Follow-up on the Vietnamese Crack...

[Aeolus Kratos]

Hi Kratos.
Where did you get the idea to come up with such a bizarre
nick name like that?
What in the world does Aeolus Kratos means?
To me, it sounds like a very rare contagious disease...

Guy 13

Last time you were in my house,
you remember I took a picture of you and me,
well, guess what?
I forgot to put a memory card in my camera.
Stupid me, well, maybe I am not stupid,
but I am definitely absent minded.
Can I get a second chance when you come to my house next time?

Hi Mr.Guy,

About my nickname, I initially tended to just use 'Kratos' ( which is the main character in the 'God of War' video game ), but I finally came up with this nickname because 'Aeolus' is my brother's one. Not sure what 'Aeolus' means, but it sounds fun 

Haha, yes, of course you can. I'm not shy of being taken pictures, because I'm a good-looking guy 

Regards,
Kratos.

[Paul Joppa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolus

[Paul Birkeland]

Now, what will happen if the Crack Speedball up-grade makes
an improvement on the sound?   

That is generally the idea behind an upgrade.  (It's also both audible and measurable)

[JamieMcC]

You might consider changing the title of this tread to "The Guy Diary's"  I will keep a eye out for new entries!

[Doc B.]

The forum is a very inefficient place to try to post a diary because the format is not intended to showcase one person's thoughts ahead of those of others. Blogs have been developed specifically for that kind of thing, and I would suggest you start one if you wish to post your daily experiences. Come to think of it that might be a more focused way for Grainger to post his daily musings too.

[Paul Birkeland]

Dan,
I guess this is the source of the attitude I have been feeling here.  I started a thread in Technical Topics about the cause of capacitor failures.  That is a technical topic.  It was moved to Grainger's Corner.

I shared the great sound upgrading a part per channel in Digital and it got moved to Grainger's Corner.  I've been confused for a while.

Grainger, you were posting in one of those threads about "missing posts" in that thread, and those missing posts were in the other thread.

There is no doubt that you were confused, so we merged the two topics so that you could find your missing posts that weren't actually missing.

[Doc B.]

There are threads here in the Bottlehead kit related forums that deal with a specific topic. A lot of newbs go through them to learn about our products. If someone uses one of those threads for a personal, shall we say digression, from the Bottlehead related subject matter it makes the thread less functional for the reader.

Grainger, you're a great guy and people really appreciate your posts that are offered as helpful advice. What I am suggesting is that we appreciate your posts and those of everyone else that deal with the topic at hand. Multiple threads about other gear like aging CD players and maybe some of the posts that are more of a conversational nature like the drifting of this thread away from the Crack amp to more general diary entry that we have seen lately might be adding enough non-specific material to certain forums and to make it a little more difficult for users to get to the answers they are looking for.

It's not a matter of uninviting, and this is not a snub. I have even gone to the effort to give you your own forum because you seem to like to post here a lot. Your post count is quite high, higher than anyone else by a goodly amount. OT posting is not a bad thing, I certainly post OT stuff here like others do. My suggestion is simply that if we can all be a little thoughtful about what and where and how often we are posting we can keep the forum a really useful tool for the dissemination of info about Bottlehead products and keep it entertaining at the same time.

[Guy 13]

You might consider changing the title of this tread to "The Guy Diary's"  I will keep a eye out for new entries!

Hi all.
I won't change my tread to : The Guy diary's,
I will simply post on Audio Circle under Guy 13 everything I want to share
and there is a lot that I want to share,
something that I already do and that is appreciated by many AudioCircle members.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.

Guy 13
 

[Guy 13]

Hi all.
Many of you have been following my misadventures
or my partial un-satisfaction with my HD650 headphones.
Well let me share with you the following happy event that happened today.
My audio friend Mr. Khiem and I have set up a meeting at his house so I could listen to his Bottlehead Crack, but his, contrary to mine, with a Speedball upgrade.
First his system consisted of the following:
An HP laptop with files downloaded from the Internet I presume they are Lossless We also used my CDs on his laptop.
An AudioGD NFB7 DAC with a Signal Cable coaxial cable
A Bottlehead Crack with the Speedball upgrade.
(Not sure of the 12AU7 + 6080 ?)
…and my super comfy HD650 and his less comfy to my ears BD T1.
Within 10 seconds, I know the sound was better with his Crack,
the veil was lifted and the darkness was gone.
What a pleasure to listen to the music, really enjoyable.
I would have never believed that the improvement/sound quality could be that much better.
The highs we clear as crystal, the mids were better and the bass, well maybe also better, but I am not sure, they were not worst that’s for sure.
Overall presentation was more enjoyable and not aggressive at all.
Then I tried his BDT1 comfortable, but I still prefer mine, because they are lighter and my HD650 surround the ears.
The bass on the T1 is a little better, minds you, with some music it sounded a little boomy, but in general was a little better, but I can’t complain of the bass of my HD650, very satisfying.
The mids and highs are clearer, probably a little more natural than my HD650, but since I’ve got the HD650 and they are paid for, I will keep them.
I have finish dreaming of the HD600, I will keep my HD650 because they sound good, with the Speedball upgrade that is.
Now, I have to find the money (Robbing a bank my be a possibility) to buy the upgrade and also find someone to do the soldering and installation, minds you, Khiem told me that he knows someone here on planet Vietnam that can do it for 50 USD, that sounds a little expensive, but if it’s done right, then I guess it’s O.K.
I am thinking of another meeting, but that one will be at my house with his Crack to make a side by side comparison with my Rega Apollo, my Signal Cable Interconnects.
Then I will be 100% sure that the weak link in my headphone system is the missing Speedball upgrade.
So for now the conclusion is: Sennheiser HD650 will stay at home, won’t go anywhere.
Happy temporary ending.

