|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
98.198.166.166
Reason I'm asking is I have Denon 2000's headphones and the Little Dot I+ amp. I got it because everyone on the big headphone forum said you need an amp.
I've gone back and forth between my Luxman preamp (TP-114) headphone jack and the Little Dot amp and can't tell the difference.
Follow Ups:
I am not an expert, but I have the Denon 2000's as well. They are very efficient at 35 ohms, so they present an easy load. In my experience you would not need a headphone amp besides your Luxman. If you envision purchasing a preamp or receiver without h-p capabilities, the Little Dot would be useful. They seem to have a good reputation.
The 2000's really rock, don't they!
But, that's not to say that all headphone amps in this price range would fail to deliver a noticeable improvement in sound over the Luxman. Several budget amps have been recommended for use with low impedance headphones, but not all of these amps are equally good at making low impedance headphones sound great. So far I've tried four different budget headphone amps that were suitable for use with low impedance headphones. My (discontinued model) Meier Corda Arietta has sounded the best to my ears so far. The ultra low output impedance (0,1 ohm) of the Meier Corda amp might be one of the reasons why this amp is so good at driving low impedance headphones. It might be possible to find a used Meier Corda Arietta or Jazz model for around a couple hundred bucks.
Edits: 09/10/11 09/11/11
The little Dot is a good amp. I have a Vintage 1976 Pioneer SX650 and i can say that the vintage gear is hard to beat because the headphone amps were fully discreet and the 70 era receivers were a special breed that most headphone amps cant compete.. I would try using the Mullard CV4010 in the Little dot to see if you can notice an improvement as the stock tues leave much to be desired. I am not sure if your Luxman is vintage but if it is you would need to spend some serious money to beat it. All were made before op-amps were designed so what you get with vintage is a discreet amp and if your Luxman was manufactured prior to the Alpine acquisition chance are the Little Dot will not compete nor will any other op-amp designs. My Pioneer SX650 smoked all 5 solid state headphone amops I owned. I had the Little Dot MK11 tube,Meir Concerto,Asgard,Matrix and PS Audio GCHA and none of them came close to my Pioneer. My Decware Taboo designed with a headphone amp smokes all of them but then that is a 1100 amp with over 200 in NOS Mullard tubes driving it. Just experiment as the CV4010 can be had for about 10.00 each
Edits: 09/10/11
I also currently use vintage equipment to drive my headphones. I had previously used either a Marantz 2325 and then later a 2285B receiver with great results. I currently use a Tandberg TDA3012 integrated amp which blows both of those receivers away for sound quality. I am also considering the Little Dot Mark IV amp as it can use 5687 tubes which I have an abundance of. I am guessing that it will not have the same solidity of the bass as the Tandberg but I am guessing that imaging and sound staging should be better.
"Nothing quite like high voltage DC to sharpen the mind and body!"
The only Marantz receiver I owned was the 2220B and uit was only fair. I much preferred the Pioneer SX650 and the SX980 I owned. I used the SX980 to drive the HiFiman HE6 and when I sold the planar I sold the SX980. The Little Dot Mk 1V is an upgraded version of the MK 111. The OP has the hybrid which Little Dot recommends for low impedance cans like the D2000. If you using low impedance cans I believe a SS or hybrid will be better than the OTL. I enjoy my Decware setup and had the Little Dot Mk11 as my first headphone amp. the MK111 is better and I have not heard the 1V but I have seen good reviews on headfi regarding that amp. The Little Dots I have heard are all good amps and play well above their price points IMO.
I have a Pioneer SX800 I picked up at a yard sale and have never used. One of the 7189 outputs would glow red and I was too lazy to check it out and it's in storage. Does that thing have decent headphone output? I dont see a dedicated phones output transformer so I'm curious where the headphone output comes from. (again too lazy to look).From your post you have experience with the SX650 and the SX680 but wondered if the SX800 is similar?
I am not familiar with the SX800 is it a tube amp because the 7189 is EL84 variant tube and was wondering. On the SS receivers the headphone out is better than any headphone amp I owned in SS. I would assume yours would do well also. Try auduiokharma and post a question on their site or in the vintage column here
Sorry if this is OT...Frank I, why did you go with the Decware Taboo over the Mini Torii? I'm trying to decide which way to go!
Thanks for your input. The Marantz 2325 is a 125 WPC boat anchor from about 1973 and the 2285B is an 85 WPC unit from about 1977-78. The 2285B had much better sound quality due to it's dual mono power/dual secondary supply design. Both have very nice sound quality and are pretty powerful. The Tandberg 3012 is a whole different beast. It is a 100 WPC mosfet output dual mono amp with a torroidal power transformer. It is also a direct coupled servoed design so there are minimal caps in the signal path. It is a very nice sounding amp and works very well for driving low impedance cans. I was interested in the Little Dot amp as the rest of my audio system is virtually all tube based. I was hoping to get some of the good tube qualities without sacrificing too much dynamic control. For it's price the Little Dot Mark IV seemed to be the ticket from what I've read so far.
"Nothing quite like high voltage DC to sharpen the mind and body!"
I am aware of the higher end Marantz receivers. I only owned the 2220B which was the lower priced amp and not in the same class as either of those receivers. If you using headphones regularly also may want to check out the decware CSP2 but its twice the price of the Little Dot but if your keeping your budget under 500.00 the Little Dots are all good choices.
you need an amp with an output/power tube. I went thru a lot of headamps before I found one that sounded like anything. I have a Woo Audio 3. The Denon 2000 cans are the first headphones I ever heard with "balls". Those cans rock. The bass is phenomenal. If you are not totally blown away by those cans, it's time for new amp.
