Cheers guys.  As I said it is almost absurdly big. As you can see it takes up about three quarter of my coffee table.  The girlfriend is away this week so I am enjoying taking over the living room for now   

Since I can't go back and edit my initial post right now, I wanted to update that moving the power supply has completely eliminated that hum I mentioned.  I have completely extended the umbilical chord.  According to Craig all that metal makes it susceptible to power fields.  He says he keeps it two feet away with the ATH 2000 in order to keep it completely quite. 

The power supply is really nice.  I had to take it apart to set up the 6D22s after shipping and I can confirm it is put together really well.  I don't know if you can tell but the 6D22s glow through the ventilation holes in the front of the PS which looks neato.

Cee Tee, the song that I was listening to was Coltrane Giant Steps, but it has been fairly consistent with many of the tracks I listened to.  With my old setup the cymbals and snare were right on top of each other so that it just blended together into one sound.

A couple of things I wanted to add but forgot.  Vocals sound incredible.  Very clear and precise.  I don't listen to a ton of vocals, but there was always a graininess to them that was kind of annoying.  The other thing is that I was somewhat worried that the high amount of power would mean that there wasn't much room to play with on the volume pot.  Because of this I opted to upgrade to the P&G pot.  I am happy to say that this isn't a big issue with the HD800.  I probably listen on the quite side of things and I am at around 10 o'clock on the volume knob and it is perfect.  The P&G pot has a very consistent response across the entire range, no big jumps in volume.  It is kind of an expensive upgrade at $300, but I figured what the heck I am never going to buy another amp anyway.  In hindsight, unless you listen at VERY low levels I doubt it will be a big deal.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the amp zerodeefex (and all those at the SF meet).  I am glad that I will have someone to compare notes with, especially as I start in on 2A3 rolling. Oh and Anax according to Craig the productions all have the Hammonds, so I am assuming that is what I got.

I was. Ordering snafu occurred. Still happy with the 2A3 MKIV, honestly.

It's all your imagination. What you are hearing is simply massive second order distortion from tubes. 

I still prefer my iPod direct to my HD800.  No amplifier to get in the way=wire with gain 


Seriously though, I am surprised at how much this amplifier is affected by stuff I never thought about before.  My tv being on, noise from my hard drive, the power supply (if it is too close) are all clearly audible with no music playing.  Not that I want to dissuade anyone from getting one, but you had better be serious about the rest of your setup if you are considering a 2A3x4.  For better or worse it is ruthlessly revealing of everything. 


To continue the discussion, here are the next steps I have planned after my wallet recovers.  Not sure if I will go for tube upgrades first or set up a music server.  I might be able to get away with putting my laptop into server mode and controlling Jriver with my Iphone instead of going to a fully fledged music server because I am definitely hearing CPU noises at times.  If I go tubes I will probably start with RCA grey plates, then go to EMLs or the PSVANES depending on esteemed pirate impressions from the SF meet.  After that I will update my DAC, but I am waiting for the Schiit statement or a good used deal.  Of course the Xenon power supply is in the works as well but that is beyond my control.


I mentioned it in another thread, but I will throw it in here as well.  My friend came over a couple days ago and decided to sell his 009/amp based on listening to the 2A3x4.  Honestly there is no comparison between the two, the 2A3x4 is night and day better.  I was specifically looking for everything I mentioned in my initial impressions with the stats and it just wasn't there.  I would still like to hear a top of the line stat amp like the LL2/BHSE/Electra just for my own knowledge.  Anyway he is in the process of trading the 009 for a BA w/ KR PX4 so it will be nice to be able to compare the two Eddie Current flagship dynamic amps in the near future.

Congratulations on your 2A3x4 Stapsy! It looks absolutely beautiful and I can only imagine how great it felt lugging all 60 pounds out of the box

Did the Sovteks come with the amp, or did you buy them separately? I'm not familiar with 2A3 tubes and wonder how those compare to the EMLs!