Hi,
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Originally Posted by fishski13 
arkku,
beautiful! hope you enjoy the tunes.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MASantos 
Very impressive! The panel work looks great and well thought of!
How does it sound? :P
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Thanks guys! I did prototype the panel with a couple of cardboard models to determine how to best place so many toggles. The spacing is a bit tight with the crossfeed if the lower toggles are turned up and upper ones down at the same time, but in practice it doesn't seem to be a problem.
As for the sound, I'm still waiting for my new AKG headphones to arrive, but testing on my old MB Quart QP-280's has been a pleasure; I find the sound much more “open” and “airy” than the headphone output on my mixer, and there's much less listening fatigue regardless of volume. (Crossfeed helps even more, but mostly I've been listening without it for now—it's great for background music, though.)
I've also been using the SOHA II as a pre-amp for my trusty old Creek A52 power amplifier, and it definitely adds a lot of depth and liveliness to the sound. Unfortunately, there's an audible hiss in this use (but not with headphones!)… as the hiss is independent of the volume control's position, I'll probably deal with it by padding the signal somewhat for the pre-amp outputs. (There's too much gain for pre-amp use, anyhow, so that should give a better volume control range as a bonus.)
The bottom line is: highly recommended; a very nice and versatile project, and not too difficult even as a first DIY amp. =)