IMO, while they look the part, they neither felt nor (the one I listened to) sound the part. Amps at this price range should have a silky smooth motion when turning knobs and, for things like balance and tone controls, have a detent at the center position. These amps did not. If I closed my eyes, I could have easily been playing with a $100 generic receiver. I also listened to the headphone jack of a $3500 el84 based integrated amp. It was nice but nothing special. For that kind of money, it should be special.
That's Frank Cooter's latest creation. If you don't remember Frank, he's the guy that brought the wonderful and bizarre diy amp to MOA. This amp sounded very nice to, but I prefer his MOA amp. Of course, the conditions here were very bad to do any listening so I reserve the right to change my mind on that. I told Frank about HC so hopefully he'll be joining us soon.