the Bottlehead power cord, they explained it’s because they had a bunch of extra smaller gauge wire…so they decided to combine the wires for a thicker gauge and make it into power cord kits. They didn’t claim it would change a system’s sound, just that it’s a nice and durable cord.

In hi-if there is so much pseudoscience only verified by sighted listening and wishful thinking. You can save lots of money by identifying what products make sense and can clearly change the sound of your system (headphones, ear pads, amp, tubes, DAC, etc.) and what products can’t outside of delusion (weights on top of electronics, cable risers, cryo treatment, power cords…).

Alright thanks, that's what I expected anyways since I never really believed cables could change sound anyways. Some of these people talking about cables seem really weird to me with how they act. Like they speak like their $1000+ cables change how a pair of headphones sounds completely and it confuses me because realistically, the cable should change the sound the least out of everything (if at all)

 

[GPJ7]

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[GreenNeedle]

Alright thanks, that's what I expected anyways since I never really believed cables could change sound anyways. Some of these people talking about cables seem really weird to me with how they act. Like they speak like their $1000+ cables change how a pair of headphones sounds completely and it confuses me because realistically, the cable should change the sound the least out of everything (if at all)

They have a guide on the bottlehead site to build your own power cable. I built one. Mainly because I wanted a right angle cable and because I wanted to believe. Does it sound better because of it? Yes.........but probably because my mind wants it to sound better. lol. I can't say hand on heart it makes any difference whether I think it does or not but I would like to think it does for my effort.

Biggest change I noticed with all the film caps, cree diodes, Silly money volume pot & other upgrades was the choke. Cheap upgrade and was a very noticeable difference not subtle like the others. Choke IMO is a no brainer upgrade.

 

[bagwell359]

Alright thanks, that's what I expected anyways since I never really believed cables could change sound anyways. Some of these people talking about cables seem really weird to me with how they act. Like they speak like their $1000+ cables change how a pair of headphones sounds completely and it confuses me because realistically, the cable should change the sound the least out of everything (if at all)

I was around ground zero when the cable wars started. Bigger diam (lower guage). I went along at first being a good audiophile - and the price was not much more. But then it got crazy. Pure silver, cryo.... I have some stuff from the 80's still. The final straw was some 5 foot $5k cable - 3 of them at a dealers. Loved the speakers - eventually bought them but my used cable didn't sound any different.

Now on the other hand I have blind tested balanced vs balanced (same) and SE vs SE interconnect (some different), speaker cable (no except exotics). But the big thing here is HFM vs OFC cable - lots of differences - all in favor of replacements.

Don't let cachet, cost, appearance, ego get to you. Do compare, hopefully blind. Mind open.

 

[GPJ7]

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[bagwell359]

I've never went wrong with just an ordinary OFC cable. Inexpensive one's are perfectly fine IME. This includes speaker wire, interconnects, and headphone cables. I've had excellent results with all Mogami wire types and love the price.

I like Migami too.

 

[bagwell359]

BTW to get to the question - I had a nice Belden 12 GA power cord about 5' long. Chopped off the female end, mounted them too 100% copper lugs. Heated up the shrink wrap to get a nice fit. I didn't use the IEC plug, wired them straight in (no fuse). Also no RCA connections (looks gross to me). One sided RCA from pre amp to the connections underneath - using insulated cable. Not reccomending - heck I've been building and moding since 1967.

 

[MacMan31]

I would love to get a Bottlehead Crack. But I don't have the space or tools to build it myself. I'd need someone to do that for me. Currently my tube amps are the Schiit Valhalla 2 and Lyr 3. I know the former is an OTL amp but according to Schiit "If you’re expecting syrupy, tubby, euphonically colored tube sound, you’re in for a shock. Valhalla 2 is exceptionally accurate, neutral, and resolving, without being strident or etched." They do not state the same for the Lyr 3 but I know it's a hybrid amp. So I suspect I'm not getting a genuine "tube sound" even though these amps do sound really good. It is really worth switching over to something like the BHC? My current headphones are HD6XX and ZMF Aeolus.