Hi there, first time posting: what is your suggestion of headphone amp for the HD600 under 200(ish)
Magni+, MT-602, A50, L30?
Assuming the HD600 series can well be the endgame headphone for many people, what affordable amp really makes it shine, in your view? a warmer amp, a clearer amp, hybrid, solid state…?Thanks!!
On a otl tube amp the 600 really shines but between the amp and some good tubes you need to raise the budget, but it’s really an end game. About a solid state actually it really depends by your preferences 'cause the 600 never sounds bad
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with your budget…the Little Dot II…or if you can swing a lil bit more, the III (not SE).
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try to raise your budget and get a bottlehead crack + speedball, if you can build it yourself then it ends up being one of the cheapest “endgame” amps for the senn 6XX series headphones. if you can’t build it yourself and have to buy prebuilt it still ends up being one of the best value tube amps in the range for the sennheisers. Other tube amps I would consider a bare minimum would be either the hagerman tuba or the SW51+.
I really recommend trying to go for the BHC if you can tho, I don’t find many solid state amps in your budget come close to doing the senns justice.
edit: but i guess if you had to go solid state for <$200… the Asgard 3 is very well regarded around these parts and is pretty much considered the best bang for your buck amp in the price range.
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Cool. I love the HD600 and not being a hobbyist/collector I would like to get the amp thing right and call it a day. People seem to love a balanced connection and tubes with the HD600… I am just cautious about having things too on the warm side…the Asgard seems a good option as well…Thanks!
People are also very fond of the Rupert Neve HP amp with the HD600 it seems…anyone familiar with that pairing?
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For $200? Schiit Asgard 3.
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im familar with the 6xx on the neve, and it was good. If I remember correctly it had decent synergy and gave the 6xx a bit more holographic staging with more neutrality and some decent detail. It’s probably better than the asgard 3 as a SS pairing, but for the money you can get a rnhp used or new for i’d probably look into other options instead.
I’m gonna be honest here, you really want a tube for this headphone imo. I prefer my BHC with the 6xx over both the V281 and GS-X mk2 which are 2.5k and 3k totl ss amps, if that says anything, so it’s very much a headphone that needs tubes to really come alive imo. With that said my crack + speedball is not stock, it does have around $300 in upgrades but even then the performance to value is ridiculous for that specific headphone everything considered imo
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Yeah the BHC + Speedball is the obvious choice. But it ain’t going to happen for $200 
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I get it. I can stretch it a bit for endgame kind of sound with the HD600, the idea was to avoid that infinite search (I know that is the fun part) but I just like the idea of the HD600 with a fine amp and be done…
I’m currently waiting for a BHC sale, usually around 215$ for the crank without the speedball. You can always build and listen and add the speedball later for the same price IIRC as it’s only the crack on sale typically. Might allow you to stretch your budget some over a couple purchases instead.
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@Sgtdap makes a good point. Get the Crack on sale and somewhere down the line add the Speedball.
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Tubes is going to be the recommendation, but tubes are never “endgame” because… they’re tubes.
It’s full of thinking and tinkering and wondering. Your “fine and done” is never going to be possible there.
$200 and future proof for at least powering 99% of things through single-ended, A3 for me.
What’s your DAC or source prior to the amp though?
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The HD600 is still great on solid state. I’m not so sure about going with a budget tube amp. If you don’t want to pay $240 (shipped) for a new A3, I’d go with the Magni 3+ probably. But the other stuff you brought up is fine too. A good solid state should be first purchase prior to the BHC. The BHC is only good for high impedance cans
thanks for the input!
Bluesound Node 2…
someone recommended Wooaudio as well… anyways, thanks for the comments…
made me consider spending more…
The iFi Zen Can wouldn’t be a bad consideration either. Perhaps not as great as the other choices above but definitely fits your budget. It’s a little on the warmer side and the bass boost feature would help increase the bass on the 600s in a nice subtle way (it’s not overdone.) It also has a 3D feature that doesn’t work as well for my ears as it seems to for others who have reviewed it.
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