I fried the circuit board…can be fixed…just need a new circuit board lol…
Also while working on extending the transformer wires…one just “fell” off the base copper wire. Luckily the base copper wire could still be soldered onto, but it was a futile effort as in my efforts to get the glue removed to to remove excess solder I ended up frying the circuit board… They have seriosuly small solder points…even with my smallest solder iron point I ended up ruining one of the joints (I also some how had my solder iron set way too hot which I’m sure was the real reason for the failure). …it made me wonder about how well these were put together…
I’m still very much still looking forward to the new purchase (I’m assuming humm fixed version) from (Mass)Drop…
I’m trying to discern exactly what has changed…but it feels “brighter/faster”… it does seem to have lost some of the lush factor. A little more detailed, slightly wider, and imaging is ever so much better. Mids seem to have become more forward as well.
I kind of want another BHC kit to build…lol…for comparison reasons…
I needed this…after the morning frustration of glue and small joints that was the EC fiasco I put my self through…I should have just shielded the dang transformer but if not for failures…how would we ever learn =)
Had to refresh all my solder joints on the Crack to get rid of hum.
Upgraded with speedball, audio note pot, choke, and some spare occ wire for rca to pot. I have 0 noise at any volume on my phones.
This amp out resolved the Liquid Platinum for my ZMF Verite, so I sent the LP packing.
I kind of want to build a S.E.X. Kit next actually…
Yes, the BHC w/Speedball is my favorite amp…might be biased in that I built it though lol…
My Cayin I need to do some more tube rolling with…something odd going on with it, I’m 98% positive it has to do with the tubes…
Also I highly recommend getting the garage adapter for 6sn7 tubes up front, it had almost the same level of “upgrade” as the Speedball it felt like…this is exaggeration of course, but it was one of the most noticeable changes I’ve heard so far with tubes.
One thing to bear in mind with the EC ZDT Jr (or it’s original incarnation) is that it really is designed for use with high-impedance dynamic headphones. Some of the original batch did have hum issues here and that was down to a number of factors (different shielding vs. the prototypes, transformer position, and maybe - speculating here - variations in individual transformer’s quality).
Yes, it has a low-impedance output, but it really is best with high-impedance cans.
Mine actually sounds lovely with the Focal Clear (55 Ω), but it sounds better still with HD660S or HD650 … or … Vérité. In fact I’d say the ranking, from best to worst (overall) with the EC ZDT Jr would be Vérité, HD650, HD660S and Clear.
I don’t have the left-channel hum issue (the prototypes were shielded differently even from the “fixed” production units due to chassis differences etc.) at all. But I have heard “fixed” production units that are dead-silent with higher (>~150 Ω) impedance headphones that have audible hum in both channels when no music is playing and when paired with something like the Fostex TH-X00.
Good thing majority of my listening will be with the ZMF cans… also bad timing on purchase, Drops fedex shipping is sooooo slow! They have an estimated delivery of two weeks…I get that 4th of July is a holiday but that doesn’t explain a 10 day delivery
All the same this has been an amp I’ve wanted for awhile even if I have “better” amps
Did Drop not offer faster shipping options for the in-stock version? They had started doing so, but I am not sure if it was a consistent thing (nor how variable the pricing on it was … “free” is often hard to argue with).
I thought I picked next day…but who knows, I was on my phone in a rush lol, didn’t want to miss it not realizing it was going to be a constant now lol…
Didn’t get the Drop version but I recently purchased the Laconic Night Blues Mini.
Zampotech at SBAF had done work for them and was paid with the amp.
Preferring cash, he put it for sale, kindly converted to 120v and shipped it quickly from Russia.
Same tubes and visually identical except for labeling and knob.
It had sound closed in to me initially but out resolved the Crack with the Verite.
Just read the manual on the Drop site. Seems like 50 to 100 hours break in. I’m not there yet, maybe 5 hours, so it is on regular duty , listening to it now. Just in this hour the bass has become clearer.
Listening to Tidal thru the Pro-ject upsampled by Tidal to 352k (except for MQA) it’s awfully clear and musical. You know the Verite is the star of the show. The LNBM (ZDT Jr) is doing just fine.
Thinking about selling Focal Clears and Gumby to purchase a Holo Spring. I do want my DSD.
I will have to allow for the full break in, I guess. HQ player runs fine with I6700 and and cuda from The Geforce 1650. It handles every setting that I have tried.
I just got on loan the Sprinxer sda2 DAC/amp…it is a very nice looking unit, simple and clean. I’ll be giving it a good listen and post up a review in the coming weeks. I’m mentioning it because it has DSD playback at a great price…but I still need to listen to it I’ll get in a couple songs tonight with the Verite.
Looking forward to it.
Especially it’s dac perfromance with everything upsampled to DSD512 with HQPlayer.
That’s my latest kick.
Have a Schtt SYS doing switching duties between the Pro-ject box and Gumby spdif from the 502dac as Roon endpoint. Zoned together, I can do live switching.
I don’t think the Pro-ject out performs the Gumby even with DSD downsampled on the Gumby.
And I left the LNBM on all night. I gotta be at 50 hours by now. Manual states 50 hours for tubes, 100 hours for amp. When it’s all done, I’ll check into Crack cap upgrades to make it more competitive. Maybe diodes as well.
Has anyone here built a bottle head mainline? If so what are your thoughts on the build (supposed to be a 40 hr or so build) sound quality? and any comparisons to other amps?
Sounds like a really cool project. As I am ham fisted with my hands and have no woodworking or soldering skills it would be a difficult one for me. Good luck with yours though.
I am sure I could get to grips with soldering though. And my neighbour is a joiner. Hmmm shall give it thought. I would love to drive my HD650’s through a Bottlehead Crack.
I asked my best buddy - he loves such stuff and has all it needs. Now he is on a 3 week trip with his wife to scandinavia
when he is back, we talk about the housings - I would love something glowing from inside out, but fear soundproblems with any additional electrical stuff inside
another friend of us is a professional plastic solderer and did this for 20years - only a few people in germany learned this profession. He did this for brewerys and medical equipment - he could finish us a fancy housing of some sort… we will see
wood is somehow the first idea for a “oldshool” audio piece - with nice connections and oiled… nicer to touch than anything
but if not for failures…how would we ever learn =)
I’ll get in a couple songs tonight with the Verite.
