Looks like the Cowon is finished:
https://forum.sonusapparatus.com/t/cowon-plenue-dap-thread-s-l-p2mk2-d2-d3/969/4?u=souldriver
we should do more in this thread, I love watching shit like this.
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The first (and last) time I opened up my former Lampizator Atlantic TRP.
To switch out a defective volume control chip (the socket on the bottom board). Had to swing out the top clock board with all the fixed point-point wiring.
Remember that game Operation…
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Here is my Bryston’s internals:
Bought in 2021 fresh from the factory, yet last revision to the main board was 2015. That is longevity 
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I never knew but those Brystons have a version or were supposed to have a version with an external PSU?
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Insides of the Hiby RS8 (opened to investigate issues before I sent it back to Hiby for repairs). The giant brass / copper? battery enclosure is impressive.
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Any of the BHA-1 can be powered with an optional PSU which is no longer available, it was a PSU which was meant to power 4 devices such as their phono stages. For example if an owner had both an MM and separate MC phono stage it would use this external box:
https://bryston.com/analog-audio/mps2/
The replacement external PSU is this model, and only meant for one phono device:
https://bryston.com/analog-audio/ps3/
Edit: it has to be special ordered to be built for the external PSU, so not a conversion kit available.
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Hey are these bha1’s?
Thats awesome I wanted to open it myself lol.
Look at those big MOSFETS, clean.
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Yeah, it is!
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Curious what the knowledgeable folks here think of this thread:
My non-technical appreciation of this is only superficial, but are these components really as blame-worthy as what some of these posters say?
Are their complaints just aesthetic, or is there real concern in the quality of work?
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I wouldn’t put 100% trust on anything you see second hand in a forum without knowing the validity or history of this amp. That said, anyone that’s ever taken a look at the wiring and overall construction under the skin of a 1980s Ferrari would not be surprised if this was legit.
Yet some of those Ferrari’s are still very desirable today. 
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If you read headcase alot, you’ll know they’ll bitch about any amp that’s not a gilmore or derivative design, and the mass mass majority of complaining you see from that forum come from people who have never heard the amps and act like armchair electrical engineers. I’d personally pay it no mind unless there’s actual reports of failures that come from a design flaw, because they’ll try and find some way to complain and bash a design that doesn’t suit the cult of the forum. Point to point wiring is naturally messy, and while some are cleaner managed than others, as long as there’s no real reported issues I wouldn’t worry about it and let your ears determine if it’s worth the cost, rather than the “I could build this for $1 in my backyard” or “look at my design it’s so much better” or “it’s going to fail trust me bro” that’s a staple of almost every thread on hc
On that specific thread, notice that the most vocal critics of the design are manufacturers that have products that are direct competitors to the stx (spritzer/mjolnir, gilmore/headamp), that also openly bash those who enjoy the stx and call owners and the designers idiots, and have never heard it themselves. How professional, and absolutely no bias there for sure
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If i were another builder/designer i would think it is best to mot comment on others designs unless there is a huge flaw and even then it can be handled in private.
Good on @Draaly for actually speaking out with his ears on experience.
I will say though, from an untrained eye and not from an engineering standpoint, some of the soldering work looks very uninspired. They also state it was “disassembled” but i do not know to what extent or how much they may have done themselves.
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Don’t pay Head Case any attention, they are useless and grumps. It’s a deserted island forum for the reasons mentioned.
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There is no confirmation if this unit wa modded, repaired, a prototype, etc. one example doesn’t make a fact?
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Yes, that is what i am saying. We dont know what that example is or has seen. I am not accusing anyone of anything, but if other builders are that outward on trashing others then i wouldnt put it past them to trash an amp and present it as stock. Especially as that part of the market has so few options, i am sure it is very competitive.
Disclaimer: once again i dont know and i am not accusing anyone of these practices.
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Completely agree 100%, KG does it all the time and will never buy anything of his because of that. Plenty of other builders who are as good if not better, who don’t behave in this manner.
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@M0N covered it head case pretty much will rip on anything not Gilmore designed.
There is only so much you can do with point to point wiring, and the Viva’s are 3 stage amps which makes it harder.
Craig’s stuff at EC is insanely neat, but more often than not it turns into a rats nest.
So I wouldn’t be concerned about it.
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Just got the internal pic of my Zynsonix 700W capable speaker amp to headphone converter w/ speaker passthrough and thought I’d share it here.
“Holy shit” were the first words out of my mouth when I saw this. Thems some huge resistors lol. They’re so big in fact that Bryan used pure brass nuts and solid copper lugs instead of directly soldering to the resistors, he said this was because “the resistors are so large that they dissipate the heat of the solder even from a very hot iron (900 degrees)”. Using solid brass nuts and copper lugs also helped ensure there’d be no difference in resistance when compared to his directly soldered designs. Bryan also doubled up the wiring as requested and even doubled up where the positive signal is divided “for the heck of it”.
Needless to say, Bryan went all out with this project and went out of his way to make this a very high quality piece of kit. Even if it doesn’t make a sound quality difference in my system (I don’t expect it to), the quality of this converter breeds confidence that this will last for years to come.
Also, happy new year everyone! I hope y’all enjoyed the holidays. I look forward to what 2024 has in store for all of us (in or out of the hobby).
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Looks very high end. Super cool.
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