[harney]

Hope you dont mind me asking guys n girls but i am new to all this amp hp gear...
 
 
so my question is how does the diy crack kit compare in terms of sound to the ....Schiit Lyr‏ i will be running hd 650 with rme dac
 
 
ta sy

 

[Armaegis]

I own the Crack (w/Speedball) and have extensively auditioned the Lyr. To my ears, I prefer the Crack. It's hard to qualify why though. They both sound very good to me, and the Lyr has more gain, but there's just something with the Crack's signature that is fantastic with Sennheisers. 

 

[Neogeo333]

I used to own both.  With the 650 theres no question, Crack all the way.  As a matter of fact the Lyr actually sounds so so with high impedance cans.  Its shines with orthos and other power hungry phones.  The crack will sound good with virtually any good efficient phone.  Specially higher impedance phones.  

 

[Armaegis]

The Lyr is great with the LCD-2 and T50rp, but only so-so with the HE-6.

 

[harney]

Thanks for the advice very much appreciate it... keep em coming i thought it was hard enough choosing the right headphones for the right price but trying to choose the right amp is killing me never done so much reading...
 
So it is down to the Crack/with SB or the Lyr....
 
This may seem a daft question but are they still making new valves if so whats a good all rounder without spending large amounts ..
 
Again thanks ;=)
 
Oh Forgot to mention this will be my first tube amp & come to think of it my 1st time ever my ears will have ever heard tube so for sure i am in for a treat....

 

[ninjapirate9901]

I've been wondering the exact same thing, whether to get a Lyr or build a Crack for my 650's. I was initially leaning towards the crack, but I have since decided I want to step up to a LCD-2/3 at some point early next year so now I'm thinking the Lyr might be the way to go.
 
I think there are new tubes coming out of China (though I'm not really familiar with the brands/quality).

 

[harney]

Yeah..  The crack does sound to be very good from what i have been reading and building it yourself makes it even more special (well it does for me) but like you i am worried about using other hp's later on with the crack..as with the Lyr it sounds to be more compatible with other hp's and the 5 year warranty is an absolute bonus...
 
But i have been doing a hell of a lot more reading and because this is my 1st amp and that i have never listened to a good quality tube amp before even the Valhalla would still be great for me but eh might as well go Lyr...Was even told the tube magic would be even good to...
 
I am all most about to click n buy but me thinks i will read a little more research >>WHAT MORE<<<
 
For now i am leaning towards the Lyr and now have given myself a deadline new years day to click the purchase button
 
If anybody else wants to throw in some spanners do SO....
 
ta sy
 

 

[lextek]

Building the Crack and first hearing music come out of something I built was amazing.  It was one of my high points in headphones.  The Crack sounds great with my HD600s.  You could always sell the Crack when you move "up" to the LCDs.  Finding tubes is not an issue.

 

[harney]

Quote:

Building the Crack and first hearing music come out of something I built was amazing.  It was one of my high points in headphones.  The Crack sounds great with my HD600s.  You could always sell the Crack when you move "up" to the LCDs.  Finding tubes is not an issue.

Hi Lextek
 
Did the crack open up your 600's to more bottom end thump cos i am finding my 650's light in that area don't get me wrong they sound great but lack a lot of bottom end for me.. i have to use a lot of EQing to bring out the lows I'm using a RME hdsp 3296 setup correctly with foobar ...

 

[ninjapirate9901]

Quote:

Hi Lextek
 
Did the crack open up your 600's to more bottom end thump cos i am finding my 650's light in that area don't get me wrong they sound great but lack a lot of bottom end for me.. i have to use a lot of EQing to bring out the lows I'm using a RME hdsp 3296 setup correctly with foobar ...

Interesting, I find that my 650's have a lot of bass quantity. Its not as 'good' as the bass on my HE-400's but I still find it more than adequate for my tastes. Note that I am using them from an O2 amp at the moment so amplification may be the reason why the bass sounds good. I can try my 650's straight out of my phone/ipod/computer and see if the bass sounds notably worse tonight.

 

[harney]

Quote:

Interesting, I find that my 650's have a lot of bass quantity. Its not as 'good' as the bass on my HE-400's but I still find it more than adequate for my tastes. Note that I am using them from an O2 amp at the moment so amplification may be the reason why the bass sounds good. I can try my 650's straight out of my phone/ipod/computer and see if the bass sounds notably worse tonight.

