This was the script I was looking at but I think freehand text leaves so little margin for error it’s quickly outweighing any benefit.
I was going to just do the letter outline in gold so it would be a thin, super liney and elegant look. But i think this is where I concede. That type of touch is best left for a decal or silkscreen.
So I am going to go with the centered centered no text. It somehow pulls a classy look while being very monolithic and emphasizing the clean lines of everything. I may or may not do simple square outline in the gold paint pen.
The bottom left would be nice with text but I cant find a good stencil, especially that size. It also would give it a very “official bank document ledger” type look. Google NYCB and it kind of reminds me of that.
Edit: Top Centered would have been good too but it needs text to thrive, and we are back at the stencil issue. It was modeled a but after a grand piano where its logo on top then the makers name under it in a very sophisticated fashion.
Raise your hand if you like bad cellphone pics with dumb filters on them!
It feels nice to have the bedroom desk area cleaned. Now i just need to go behind everything and cable it up.
Is the knuckle duster for anyone that tries to go near the bottlehead 
Its for opening bottles in an overly aggressive looking way. Its actually a light gold that i thought looked good with the black but the cell phone photographs things so over exposed and warmed up it kept looking mehhh.
I like the noir style photo, it emphasises the contrast.
I got some listening time in late late late last night and there is something definitely really cool here. I am battling 2 things though.
So far the quick impressions are a little scattered but I can see what this is about.
Its a little odd because right when i think one thing about it it switches up. At times i thought it was cupboard small, then bam! It expands to a nice big space. Im thinking its not the more resolving then suddenly there is a razor sharp image of what seems like a baby crying in the audience, or a backing track i never knew was there. I really enjoy the texture it brings, and although I have only tested the Radiance (HD6XX today!), bass is very much there.
The DAC is an asus xonar stu which is a Ti chip and nothing special. The best part about it is i can bypass the volume pots for a line out and it was the cost of the 3 muse01 opamps the previous owner put in there. I am going to play around with power chord placement to try to see if it helps.
Oh this is the best i heard my HD6XX in the ~10 years ive heard it.
The outlines of things are a little fuzzy and its a little flat here and there but the touch, and texture.
Oh
Oh my.
PC’s are just very noisy, both RF and power noise through USB can be issues, you can sometimes minimize RF by repositioning the amp or the PC.
Outside WIFI, the Graphics card is usually the worst culprit for RF, but you can get it just from the Motherboard and CPU.
Some tubes are more susceptible than others as well the little wires inside the tube literally act as antennas, so if they happen to be exactly the wrong length, and you have a source of noise on the right frequency.
Outside of the bf2+rnhp that I use daily at the main PC, the BHC+SB has gotten the most use time this past week or so.
Below are some notes on my set up and my impressions. Nothing here will be a revelation but I think its good to get it down in the thread here.
Headphones: Senn HD6XX w/ stock and DHC Molecule Elite fusion cables
Tubes: Stock (for me this was a weaker Sylvania 12au7 and a very strong GE 6080wa which is a JAN spec)
Mods: Jensen caps, Audionote volume pot
DAC: Asus Xonar STU, Muse 01, volume bypassed
Cables: Audioquest Copperhead, generic USB, stock power Cables
Notes: The PC is putting out some powerful noise and the BHC is a sponge for it all. I need to copper shield it and look into a mod that is stickied on the bottlehead forums. My set up in general is a little janky, it isnt the final configuration but it is what it is for now.
First off this is the best I have heard my HD6XX. It takes a lot of the negatives of the cans and brings it up to snuff. My immediate notice that there is much more extension going in both directions. It doesnt make these V shaped in any way but some thump and sparkle is added and it is so welcome.
Next up you start feeling the texture. Yes, feel. You start to get that touch on your eardrums similar to being in the room with the instruments. Ive had the hd6XX on a bunch of different amps and it never had this touch. The already excellent mid timbre is just enhanced and depth is added. The feel is not limited to the mids either as the bass and treble are now more in play.
Soundstage is flipped on its head. Normally the Senns are close in and confined to the front, left, right blobs. Two things change on the BHC. 1) The blobs are less blobs. They get wider and fill in the voids between them better, in the end feeling like 3 hallways and youre at their intersection 2) Stage depth goes WAAAAAY deep! Those hallways feel almost endless, like tall stone corridors with a bright white light at the end.
