Coming along nicely
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Looking good…Alder is pretty tight grained and some does not have much grain detail, but yours looks pretty nice…
Alex
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I like the colour scheme 
looks sharp
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Just sanded and repainted the transformer bell on my lunch break. The espresso brown looks much better than the satin nickel I used previously.
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The espresso is much better 
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this looks so classy, making me rethink my build
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Thanks. I was shooting for a unique look. The build still needs to be done successfully though, or it’s all for naught
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Just take your time and read the instructons twice!! Measure twice and cut once!! Make your mechanical connections tight and firm before soldering…
99% of the issues are with poor soldering…wrap wire carefully around the terminal strip of tube socket pin, with small needle nose pliers, crimp tight then solder…
If you not an expert soldering, practice on spare parts…getting the feeling on how much heat to apply for a good joint and not damaging the component with too much heat is a learned skill…
And there are a ton of folks at BH Crack forum that will help out if needed!!
Alex
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I’ve soldered before, but small scale things. I’m confident I am fully capable, but you never know…things happen.
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My 2c read the instructions, then read them again, note the differences between connecting and soldering. If anything is left unsoldered at the end of a page (they commonly are but check) read the page again, to make sure you didn’t miss the instruction to solder.
The Kit has plently of wire in it, don’t feel shy about discarding something and cutting again.
If I were doing a second one I’d read the wire lengths as more of a guideline, but they will all fit if you cut them to the prescribed length.
piece of cake!!
just take your time
Added 1 more coat of stain and painted the transformer bell. This time, everything looks great. Still has to dry.
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I’m curious about dac pairings and if there’s any ‘tried and true’ equation with the bhc… like a violectric soekris scenario…
I not, what have folks on here found to be a good fit?
I only have budget dacs but Ive been considering the idea of getting the right dac for this amp specifically as I seeing myself keeping it for quite awhile.
Thanks
What price range are you considering?
up to $1000 ish … headphones hd600, dt880 (possibly t1.2 eventually), Aeolus (possibly other zmf’s eventually)
Hmmmmm. What type of sound are you going for in this case? Are you looking to tilt more neutral or lean more into the fun signature of the crack, or keep it relatively similar signature but a step up in technicalities
To my ear the amp hasn’t changed significantly with the different dacs I’ve paired so what I think I’m hearing is what the amp is giving me without much outside colouration. I really do like what I hear with the Mullard tubes. Neutral/similar and a step up in technicalities sounds about right.
Yeah most dacs will just further improve upon what’s there, but you will get some differences in signature depending on the dac from my experience (although not substantial)
I like the bifrost 2 with the crack, it tends to a really nice job of just elevating what the crack does imo. If you wanted something even thicker and more meaty, the mhdt orchid is a cool pairing with the crack. I like the holo cyan if you want to tighten up the crack yet maintain something organic sounding
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Does this go for budget stuff or the three you mentioned as well? I’m familiar (not from personal experience) with the bifrost but I’ll have to research the other 2… the holo sounds pretty nice
the bifrost doesn’t make the bhc too musical specifically with the Aeolus and 600? when I heard the Aeolus is was on ss and only for a short while … they’re both dark and I’d like to preserve the treble they do have