Crack from Hong Kong

[hwaitung]

Some pictures of my newly built Crack + Speedball!  ;D All the parts are pretty much stock, except for the knob and Alps pot. The wood chassis is treated with walnut color Danish oil while the chassis plate is spray painted with some metallic color.

1. Underside of stock


2. Underside with Speedball


3. Crack in action!


4. The glowing 6080!


5. All the gears


6. Handle mod


7. Choke


8. Film Caps


9. Full Loaded

 

[Grainger49]

Very nice build.  What color did you paint the top plate.  It looks pretty natural, not so bold.  I like it.

Does the 6080 really glow that color?

 

[hwaitung]

The color I used for the chassis plate is titanium. It is metallic grayish green (more gray than green) in color. Originally I wanted to do it with hammered spray paint but I couldn't find them in local stores. This paint I used still have some texture to it but not as prominent as hammered paint.

As for the glow of the tube, I think the room's lighting distorts it somewhat. It should be bright orange in color.

 

[hwaitung]

Just added a pair of Ikea furniture handles. Very handy when you need to lift the chassis plate up!

 

[Grainger49]

Everything old is new again.  I haven't seen this mod in 10 years.  This is the first Crack I have seen it on.

It is handy and adds a touch of style to the top plate.

 

[hwaitung]

A bit of pain to de-solder the 270 ohm resistor, but the choke is now in!

 

[JamieMcC]

Film caps next?

You have some nice amps in the background how is the Crack differing in presentation at the moment to the Woo and SPL?

Nice looking build the handles give it a interesting look

 

[hwaitung]

Film caps next?

You have some nice amps in the background how is the Crack differing in presentation at the moment to the Woo and SPL?

Yup. Actually the film caps have arrived already, just need some time to make a nice bracket for them...

I still use the Woo Audio WA6SE a lot for both HD800 & LCD3, but I like the Crack tiny bit more because it beefs up the lower end of HD800 and it feels warmer than the WA6SE. On the other hand, the Woo's sound cleaner with better resolution. IMO, the Crack is better for vocal but the Woo's is better suit for orchestral music. As for the Phonitor, it is razor sharp with HD800 but the highs can be aggressive, so I prefer the Crack and Woo's for HD800.

The Crack has no hope for LCD3  , but it sounds good on both Woo's and Phonitor but with very different flavors. I slightly prefer its sound on Phonitor as the resolution complement the relatively dark nature of LCD3.

Other than these 2 cans, I also tried HD600 and HD545 with the Crack. Actually, HD545 was used when I first listen to the Crack. I can't believe they work so well with the Crack. It just confirms the general opinion that Crack works extremely well with these midrange Senns.

 

[Natural Sound]

Is that a VA Labs DAC you are using?

 

[JamieMcC]

Thanks for the feed back your film caps should ratchet up the resolution a couple of notches with the Crack. Looking forward to seeing them installed. These saddles should be just the right size for your caps if its of any help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-X-13MM-CABLE-TIE-TIES-MOUNTS-SADDLES-BASES-WRAPS-CA5-/171002682531?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

 

[hwaitung]

Is that a VA Labs DAC you are using?

The DAC is a Mytek 192-DSD DAC, fed by a Squeeze Box Touch.

Thanks for the feed back your film caps should ratchet up the resolution a couple of notches with the Crack. Looking forward to seeing them installed. These saddles should be just the right size for your caps if its of any help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-X-13MM-CABLE-TIE-TIES-MOUNTS-SADDLES-BASES-WRAPS-CA5-/171002682531?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Didn't know there is such a thing! Will surely check that out.

 

[aragorn723]

Good song on your logitech thing, i have that one too lol.  What other music do you like to listen to?  Thanks,

Dave

 

[hwaitung]

Pink Martini is my recent favorite. I also like Cantonese oldies and there are many SACD re-releases in this 2 years. Of course there are audiophile recordings as well, e.g. hi-res recodings from TACET.