It is a beautiful case and more importantly it is a case which has clearly been designed to look good as part of a high end AV system.

The only companies doing this as well as you are Hdplex and Wesena. I have an Hdplex 3 and based on that I have a few comments.

1.For an HTPC the most likely source of noise is the optical drive and crucially vibration. How that is mounted and whether there is any anti-vibration or dampening is important. In my AV kit I have a wonderful Sony Blu ray player, but in quiet sections of movies the player is clearly audible. It maybe as simple as some silicon to isolate the drive from the case mounting. A similar point is that how the drive locks into the mounting cage is important - screws are fine but with laptop style slim line drives the mounting screws tend to be tiny and not that good at gripping. Make some special screws up with some rubber washer and a large head.

2. Cable management. Neither Wesena nor Hdplex have any. It is a pain because good cable management makes a big difference in low air flow conditions.

3. Similar point but my experience of Picu-PSU and similar is that they lack any form of cable sleeving - just put some black sleeving on it will simplify a lot.

4. Is there any place on front of case for IR receiver so you can use a remote control?

5. Would much prefer a tray mounted optical drive to slot mounted which are difficult to find and not cheap.