[Owenpri]

I'm looking for an upgrade amp for my Sennheiser HD 600, with a budget of at most (or a BIT over) 500 dollars. I hear the WA3 are great with the HD600s, rivaled with the Bottlehead crack. I am not confident with my skills of ever being able to put together the Bottlehead crack, but can you get them assembled? How much extra does assembly cost? At the moment I own the Little Dot MKIII, and I could just save some money, and buy some nice new tubes due to the huge tube library of the LD. I use mostly SACD/CD to listen to music, and in terms of genre preferences, I love Classical, instrumental, rock (Cat Stevens, Steely Dan, Dave Mathews), but nothing pop or electronic. 

 

[FunyunBreath]

My favorite setup I own is the Crack and HD650's, and with the right tube combo the amp is glorious. So far my favorite combo is a Tung Sol 5998 for the power tube, and a Sylvania VT-231 (6SN7) for the driver tube. Using 6SN7 tubes with an octal adapter over 12au7's really opened things up. Imaging is fantastic and instrument separation is phenomenal.
 
I wouldn't be afraid of trying to build the kit either. It's way cheaper than paying Bottlehead to build it. The instruction manual is fantastic and you don't need any knowledge or audio circuits in order follow it. The soldering is all point to point as well, so you don't need to worry about melting a PCB or anything.
 
The build was quite easy and I barely had any experience with DIY or soldering. Took about 2 nights total. 

 

[brunk]

  I'm looking for an upgrade amp for my Sennheiser HD 600, with a budget of at most (or a BIT over) 500 dollars. I hear the WA3 are great with the HD600s, rivaled with the Bottlehead crack. I am not confident with my skills of ever being able to put together the Bottlehead crack, but can you get them assembled? How much extra does assembly cost? At the moment I own the Little Dot MKIII, and I could just save some money, and buy some nice new tubes due to the huge tube library of the LD. I use mostly SACD/CD to listen to music, and in terms of genre preferences, I love Classical, instrumental, rock (Cat Stevens, Steely Dan, Dave Mathews), but nothing pop or electronic. 

I'd say stick with your current amp for now. I would recommend the BH Crack + Speedball to you, but with it being assembled by someone else it goes above your budget, and if you don't have the basic tools to do it yourself, it's still outside your budget.
 
If it were me though, I would buy the Bottlehead Kit, sell the LittleDot, and buy the required tools from the proceeds. Learning how to DIY is an incredibly valuable and rewarding skill to have. It will pay dividends in the future if you stick with it.
 
You can also be on the lookout for a used Schiit Mjolnir and either buy or get a balanced cable made for around $50.
 
Good luck!

 

[Owenpri]

Hm. I've watched some videos on assembling a Bottlehead, and the kit looks rather friendly towards your everyday fella. The reviews are absolutely astonishing, and the amp even with the speedball upgrade doesn't break the bank! Seems like an investment definitely worth a shot.