Dave normally offers anodization, which is done by a shop local to him. It's unusual to just do brushed aluminum, but I don't know what was discussed. Regardless, all of the chassis panels have to be grounded, and obviously the signal and safety earth connections have to be grounded to the...

If it's just brushed uncoated aluminum then that's fine, not sure what you discussed with Dave. You can always check using the continuity setting of your multimeter to see if it's conductive.

Sorry, it is a single-ended design, so RCA inputs only.

That looks to be correct.

Well out of respect for another designer's work, I won't comment on your amplifier. But as far as Aegis being "for the masses", I would respectfully disagree. There are differences of philosophy when it comes to tube amplifier design. I do not design amplifiers for the sake of using an...

I can't speak to your amp, but in short Aegis utilizes a choke-loaded 6SL7 input stage, cap coupled into a transformer coupled cathode follower output stage. This is the first this output topology has been offered commercially for a headphone amp that I am aware of. The advantage of using a...

Nah, I doubt there is any difference, just a matter of reliability.

If that is anodized, note that the anodized layer is not conductive. If the mating faces of the side panels and the top plate were not masked and are completely anodized, you will need to sand / grind away some of the anodized layer to expose the underlying metal such that the side panels make...

Yeah I recommend using the 600V ones, not sure why the 400V were failing, maybe they were liberally rated. So 600V to be on the safe side. Alternative option in the BOM are V-Cap ODAM.

They were available side-by-side at CanJam NYC, ZMF Aegis running stock tubes, DIY using NOS tubes. General feeling was there was not a substantial difference in sound. The overarching topology is going to have a larger effect on the sound compared to individual components. DIY of course has...

The XLR has slightly higher power output than the 1/4". Power output is anywhere from 1W-2.5W, depending on the impedance setting and headphone impedance. The specs on the product page will be updated.

Source is my own DAC, a NOS design, uses a pair of vintage PCM63 chips in parallel per channel, transformer I/V conversion, into a transformer coupled tube output stage. No signal caps between the DAC output and the RCAs outs, just tubes and transformers.

Landfall is on hiatus for a few months, so HY69 amp and LCR phono projects are on hold. While I have the extra time, I'll do all the other planning and building for those projects, but I can take it slow. Got my new PCBs in, I'll probably start stuffing those next week and maybe build the...

It depends. I would say small changes in bias point likely are not audible. Even moderate changes. Huge changes? Maybe you could hear that. Like say if you severely underbiased a KT88 at 20mA, then rebiased to 70mA, you would probably hear a difference. But in my experience, small changes...

Decided to get my OTL out of storage. Haven't had it in rotation since I got the Atrium Closed, this kicks ass!