Hello--
I've had my crack for about 7 months. Am completely in love with it. Equipped with the speedball, Solen film caps, audionote volume pot, Chatham 6AS7G, and a JAN RCA 6SN7.
My question has to do with background noise.
Recent diagnosed interference in the output wiring due to poor braiding and proximity to the heater cables. Addressed that only you realize that a second problem existed with the heater cabling and the 9-pin socket. Apparently I elected to ignore the photo in the manual and route it along the far side of the socket as opposed to the inside. Not a fun fix after everything has been assembled, but I did it.
Fired the headphone amp back up, removed input connections, and now have a dead-quiet right channel but an aggressive buzz in the left starting at about 65% volume. This is about at the limit of what I comfortably listen to, and is much improved above the buzz I would hear in both channels near 40% before.
When I connect the Crack to my Seduction, I don't hear that buzz sound at all, even at maximum volume. What I do hear is a hum that seems pretty close to 60 hz hum videos you can find on YouTube.
Why is the buzz sound gone when connected to the Seduction?
So if I wanted to attack this hum further, what are my options? Choke on the seduction? Choke on the crack? Input power transformer? Running with battery power?
One thing I will definitely do is inspect my Seduction for any obvious problems. That was my first-ever kit over 10 years ago and I now have the Crack and an Audio Note DAC under my belt, so I ought to revisit it.
Thank you for your time.