[wakibaki]

Yes, for a simple design as this is, point-to-point is more attractive even in the long-term I think, although tubes can obviously be made to work adequately with a PCB, and I even have some PCB style sockets. The heat is the issue though, I've seen a few cracked solder joints due to thermal stresses, you find a pin surrounded by a hairline crack in the solder and sometimes you can see sparking in the hairline in the dark.
 
I try to always use a PCB for solid-state though, even for prototyping, because if you draw the circuit right, there's a good chance that the connectivity will be right, whereas I've seen loads of errors using e.g. perfboard.
 
I have obviously had some contact with tubes, although more radio and TV in days gone by. TVs were all-tube when I first did any electronics, and I have a ham radio licence, but by the time I really studied design (tune in, turn on, drop out) it was all-transistor mobile phones and the remaining vacuum tubes were mostly klystrons.
 
Yeah, I can't wait for the remaining parts to arrive.
 
The thread is located @
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/629661/a-lo-cost-ht-supply-true-transformer-coupled-tube-headphone-amplifier
 
I've already had some very good design suggestions and I forsee more than one iteration. I'm a tube numbskull really, if the truth be told. I daresay I could find at least one person who thinks I'm an all-round numbskull 

. There's my wife...
 
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