[upstateguy]

I find alcohol makes the biggest improvement in my setup

 
As does barometric pressure ...... 

 

[awsanderson]

I find alcohol makes the biggest improvement in my setup

it seems to make mine quieter also

 

[awsanderson]

so switched the Gungnir from USB to SPDIF, replaced my best buy RCA's from the Gungnir to my RSA Apache with some audioquest Diamondback XLR's and using my BTG audio balanced cables listening to a record from Mapelshade.  My 650's have never sounded so good.
 
By the way every time I type Gungnir I have to look at it to see how to spell it.

 

[ssrock64]

Is the Crack a build that I could tackle on my own if I have next to zero DIY experience, or would it be better to have somebody build it for me? I'm starting to get tempted by the nearly universal praise and the reasonable price of the amp.

 

[MattTCG]

The crew will say that you can build it but I would disagree. Do you own a soldering iron and are you comfortable using it? Even many of the guys who would say yes, spend lot's on time on the Bottlehead forums trying to figure out what they did wrong. In fairness, it seems that most of the time they are able to get it resolved. 
 
For me, I knew that I wanted speedball upgrade and custom caps and pot right out of the gate. I decided to get someone to build for me and I'm glad that I did. 

 

[JacobLee89]

  The crew will say that you can build it but I would disagree. Do you own a soldering iron and are you comfortable using it? Even many of the guys who would say yes, spend lot's on time on the Bottlehead forums trying to figure out what they did wrong. In fairness, it seems that most of the time they are able to get it resolved. 
 
For me, I knew that I wanted speedball upgrade and custom caps and pot right out of the gate. I decided to get someone to build for me and I'm glad that I did. 

 
I would expand on that and continue to say: do you also own a multimeter and understand the underlying electronics associated with the build?
I guess I am competent enough to solder - after a few run-ins with SMD soldering - but I know little on how to test with a multimeter, and how it can be used to identify parts of poor soldering.
 
Regardless, I myself will still jump into doing the crack, primarily so that I would understand which part to take off if I were to do any modifications in the future.

 

[ssrock64]

I've soldered in the past and own a soldering iron, but I can't say I trust my electronics knowledge enough to tackle it, at least not on my own. I might just make it a weekend project with a friend who's more experienced building electronics.

 

[JamieMcC]

  Is the Crack a build that I could tackle on my own if I have next to zero DIY experience, or would it be better to have somebody build it for me? I'm starting to get tempted by the nearly universal praise and the reasonable price of the amp.

 
Definitely a yes I had never soldered or used a multimeter prior to building my Crack and had no issues the manual is excellent. I learnt by watching the Innerfidelity build video and practiced my soldering on some old bits of scrap wire first. What's more I had great fun doing it. Just don't be in a rush to get it built in one go, do one step at a time. Don't be afraid to ask questions on the bh forum like how to do a resistance check etc. There is also search feature in the forum.  
 
I would also mention Bottlehead offer a repair service if required. 
 
http://bottlehead.com/kit-repair/
 
  

  Even many of the guys who would say yes, spend lot's on time on the Bottlehead forums trying to figure out what they did wrong. In fairness, it seems that most of the time they are able to get it resolved.  

Matt I would guess its only a small fraction of the people who build that seek assistance and from my viewing of the bh forum it seams issues are normally due to a wire going to the wrong terminal or a solder joint needs redoing. Its kind of like going to a garage and asking anyone if they are having trouble with their car! There are thousands of happy owners by all accounts.
 
Also if you do have a problem they are vey quick in narrowing it down and resolving them, nine times out of ten you will have a direct reply from Doc or PJ the Cracks designer.

 

[MattTCG]

  I've soldered in the past and own a soldering iron, but I can't say I trust my electronics knowledge enough to tackle it, at least not on my own. I might just make it a weekend project with a friend who's more experienced building electronics.

 
That's a good plan. I almost did the same with my uncle, an electrical engineer. Ultimately, I decided to go with an experienced Crack builder. I think that it would have worked out either way. 

 

[bleudeciel16]

Is the Crack a build that I could tackle on my own if I have next to zero DIY experience, or would it be better to have somebody build it for me? I'm starting to get tempted by the nearly universal praise and the reasonable price of the amp.

 
If you can identify through-hole electronic components from looking at them (capacitor, resistor, transformer, relay, inductor, transistor, ic, etc), and have done through hole soldering before, and own a "decent" soldering iron/station, then I'd say go for it.  It would also probably help to know how to read a basic circuit diagram.
 
If you've never done through hole soldering, and/or don't own an iron, you might want to have someone built it for you.  If you're an adventurer and aren't scared to learn new things, there's no harm in trying!

 

[bleudeciel16]

   
I would expand on that and continue to say: do you also own a multimeter and understand the underlying electronics associated with the build?
I guess I am competent enough to solder - after a few run-ins with SMD soldering - but I know little on how to test with a multimeter, and how it can be used to identify parts of poor soldering.
 
Regardless, I myself will still jump into doing the crack, primarily so that I would understand which part to take off if I were to do any modifications in the future.

just curious: how does one learn to do SMD soldering before general multimeter use?  SMD solder and reflow is pretty advanced for even a hobbyist

 

[syphen606]

SMD soldering isn't bad until you get to chips and stuff that use the solder balls underneath... Or have 100 plus pins on a chip that is the size of a keyboard key. At that point, you need a different approach. I find it just takes patience, and a very good soldering iron / tip. I'm a fan of the Weller WESD51. Really good tweezers are also required. 
 
