Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack Headphone

Posted on  by

How does the Little Dot Mk IV SE differ from the Little Dot Mk III?
Well, both are OTL (output transformer-less) tube amps, made by Little Dot in China. The Mk IV SE is supposed to be an upgraded version of the Mk III, with a premium price. So what are the differences?
[1] upgraded tubes - instead of stock GE5654s, you get a pair of Mullard M8100s, and also updated 6H30P-i power tubes. It should be noted that my LD Mk III came with stock RCA EF95 tubes (which was a pleasant surprise, because they were 70s vintage. I might have lucked out).
[2] The 1/4 plug on the SE is a Neutrik
[3] The SE has 'upgraded' RCA connectors
[4] The SE has pretty gold tube protectors
[5] The SE has a different volume knob
In theory the Mk IV SE is supposed to have a different ALPS pot than the Mk III, but every internal shot I have seen of the SE has the same pot as my Mk III.
David ZheZhe (Little Dot seller) claims the SE has 'premium circuit component upgrades in key signal path locations'. As to what these upgrades actually are (apart from the ones I noted above), your guess is as good as mine.
So are the differences worth the extra money?
As you start going up the Little Dot product ladder, you begin to slowly start losing the price-performance advantage you have with the Mk III.
You can get M8100s in abundance on ebay for $20-40 for the pair. The upgrade to the Elektro-harmonix 6H30P-i isn't really a deal unless you get a NOS Elektro-harmonix, since the new 'reissued' EH 6H30P from the Reflektor plant are, well, reissues.
If you are upgrading power tubes you might as well get a couple of Novosibirsk Gold Grid 6N6P-i from the 70s/80s (before the Wall came down!) for $10-15 for a pair (keep in mind that driver tubes typically last longer than power tubes, and the Gold Grids with the 'OTK' quality symbol were engineered to last a while).
Who should get this?
Those that want to experience OTL tube sound, and don't have the money to get a Woo Audio WA3, a Woo Audio WA2 or an Eddie Current Zana Deux.
Also those who own a Sennheiser HD600 or HD650, the pairing is excellent.
Keep in mind that the Little Dot Mk III is a better bang for your buck than the Mk IV SE. Also keep some money aside for tube rolling.
Who should not get this?
Folks getting their first amp (get a solid state amp!) or those who run orthodynamic headphones as their primary headphone (bad pairing, as are the Beyerdynamic T90 and T1).
Also folks whose budget will not extend to tube rolling.
And this certainly isn't 'endgame' material, if that is your goal.
Folks wanting the ultimate price performance ratio should probably look at the Little Dot Mk III. And those who want a transparent amp without coloration or distortion should not touch this with a 10 foot pole.
Who are the competitors?
The Bottlehead Crack, of course, although the Crack is a DIY OTL tube amp. And the Valhalla 2 is a serious competitor (gain switch, preamp out) especially if you are looking for a more transparent sound, as is the Woo Audio WA3 (although that costs about 2x the cose of the Mk IV SE).

Recently I posted a review of the construction stage of my Bottlehead Crack amplifier. The amp’s been in action for a few weeks now and I’m ready to share a review of my impressions.

I’m not going to start with the normal list of specifications for the Crack because it’s so variable due to the massive range of modifications you can make to it. What does matter are the following details:

Oct 24, 2019 Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack Tube Average ratng: 7,7/10 3522reviews Folks wanting the ultimate price performance ratio should probably look at the Little Dot Mk III. And those who want a transparent amp without coloration or distortion should not touch this with a 10 foot pole. Hi,i'm a newbie for diy and modding amps.i own a darkvoice 336i with senn600, would like to replace those 'two banks of 3 x 10uF outputs caps' as you did,can you show me the rating of the replacement cap require,is it ok to replace with blackgate caps or elna caps? And explain more detail step what to do??

  • Tube driven amplifier for headphones
  • Designed for high impedance headphones (ideal with Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic cans)
  • Buckets of power

The Bottlehead Crack is a DIY kit sold by Bottlehead in America. It costs around $350 fully shipped to Australia and takes a couple of days to put together if you take your time, but could be completed in a day of assembly, committed soldering and testing. If you want to know how easy it is to build one of these for yourself, you can check out the build post here: Bottlehead Crack – “The Build”

For $350, this amp is simply incredible. To put it into perspective, the Crack performs on par or better than products like the Woo Audio WA3 (~$580) and Schiit Lyr (~$550). Because of its DIY nature, you can get brilliant performance for a very low price. On top of that, building it yourself means you know what’s going on inside and can easily add to it and improve it either on your own or using the add-n “Speedball” kit from Bottlehead.

The Crack uses 2 tubes in its design – a small 12AU7 model at the input and a larger 6080 model to provide the output power. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means, I didn’t either when I started. Actually, I still didn’t know even after I had finished building the amp – it’s only been in recent days of research and reading up on the great Bottlehead Forum that I’ve learned more about it.

Using tubes means two things. 1 – the sound from the amplifier is smooth, liquid and magical. 2 – it’s very easy to adjust and upgrade the sound by simply swapping tubes.

The 12AU7 and 6080 combo that’s supplied with the Crack do a great job. The sound from the Crack was an instant and significant upgrade over the output from my Audio-gd NFB-5.2 and it’s not a slouch.

