Thanks ALL of you.
I have to remove the last pic because it is not my place to openly advertise the innards of SMIV (my Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX2 camera is HIGHLY resolving and that photo is as clear as the real thing). Dr Xin himself never revealed the board, at least not on so clear a photo. I know I am being paranoid but if somebody wants to imitate Xin's design let them attempt to do so, but it will not from my photos. Xin worked hard, really hard to get his amps as good as they are today - to some extent that he received vehemenous remarks for secluding himself in his effort to improve his amps.
Oh yes, as sted above my Xin only had less than 48 hours of burn in when I compared it with my TH. My TH has near to 700hours.
And the black case was available back in December 2006 when I placed the order. I guess Xin has reserved the black case for me all this while.
And it was not easy to pry open the amp from the case because there's two double-sided gummy underneath to hold them in place. It is nerve wrecking to pry open. You will have to use a small screwdriver to pry it loose bit by bit.
* And another thing I would like to add. SMIV is even more transparent to how the songs are being recorderd. For example, I was listening to The Breeders "Last Splash" and I have to adjust the volume knob almost every songs because the album was badly mastered - soundstage was dissapointing with this album (an Audiphile nightmare), then after the last song in the album has finished, The Clash "London Calling" Remastered Edition was next in the queue, BANG!!!! suddenly there's huge openess and blissful audio experience. This shows how responsive SMIV is to the condition of the source.
tell me how that works out, might be a nifty idea. the supermicro in coco bolo... hmm. i'd contact dr xin before making a custom case though, to figure out if it would be safe or not.
Insulation inside, protection outside!
