Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: ipetruk on April 07, 2021, 12:19:21 AM
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Hi everyone,
First of all, thanks to the Bottlehead team for such a great product. I enjoyed every moment of learning, building and listening experience.
As DIY never ends I kept modding and I've made my Crack digital. It featured Khadas Tone Board inside, shielded with half of Audiophonics chassis, facing the rest of the circuit. There is a switch mounted to switch between builtin DAC and analog inputs. No noise, silent background. On my setup with my ears I could not distinguish the sound from built-in Khadas and external SMSL M500, both precise DACs, which is a great sign that there is no interference.
I've added two digital inputs on the back - USB-C and coax. Coax goes to my computer, which is Chrome OS and it resamples audio, so I listen to music via USB-C. Here is the interesting part.
USB-C is hooked up to the Raspberry Pi 4, running a Roon bridge software. To make the whole thing look nice together, I've made a mini case in the style of Bottlehead Crack - I called it "Bottlehead Berry". It is not an actual Bottlehead product, but to the Bottlehead team - feel free to offer one, for DACs on a chip or Raspberry, I am sure it should sell.
One reason I've put the DAC together with the amp, not together with the source is because sometimes I trade amps with my wife and she has Mac OS X, that does no resampling. It means she does not need Roon and she can just use normal Tidal app and get a full quality.
There are slight differences between the wood texture and height, because I could only get wood from a local store and it was pine. But I think it still looks amazing.
I hope this thread will inspire modding and provide some ideas on what you can do with your Bottlehead setup.
Cheers everyone,
Viva DIY!
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Top view and internal wiring of the DAC
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That's pretty cool, nice job and thank you for sharing!
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Next step: make burgundy red angled connectors for the entire setup, including heapdhones and digital interconnects
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Nice indeed.
Without mitered corners on your custom case, how is the top plate supported? (I've routed mine after assembly but end up with rounded corners to be dealt with)
Karl
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Just little nails to the sides, nothing fancy. The weight is really light. I may upgrade it to glued "angles" at some point.
Another think I consider is if I should add USB outs to the metal chassis, as input/outputs on Crack. At the moment they just go underneath. Would it improve the look or ruin it?
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Top view and internal wiring of the DAC
Do you have a link to the switch that you used to change between the RCA and DAC inputs?
Nice job!
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It was this one https://www.ebay.ie/itm/131898614717. The isolation ended up not being ideal. If I make one input perfectly quiet and play music on another, I can hear it far away on the background. If the music is playing - it compeltely overshadows the other input. I normally do not have both playing at the same time.
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Cheers mate, much appreciated!
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It was this one https://www.ebay.ie/itm/131898614717. The isolation ended up not being ideal. If I make one input perfectly quiet and play music on another, I can hear it far away on the background. If the music is playing - it compeltely overshadows the other input. I normally do not have both playing at the same time.
Would you mind sharing the wiring/soldering configuration for the analog/digital inputs as well as the output from the switch? Many thanks mate.