I purchased from Glass-Ware.com an
Aikido Cathode Follower 2 (ACF-2) All-in-One 9-Pin PCB, designed by John Broskie, the editor of Tube Cad Journal (tubecad.com).
The PCB holds a pair of cathode followers, each loaded by a triode current source, and a respective power supply. In my build, a JJ E88CC with 220ohm cathode resistors shows 0.003% THD @1kHz 1Vrms with pure 2nd harmonic distortion.
As I tested my ACF, I noticed
audible buzz at its outputs @0.15% THD+N - that's 1.5mVrms(!), well above the THD, and it was not a grounding problem.
A careful look at the schematic (attached), confirmed by some Spice simulation (an LTSpice model is also attached) revealed that the "Aikido" in the ACF-2 relies on the exact match of the voltages across the capacitors C18 and C19, including the hum component. These capacitors are in series for the rectifier (e.g. hum) current and, together with R4/R7, are in parallel for the signal current. In the ideal...