I almost cried today... I had one of my best SEX experiences...

[arsun]

I finished the SEX amp today. After a brief listening session, I had tears in my eyes. First of all, thank you to the community for such a great product. The sound is amazing. I am using a DAC1 pre and Sennheiser HD800s with this amp and being a headphone freak I am, I tested a lot of amps and equipment so far and I have to tell that this was one of the best. The amp is not in its standard configuration though. I spared nothing to get the best out of the amp and used MQ irons, all silver wiring, wbt silver rca posts, vcap teflon interstage coupling caps, vcap oimp parafeed caps bypassed by again vcap teflons, mundorf mtubecaps, solen soda-can sized polypropylene caps and some tantalum resistors at important locations that we discussed before (don't ask the cost :)).

Anyways, I just wanted to write a brief message for now and go back to my listening :). Attached picture shows the final finished product. The bottom chassis is holding all those polypropylene power caps that are too big to fit in the wooden chassis. I got the top and bottom metal pieces powder coated at some local shop. I also got the handles from ebay. Did not change their color though, I liked them the way they are.

This was my first DIY project and I enjoyed it a lot. Looking forward to many others to come. I think it turned out pretty nice for a first-time build...

Thank you to everyone for bearing with me and answering all my questions. I really appreciate your help. I will also post some more pictures in the gallery section, but I have to go back to listening... I am already satisfied with this, I wonder how will it sound after all the capacitors have enough time for burn-in... :)

[Caucasian Blackplate]

Damn, that is a beast!  Did you score those coin base 6DN7's with the kit?

[arsun]

The main source was ebay, but I got them from another guy, who had a lucky find on the auction site I guess. I just love the look of the coin based ones, but is there any difference sonically?

[audiblesoundwave]

I found the coin based tubes have a better details and clean sound in my setup!  I am using the Sylvania version of the coin based tubes.  I also have the RCA brand coin based tubes but have not use them yet!

I don't have the MQ irons upgrade but I upgraded many of the capacitors (some of them are huge).  I am enjoying so much of this upgraded S.E.X. amp.   I don't think I can buy one with the same level sound quality even I pay three four times more of I have spent on this upgraded S.E.X. amp.

Enjoy your BH gears,
Milton

[arsun]

Thank you Milton for the reply. I am really in love with this amp. True, I spent a lot on this, but as you said, I know many amps on the market for headphones, this turned out to be one of the best. I upgraded the 220uF electrolytics to solen polypropylene caps and I can relate to your comment as being huge. Each one of them is exactly the size of a soda can :)

I had the chance of listening to it a bit more. The background is completely black. The transitions are fast, the amp behaves like a solid state in that regard and with a nice authority and power behind it. It sounds like it has cured the lack of bass amount with HD800s as well. More to follow :).