For the most part, learning SMD soldering is straight forward. Just get protoboard and practice soldering SMD parts to the underside of it with all the traces. I find that I would silver up the pad on both sides then heat up the solder as I lower the part into the molten solder. Remove heat, allow it to harden. I guess I try to avoid as much contact with the part as possible and only try to touch the PCB.

 

[JacobLee89]

 
just curious: how does one learn to do SMD soldering before general multimeter use?  SMD solder and reflow is pretty advanced for even a hobbyist

 
When all the stuff has been put in a kit, the skills for SMD soldering can be considered isolated from learning multimeter use. Putting things in the right place and applying standard methods to fix each part, doesn't need the ability to read measurements. Multimeters then become a "turn this device to this mode and check with a unsoldered plug" step, when a well documented build instruction is included. The need to use the multimeter is further reduced if the parts come in labelled bags which are referenced with the documents.
 
In this case, I am one of those people. Funnily enough, I made a few cables and adapters well before I obtained a multimeter. I know roughly what each mode does, but it's useless if I don't know where/how to check components, and what measurements I should be expecting. At best I can check if a solder joint is solid by checking continuity, which only made soldering audio connectors easier to debug. 
 
I also learnt SMD skills though youtube videos, and playing around with the internals of a deceased computer mouse.

 

[bleudeciel16]

   
When all the stuff has been put in a kit, the skills for SMD soldering can be considered isolated from learning multimeter use. Putting things in the right place and applying standard methods to fix each part, doesn't need the ability to read measurements. Multimeters then become a "turn this device to this mode and check with a unsoldered plug" step, when a well documented build instruction is included. The need to use the multimeter is further reduced if the parts come in labelled bags which are referenced with the documents.
 
In this case, I am one of those people. Funnily enough, I made a few cables and adapters well before I obtained a multimeter. I know roughly what each mode does, but it's useless if I don't know where/how to check components, and what measurements I should be expecting. At best I can check if a solder joint is solid by checking continuity, which only made soldering audio connectors easier to debug. 
 
I also learnt SMD skills though youtube videos, and playing around with the internals of a deceased computer mouse.

 
Ah, that makes sense!  I went to school for EE and the first thing we did in the lab was learn to use the bench multimeter, power supply, and oscilloscope.  Then we did breadboard prototyping, then learn through hole soldering, then SMD hand solder and also reflow.  That might have even been my second year where we actually did any soldering if I remember correctly, which is why I was a little surprised.
 
 

SMD soldering isn't bad until you get to chips and stuff that use the solder balls underneath... Or have 100 plus pins on a chip that is the size of a keyboard key. At that point, you need a different approach. I find it just takes patience, and a very good soldering iron / tip. I'm a fan of the Weller WESD51. Really good tweezers are also required. 
 
For the most part, learning SMD soldering is straight forward. Just get protoboard and practice soldering SMD parts to the underside of it with all the traces. I find that I would silver up the pad on both sides then heat up the solder as I lower the part into the molten solder. Remove heat, allow it to harden. I guess I try to avoid as much contact with the part as possible and only try to touch the PCB.

 

SMD by hand is bad.  Only a few packages are fairly easily doable by hand, like the bigger SOT and DPAK form factors.  But using solder paste and a reflow oven, it's cake.  Even better if you have a pick and place machine to do all the heavy lifting.
 
I have a JBC soldering station.  It's the best I've ever used and will probably own it for the rest of my life.  Heats to melting temp in 2 seconds flat from being cold to the touch.  Also has the fastest compensation curves I've seen, besting that of weller, hakko, etc.  All that goodness comes at a price though, but worth it for EE's and extreme hobbyists.

 

[syphen606]

   
Ah, that makes sense!  I went to school for EE and the first thing we did in the lab was learn to use the bench multimeter, power supply, and oscilloscope.  Then we did breadboard prototyping, then learn through hole soldering, then SMD hand solder and also reflow.  That might have even been my second year where we actually did any soldering if I remember correctly, which is why I was a little surprised.
 
 
 

SMD by hand is bad.  Only a few packages are fairly easily doable by hand, like the bigger SOT and DPAK form factors.  But using solder paste and a reflow oven, it's cake.  Even better if you have a pick and place machine to do all the heavy lifting.
 
I have a JBC soldering station.  It's the best I've ever used and will probably own it for the rest of my life.  Heats to melting temp in 2 seconds flat from being cold to the touch.  Also has the fastest compensation curves I've seen, besting that of weller, hakko, etc.  All that goodness comes at a price though, but worth it for EE's and extreme hobbyists.

 
I used to work for an electronics company that specialized in LED lighting products..  I was in engineering and frequently had to hand solder and hack job prototype boards together. We did have a reflow setup and a fairly large dip soldering unit..  But more often then not on new product prototypes we had to get in there.  I'd agree that SOT and DPAK are doable yes. Those were some of the more common packages we were using. We didn't do crazy small stuff that you'll see in consumer electronics these days.