Bottlehead vs. Audionote Kits


Recently completed my second Bottlehead kit. I've now built a Crack headphone amp with Speedball upgrade and an Eros phono-pre. I couldn't be more delighted with both. First the challenge and fun of building has been a truly invigorating experience. The on going fun of tube rolling is great. Finally, both kits just sound terrific. I believe that I'm getting reasonable SOTA at a bargain price.

So here's my question. I'm thinking about building a SET amp for my second system. Do I go with Bottlehead Stereomour II with 3 1/2 Watts at $1,429.00 or Audio Note Kit 1 with 8 Watts at $2,325.00?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Would love to hear from folks who've built or heard either.

Thanks in advance,

Alan

adeep42

Showing 1 response by roxy54

adeep42,
I own the Kit 1, but I had it built for me. I have read on the forums though that support for builders is very good, and when I have called Brian with questions he has always been quick to respond. The assembly manuals have also been improved over the years. One post above remarks on the high price of the kits, but the material quality is very high, and the sound quality is fantastic. I actually consider them a great value. I have heard of the Bottlehead of course, but have no experience with it.
The Kit 1 has been around for quite a while, and is considered a classic. If you are driving efficient speakers, I think that you would be delighted with it. They are good looking too.