Guy 13

Note:
Please don’t tell me that you knew the Speedball upgrade would make a big/huge difference in the sound quality.
Lately I’ve decided to believe no one and do my own experimentation and that’s what I just did and I am happy I did it
by myself with my own pair of ears.
 



 


 

[Doc B.]

A most excellent decision to listen and decide for yourself.

[Grainger49]

Guy,

Excellent!  I think you made a breakthrough. 

Here is hoping that you like the upgrade in your system and buy one.  I think the $50 US for assembly and installation is reasonable.  Well, it would be here.

[Guy 13]

Guy,

Excellent!  I think you made a breakthrough. 

Here is hoping that you like the upgrade in your system and buy one.  I think the $50 US for assembly and installation is reasonable.  Well, it would be here.

Thanks Grainger49

[mcandmar]

Glad your getting somewhere with this Guy.  Find out what tubes your friend is using as that output tube looks interesting, possibly a Bendix or Tung-Sol 6080WB or a Graphite plate, both of which are brighter then the regular 6080's.

[Aeolus Kratos]

Glad your getting somewhere with this Guy.  Find out what tubes your friend is using as that output tube looks interesting, possibly a Bendix or Tung-Sol 6080WB or a Graphite plate, both of which are brighter then the regular 6080's.

Hi mcandmar,

You are right. The power tube I've been using is the Bendix 6080WB Slotted Graphite Column Plate and the driver tube is the Tung-sol 12AU7 Long Black Plates.

Hi all.

First his system consisted of the following:
An HP laptop with files downloaded from the Internet I presume they are Lossless We also used my CDs on his laptop.
An AudioGD NFB7 DAC with a Signal Cable coaxial cable
A Bottlehead Crack with the Speedball upgrade.
(Not sure of the 12AU7 + 6080 ?)

I am thinking of another meeting, but that one will be at my house with his Crack to make a side by side comparison with my Rega Apollo, my Signal Cable Interconnects.
Then I will be 100% sure that the weak link in my headphone system is the missing Speedball upgrade.
So for now the conclusion is: Sennheiser HD650 will stay at home, won’t go anywhere.
Happy temporary ending.

Guy 13

Hi Mr.Guy,

I'm very glad that you liked my system and found your way for upgrading. Before I bought my Beyer T1, I had used HD650 for roughly 5 years, so I pretty surely know what the HD650s are capable of. Therefore I suggested you come to my place first before selling your HD650 and get a HD600. It's great that now you had a second thought.

As for the fact you think the speedball upgrade is the 'key' point for the BIG ( I intended to use the word 'huge' or 'night-and-day' but you said you don't believe in such things so I didn't ) difference in sound quality like you heard yesterday, I don't totally agree with it. The speedball upgrade does make a noticeable improvement, but I firmly believe just installing the speedball is not enough. It's because I had tried another stock Crack ( with no speedball ) on my same system and it sounded NEARLY as good as when using my Crack ( using the same tubes and other 'tweaks' ). Another period of time, I tried my Crack ( the same Crack you listened to yesterday ) with my previous setup, the sound was even worse than using the stock Crack with my updated system. It lacked all the dynamics, layers, extension in both ends, very tight and well-controlled bass as well as the 'crystal clear' highs/mids as you described.

So if you are somewhat 'discouraged' with your Crack, don't be. You can bring your Crack and your beloved HD650 to my place to try with my system. I think you will be surprised with how your Crack can sing.

I'm not saying that the Speedball upgrade is bad. It truly is one of the most significant upgrades that you definitely should get, what I mean is there are many other things affecting the sound quality. The Crack is still a fantastic amp even without the speedball.

[Guy 13]

A most excellent decision to listen and decide for yourself.

Thanks Doc.
I am trying to organize another test, but next time
it will be a side by side comparison test at my house,
with my set-up and with his and my Crack and my HD650.
That should be the ultimate/final test that will tell me
if spending some hard earned $$$ will be a good investment.
For me even audio investment of only 100 USD must be worth.
If today I'm like that (More or less a cheap skate)
it's because I've spent too many $$$ on audio stuff thru my audiophile life.

Guy 13
Home sweet home,
even if it's on planet Vietnam which is not my home.