It's just that I don't think I needed an amp.
The model amp I bought was the one suggested by the seller. I don't see myself buying another amp.
I used to have the LD 2+ and currently have the MK3. Both are good for the money. The MK3 is actually great for the money. Especially if you try some better tubes in it. I also like that the MK3 can be used as a preamp.I've compared it to my Rotel preamp and it beat it. Probably not too tough a task but still impressive considering the Rotel cost about 3 times as much.
I also had a chance to hear the MK3 in a very expensive system. The components were all Electrocompaniet. Did some listening with those and then with the MK3 as the preamp. Was amazing how well it held up in that system.
The Electrocompaniet was better but not by a huge margin as I had expected. The bass was better and more taut with the Electrocompaniet. Also, the MK3 was missing the last bit of the treble high end. Very impressive considering the Electrocompaniet preamp costs about 15 times the cost of the MK3!
.
Main system- Rotel RCD950, Rotel RC1070, Rotel RB981, Magnepan 10QR, Martin Logan Dynamo sub
Headphone system- Little Dot MKIII, Sennhesier HD 580,
Cambridge Audio 640P phono, Technics SL1210 MK2, Denon DL160
Edits: 09/06/11 09/06/11 09/06/11
What tubes do you recommend with the Dot 3. I have the HD 650 headphones using the standard tubes that came with the Dot MKIII. And where can said tubes be purchased? Thank you.
I've not tried as many different tubes as others. The ones I've tried are Mullard EF92, Tung Sol 5654, GE EF95, Amperex EF92 (actually manufactured by Mullard), and Amperex Bugle Boy EF91 (made in Holland). Out of these, the Amperex Bugle Boy EF91 are by far my favorite tubes. These are not easy to find and it took many months of searching online to find them. I was lucky to get them on ebay for around $12 for the pair.Even though the Amperex sound great, I'm also curious to try the Voskhod 6zh1p-ev tubes. These have been discussed a lot on a different headphone forum with several members saying they are a great value and one of their favorites.
At any rate, the MKIII (even stock tubes) with Sennheiser 580/600/650's is a good combination that is relatively reasonable in cost.
.
Main system- Rotel RCD950, Rotel RC1070, Rotel RB981, Magnepan 10QR, Martin Logan Dynamo sub
Headphone system- Little Dot MKIII, Sennhesier HD 580,
Cambridge Audio 640P phono, Technics SL1210 MK2, Denon DL160
Edits: 09/07/11 09/07/11 09/10/11
I know nothing about tubes. Do you have to do anything to the amp when switching tubes? Or do you just plug them in?
Tube swapping is easy. they have a manual and provide jumpers for some tubes that you can just pop in to the inside part of the amp but there are so many tubes variants that you can just pull out the tube and reinsert a new tube without touching anything. The Mullard CV4010 are a nice tube for Little Dot amps and can be purchased cheap.. There are some great Little Dot threads on Headfi.org that you should read and ask some questions there but it very highly recommended.
There is a minor tweak you must do when switching tubes. Depending on the year your MKIII was made, you will either have jumpers or dip switches that must be changed according to the tube you want to use. It's really quick and easy to do and doesn't require opening the amp. You can access these from the cut outs on the bottom of the amp.Check this page for the guide- http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=815&sid=b7982c59f100efcf68cb8192aa1fb86b
.
Main system- Rotel RCD950, Rotel RC1070, Rotel RB981, Magnepan 10QR, Martin Logan Dynamo sub
Headphone system- Little Dot MKIII, Sennhesier HD 580,
Cambridge Audio 640P phono, Technics SL1210 MK2, Denon DL160
Edits: 09/08/11
I have the I+ and it requires opening the chassis. The guide only mentions a couple other tubes that are compatable. Would different tubes make that noticable of a difference?
I don't have any experience with the I+. But with the MKIII the differences between tubes is very noticeable.
.
Main system- Rotel RCD950, Rotel RC1070, Rotel RB981, Magnepan 10QR, Martin Logan Dynamo sub
Headphone system- Little Dot MKIII, Sennhesier HD 580,
Cambridge Audio 640P phono, Technics SL1210 MK2, Denon DL160
In the same price range as one of those Chinese amps, I would rather have one of the Fournier headphone amps available on ebay. It's made in USA and it is supposed to sound great. Inmate "Reelsmith" has posted about the HTA-1 here and he seems to be very happy with his purchase.
I dont know about those except for the review on headfi which was OK. You seem to have a thing with the Chinese built products. I owned the Little Dot MK11 and heard the MK 111 and can say i could care less where it was made. little Dot products are well made and sound good and priced right.
Like me, you have not heard the Fournier personally. So, for all we know, the Fournier might sound just as good (or better) than one of the Little Dot amps in the same price range. Inmate "jimbill" has proven that the Little Dot sounds no better than the stock headphone jack on his Luxman preamp. Now it might be interesting for him to find out, first hand, how the Fournier stacks up. While I have nothing against the Chinese as a race, I know that American manufacturing is most beneficial to Americans in this recession and that's one reason why I recommend trying to buy American products whenever possible. American manufacturing is generally much safer, cleaner, and less tainted by all kinds of corruption than Chinese manufacturing is. Fournier is a relatively new outfit, but so far his products have been well received and they have earned him 100% positive feedback on ebay. I need an amp that has crossfeed and the Fournier does not provide that, so I am still using the old Meier Corda headphone amp that I bought several years back. If I was in the market for a budget headphone amp without a crossfeed circuit today, I would definitely give the Fournier a try. The Little Dot has failed this test, time to move on and try something different. FYI.
Edits: 09/10/11 09/10/11 09/11/11
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: