Food for thought!
Can’t anything be linear (with a mid-bass hump)?! jk
I’ll continue to look into and evaluate. Appreciate your input “Real A”!
That’s a valid point. But the difference in price is substantial. If the OP has the budget, the Crack-a-Towa probably makes more sense.
Where’s your sense of adventure lol? Seriously though, I was a bit concerned with this but ultimately had no issues.
Made a huge difference for me (I’m a skeptic so was not expecting anything) 
Yes! I forgot to mention that. Don’t even wait to see if you have cracking or other “garbage”, just do it right off the bat.
Cheers,
the “fake” Alex
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Very nice and looking forward. The external aesthetic reminds of ECP/Doug design, maybe.
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I got it in the same color as the Starlett so it would match. Should be getting it in this week so will be listening then getting a review up sometime next week probably
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I understand that the Crackatwoa is transformer based. I think I’m set on this amp being OTL (Crack) and have another amp in mind for transformer based, down the line.
Thanks for the additional color (favorable here) and you ain’t so “fake”!
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Oh wow, pro moves there. Look forward to reading the review.
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The crackatowa is the Crack, with a better power supply transformer, tube rectification instead of diode, and their fancy prebee volume control stuff. That’s it.
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Oh I see. Thanks for clarifying. I’m leaning toward the Crack.
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Watch your spelling. It’s Crackatwoa, as in “Crack 2”, but it’s a play on Krakatoa, the island that blew it’s top off in a volcanic eruption in 1883 and sank beneath the sea.
I bought one and will be starting the build in a few days.
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I happily stand corrected on such a critical detail, thank you for bringing it to my attention. 
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If this was a skilled person with experience with soldering, ie understanding electronic and electrical parts, and the heat and time needed to solder without damaging “stuff” components etc…fine…but even BH recommends NOT to solder to the pins…a small mistake will cost you the aggravation, the time and another $15 + shipping etc…adventure, hell…I tack solder all the time when playing around.
Thats great, the circuit designer would disagree with this, but hey its part of the adventure as you say and its your money…have at it…the degree of the differences is subjective and even I have my favortie tube,…but its mostly cosmetic…those tall coke bottle microphonic tubes are nice…
Yup this is more of a functional or insurance thing…sonically …nothing , nada…
Enjoy the ride and music!
the “real” Alex
:>)
Oh…and buy some tube adapters and plug in other than 12AU7s for more adventure!
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I will post this here too! Any recommendations as far as everyone’s favorite tubes with the BHC with Speedball? Also if anyone has any extra’s laying around they aren’t using or don’t want, I would love to have them sent my way for my upcoming review! Let me know. Thanks guys!
For the Aeolus and the HD 600… My buddy has built amps before and is stoked to help me put together a Bottlehad build. I also enjoy finishing wood, so I’ll do the wood finishing and he can handle the electronics. Shipping is like $150 to get a Bottlehead over to me, so I’m thinking if I’m going to drop the cash I should just go with the Crackatwoa. Anything to consider before I get the Crackatwoa over the Crack w/ Speedball?
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Size and heat. Crack is smaller. Otherwise, Crackatowa is the Crack with a better power section and rectifier tubes. It puts out more heat as a result.
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Thanks for the info! Good tip on the heat output. I’ll measure and give it a bit of a thought…
Thanks for the help. Got a Crack w/ speedball on order now. Plus a volume pot upgrade.
Yall think a Bifrost 2 is overkill for the Speedball Crack? Should I go with the Modi Multibit and put the saved cash into some good tubes to roll?
Nope. It’s a great DAC. If you anticipate getting other amps in the future, this is a solid foundation for that.
If this is a one-and-done kind of setup, you can go with a Modi MB instead, if you desire. That’s plenty.
I like this input tube quite a bit.
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Thanks! It will be a one-and-done kind of setup (famous last words, haha). And the extra cash will go right into tubes and the hunt for finding my ideal tube setup. Thanks for the tube reccomendation! Bookmarked!
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Bifrost 2 → Speedball Crack is a great combo! Completely transformed my HD595 from 2008 into something worth listening to. 
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When I get around to it, I plan to purchase the Bifrost 2 and the Modi Multibit. If the Modi Multibit solves my PC graphics card noise, I’ll just use that! But I’m thinking the Bifrost 2 Unision USB will be the answer to my minor problems.