After building and listening to the Crack for a while I became curious about upgrading the tubes (or valves as we call them in Australia). This was compounded by some minor issues with the supplied tubes which likely resulted from the trip from America to Australia.

I found a local supplier called Evatco who were able to offer a selection of replacement options. I ordered a Mullard 6080WA, a Cleartop RCA 12AU7, and a Mullard ECC82 which is an alternative to the 12AU7. After a bit of playing around, I found that the combination of the Mullard 6080WA and RCA Cleartop 12AU7 tubes provide the sweetest sound and the upgrade only cost around $50!!

Sound Quality

This is why you’d bother buying an amp in the first place. This is what matters and it’s where the Crack really delivers.

Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack Headphone Pairing

I’m running my Crack (yes, plenty of humour available with this amp) from the line outs of my NFB-5.2 which is connected to my laptop via USB and is running 96kHz / 24-bit sound. My headphones of choice with this setup are the Sennheiser HD650s. Admittedly, the choice of headphones is simple given the need for high impedance headphones with the Crack, but more on that later.

The most immediate characteristics of the Crack’s sound are openness and smoothness. The sound is liquid and creamy, but never slow or veiled. It’s just real. The music flows out of the Crack like it would flow straight from the instruments. There’s space and depth and separation between the instruments, but again it’s delivered naturally – nothing artificial.

I had heard talk about analogue sound being smoother and more natural, but had never really paid much notice. Moving from the solid state sound of the NFB-5.2 over to the Crack immediately showed me why analogue sound has such avid fans.

I’m not suggesting that tube amplifiers will always outperform solid state because there are some truly amazing solid state amplifiers out there, but they cost a whole lot more than this $350 gem. I feel pretty safe suggesting that you will not find a better amplifier for the same dollars as the Crack. In fact, I think until you’re spending in excess of $700-800 on solid state, you will have trouble finding better sound.

Clarity

Darkvoice 336se vs bottlehead crack headphone headset

Without realising it, I somehow didn’t expect high levels of clarity and detail from the Crack because of its simple and analogue design. It certainly surprised me.

It’s not analytical in its sound like a solid state amp might be, but there’s no lack of detail and the beautiful separation of different sounds and layers means you can really enjoy the music and the details, not just pick the music apart to hear separate details.

Sound Signature

The Crack’s sound is basically neutral, but perhaps slightly warm. It doesn’t add significant colouration to the sound that I can hear, but it does bring out the extended bass more than my NFB-5.2. The Crack makes the bass from the HD650s sound fuller and meatier, but it doesn’t make the sound significantly warmer overall, just fuller at the bottom end.

Top end sparkle and air is still great, mids are well-balanced, liquid and smooth, and the bass is full and solid, but not forward of other frequencies. Overall, I think it seems a little warmer because everything is so smooth.

Of course, the signature can change with a simple swap of tubes (valves). The Cleartop RCA 12AU7 I bought makes the sound a bit leaner and brighter, but does so at the expense of ambience and space within the music so it’s all a matter of personal preference.

I guess the key here is don’t decide on the Crack because of a sound signature because that’s adjustable with simple tube swaps.

Overall Presentation

This is the smile-inducing part of the Crack’s sound. I don’t feel like the Crack dramatically enlarges the soundstage of the HD650s, but it’s placement and layering of sound is flat-out holographic. Individual instruments and sounds are perfectly separated and spaced around the soundstage to a degree that’s surprising at times and almost enough to make you look over your shoulder or second-guess if you’re alone in the room!

All of this adds up to a sound that’s fun, addictive and realistic. It’s probably not an amp for people who like to dissect music and analyse recordings, but it is definitely an amp for anyone wants to really enjoy their music in a way they might not have previously. The Crack brings music to life in all it’s amalgamated glory. The music is presented as a whole, magical soundscape, not a series of analytically correct, but unrelated parts. It’s been quite a revelation to me and has me subscribed to the benefits of high quality amplification.

Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack Headphone Jack

Darkvoice vs bottlehead crack

The design of the Crack results in a high output impedance. In layman’s terms, this means that it doesn’t work particularly well with low impedance headphones.

Most headphones on the market are low impedance (<100 ohms) which means the Crack is not a good match for the majority of headphones on the market. Not that it sounds awful with these cans – it actually still sounds quite good with my 70 ohm Ultrasone HFI-680s, but it’s not ideal because the amp doesn’t have as much control over the movement of the drivers when the headphone’s impedance is too low.

Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack

An amplifier relies on impedance to control and limit the movement of the headphone drivers. If the headphone impedance is less than or close to the amplifier output impedance, it’s ability to stop (or dampen) the movement of the driver is reduced and can result in lower sound quality.

Darkvoice 336se Specs

Where the Crack really excels is with 250 ohm and 600 ohm Beyerdynamics and with 300 ohm Sennheisers (among other options). It consistently receives rave reviews when paired with HD650s, HD800s, T1s, DT880s, etc.

Bottlehead Crack For Sale

If you own or are thinking about owning some high impedance headphones and want to get the most out of them without spending $1000+ on an amplifier, have a serious think about the Bottlehead Crack. It’s easy to build (and fun), and will easily give you the best headphone experience that $350 can buy! Add to that the ability to tinker, upgrade, swap tubes and generally customise your amplifier and it’s an amazing bit of kit – get you one!