If you could ninja i would be very great full... look forward to your results let me know what sound card you will test with
 

 

[irishsammy]

I built my first Crack (no Speedball) a couple months ago and I got a pair of HD600's used a couple weeks ago. 
 
What I'm hearing of this combo is going to make me sell my LCD-2 and Woo WA6-SE. 
 
I like this sound that much.  YMMV, of course.
 
(Listening to Pearl Jam's Ten on vinyl right now and I didn't know this album could sound this good.) 

 

[ninjapirate9901]

Quote:

If you could ninja i would be very great full... look forward to your results let me know what sound card you will test with
 

Just did some extended listening this morning using my ipod touch 4g, 5g, classic, note II, and my laptop. Without the amp, the laptop sounds the worst by far. 4g and 5g touch sound pretty similar and honestly so does the classic. The note II sounds better buts that's probably down to using flac files and a better media player.
 
I can't really hear all that much of a sound difference between running amped vs unamped apart from the loudness (you need to crank the volume all the way up to get decent sound out of most of my devices). Bass doesn't seem any more prominent when using my O2 compared to just straight out of my phone (which is to be expected I suppose since the O2 is meant to be transparent). The only major exception is when I run the 650's straight out of my laptop 3.5mm jack, it just sounds tinny (very light on bass) which is probably due to the crappy integrated audio.
 
Anyways these are my results with my untrained ears, someone more experienced might be able to help you better.

 

[harney]

Quote:

Just did some extended listening this morning using my ipod touch 4g, 5g, classic, note II, and my laptop. Without the amp, the laptop sounds the worst by far. 4g and 5g touch sound pretty similar and honestly so does the classic. The note II sounds better buts that's probably down to using flac files and a better media player.
 
I can't really hear all that much of a sound difference between running amped vs unamped apart from the loudness (you need to crank the volume all the way up to get decent sound out of most of my devices). Bass doesn't seem any more prominent when using my O2 compared to just straight out of my phone (which is to be expected I suppose since the O2 is meant to be transparent). The only major exception is when I run the 650's straight out of my laptop 3.5mm jack, it just sounds tinny (very light on bass) which is probably due to the crappy integrated audio.
 
Anyways these are my results with my untrained ears, someone more experienced might be able to help you better.

 


Thx Ninja
 
For all the testing..maybe its just my ears then or could be the 650's...was in hope that a nice amp would bring out more bass extention out for me but looks like it will not....
 
 
I have just used some plugins SPL , Waves,T racks and trident a range  ect and i am finding that i im having to increase the bottem to mid with these to get the sound i like dont get me wrong the 650's sound fantastic mid & above but do not have that bottom for me so maybe i have to look at another pair of hp's (sigh) ere we go again  ......
 
thanks again for the advice all maybe i will have to put the amp on hold till i find the right reference pair then...
 
ta sy

 

[ninjapirate9901]

Quote:

 


Thx Ninja
 
For all the testing..maybe its just my ears then or could be the 650's...was in hope that a nice amp would bring out more bass extention out for me but looks like it will not....
 
 
I have just used some plugins SPL , Waves,T racks and trident a range  ect and i am finding that i im having to increase the bottem to mid with these to get the sound i like dont get me wrong the 650's sound fantastic mid & above but do not have that bottom for me so maybe i have to look at another pair of hp's (sigh) ere we go again  ......
 
thanks again for the advice all maybe i will have to put the amp on hold till i find the right reference pair then...
 
ta sy

 
Depending on your budget you might want to look into the Denon D5000's, Hifiman HE-400's, and the HE-500's (price from low to high). The D5000's have a pretty good rep (though I'll admit to never having sampled them), the HE-400's has more bass quantity than the 650's but the highs can be a bit to much for my tastes (I'm thinking about selling them). HE-500's are meant to be an improvement all round to the 400's, and for the price they seem like a phenomenal bargain (I'm thinking of trialing these along with the LCD-2's next year and keeping the one I like better).
 
I'm sure there are plenty of other good options as well though, Beyers especially seem to get quite a bit of rep (still yet to try any of their range).