Helping this out is a few things. The amp being not the fastest, and as some would say “slow” works in it’s favor. Transients stick around and vocals have a beautiful lasting reverb that echoes from stage front all the way down those halls. This adds thickness without making it a “wall of sound”. I wouldnt say its super saturated, but it is no where near dry. Some have called it rich, wet, sloppy and I think that is fair. The amp leans into that all and owns it, adding to the charm. There is enough detail and resolution in there too that the “thickening sauce” can grab hold and pull up some nice backing tracks, though this only is common in the mid frequencies.
Dynamics were enjoyable and realistic with a tilt towards fun. If I had the BF2 in chain it would really be bopping I am sure, but even now I didnt think the Senns were capable of this. I had a lot of fun listening to tracks and picking out when they decided to push those volume sliders up on the studio control panel.
One thing I was a little surprised was with the DHC cable. With this cable things were more forward and resolving but it gave me fatigue. It does not do this on other amps and I do wonder if it’s enhancing the pc noise to aggravating levels. But in the end I oddly like the dinky stock cable best here on the HD6XX. It just rounds things off a little and enhances the vibe.
Genre wise it’s a disservice to not run through some classic rock. I’ll leave you with my favorite track on the BHC. Let that mandolin plink and plunk you to another world.
Is that the two diodes on the ground lug? It helped my Crack a bit. Different tubes can make a positive difference as well.
Have had my 600 on mine the last couple days, paired with my P6P as the DAC, listening to mostly vocal centric stuff like Melody Hardly, Stacey Kent, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli…
Really just a nice listen. Not super technical, just enjoyable. I did notice poor recordings, though, and one track had really harsh treble (don’t recall what it was), so not lacking in transparency and performance, just doesn’t shove it in your face for the most part.
I know my Cowon S has a dac mode, I should really look into if I can use that as a Dac or even just a source to avoid the PC.
Yes very much so. It gives enough to keep you engaged and looking for one more track, just one more and youll put it down for the night.
Its very possible. I saw the post and read it quick but didnt dive too deep. I just want some listening time.
I agree with you on the classic rock. Isn’t It Midnight by Fleetwood Mac is probably my very favorite to listen to on the BF2 > BHC > HD650.
Ill line it up for the next listening session. Lake Shore Drive is also a BHC banger.
After a very long time, first I broke my driver tube, then I was in my brothers bodega looking for a multimeter when a microwave fell on my foot, also broken lol, but I finished it anyway
It really gives life to my senn and beyers, tubey hollographic yet intensely dynamic, im instantly content with the sound, just wow
The manual convinced me to not install the speedball yet so I’ll wait a week or so
IMO it’s worth waiting a week or two, if only so you can hear the difference the speedball makes.
The crack is a nice amp without the speedball, and considerably more refined IMO with it.
Congrats on the build.
BHC purchased (thanks for the good price on a nice amp and set of tubes @Towa !!!) - DACs have been rearranged to get the BF2 in position - space has been cleared off on the top shelf to fit it (11" x 7 1/4") - Mogami RCAs (from WBC) measured and will be just right (maybe need a cable upgrade though…) - and not pictured here, the HD6xx, DT880 600ohm, and R70x are on the shelf ready to listen! Just need the amp now 
(Slightly off topic for the BCH thread, but I like how my little listening chair rig (shown here) has evolved. The BF2 is sourced via RPi4 (ropieee) → Intona galvanic isolator, which sounds absolutely sweet on the G111 amp via XLR connection. For TV/Movie watching I run an optical cable around the room (HDMI ARC → Optical, trying to do better than the blinky LED in the back of the TV), re-clock it with an iFi iPurifier3, which also converts it to coax, and then into the BF2. Watching movies with the LCD2 Closed (shown here) is a lot of fun! Very easy to pick out which streaming services care at all about their 2 channel audio streams. Now with the BHC here, I’ll be able to try movie watching via a tube amp… I think that’s one of the spaces on the Audiophile bingo card, right? Bingo! :-D)
Once the BHC arrives and is setup I’ll report back. But for now, just dreaming of some tube goodness to come!
Do you have any a/v sync issues with converting the TV feed? That is always a worry of mine.
