Anyways on another forum we met "the guy". I think [name redacted] already forwarded my message to you relating to "the guy"... basically he comes from an EE background and has played around with a lot of stuff in the high end (headphones and I think speakers?). I posted your response on the forums and here is what he has to say.

    ***Before you read all this please note that I am only the translator =(***


    "Since you don't understand the tube amp basics let me give you a quick (what he actually said was half-assed, but meh.. it was in a playful tone) lesson:

    Let's take a simple single-ended output stage as an example. Just like old man Craig* described, in this circuit you have a tube, and a Rk (cathode resistor) to determine the current. After you determine the operating point and operating range, take out the tube spec sheet and find the best (straight) line that goes through the entire operating range. The slope here = plate resistance, for example the 300b's optimal load is usually around 2.5-3 kOhm , but speakers usually only have 2-8ohms of impedance, thus you need an output transformer for impedance matching."

    ^^^^^^^^ You can probably disregard all of the above... He even goes on to explain what an output transformer is below but I didn't even bother translating that portion (was falling asleep at this point)....as for your nickname*..  Please do not hurt me =( I am but a simple translator. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    "So as Craig said it's a normal 2.5k 8ohm OT (though I wish it were two of these, that way at least we could match for 32 ohms). Once you plug a 300 ohm HD800 into the amp the tube then sees a 100k ohm load and output swing is immediately restricted. Clearly it's not at its optimal operating point....but yeah... the DC operating point is unchanged...

    So what I'm trying to remind someone of is to pay attention to impedance matching. As to why those commercial headphone amplifiers do not think too much of this ... 1) The market doesn't care. BA did a good job with the gimmicks..balanced design, high-frequency AC heater for DHT filament, external PSU.. who cares about impedance matching? 2) The "great ones" don't really care about headphones as they are much easier to drive (than speakers). Who cares if they are not at their optimal operating point? Making an 8w tube output 100mW is easy (I've had a conversation with Craig about this. He's not that fond of high impedance headphones, and he doesn't think it's necessary. Custom made transformers are expensive, and thinking about it no one wants to make 3:1 multi-circuit transformers anyways). As for sound, I think impedance matching is an easy and effective way of upping sound quality.

-----

Well, besides his gross oversimplification of the BA's "gimmicks", I also laughed hard when he said you guys (Pete Millett's name came up as well) don't care about headphones... I thought you guys were focused exclusively on headphone amps atm?

    He actually goes off on a tangent later and says something about Kevin Gilmore's designs... something about output stages being too high, amps having too much power, and a penis measuring contest. I think he made a pass at Ti Kan at some point but I'm not sure.. I stopped reading.

    Now at this point you probably don't even want to respond to this guy. Bad PR is never good (or is it?), but let me argue my case. The BA is still the best I've heard next to the Pinnacle (albeit that one is, IMO, grossly overpriced) for pretty much all my phones. To see it so badly represented is just stupid... and this is not really a "public war" scenario, though the debate is for everyone to see.