DAC plus Little Dot

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Has anyone tried a dac (DM or Beresford) fed into a little dot as a preamp? I read one review that said the soundstage of the beresford opened right up, using this combination.

In the future, I am thinking of buying the Little Dot Mk III or IV to have a play with the tube aspect of this headphone amplifier whilst not spending oodles of money. The main use will be as a pre.

Also, can I go from dac to little dot to A32? I think I can. 

 I'm thinking the little dot might smooth out some of the poorer bit rates on a system that can be a little too transparent. 

Cheers, Lee  

 

[matengawhat]

I use a cdp and squeezebox into a dac then into a little dot mk111 just for head phone listening - the little dot widens sounstage and adds warmth and space to recordings - not sure what you are trying to achieve by then sending back into a32 as will then end up with two volume controls unless the a32 has a home theatre pass trough to allow an external source to control the volume

if not you need to be careful not to over load the input on the integrated or will sound awfully disorted

 

[Anonymous]

What A32 is that? A search brings up a Arcam or Primare.

I use the tc-7520 with the little dot MKIII. I feed the little dot into my Marantz (see sig) in this order tc-7520>Dot>Amp. It does have a great soundstage, expanding on the already good soundstage of the beresford. Changing the tubes does give great room for tweaking at a fraction of the cost, I use the Mullard M8161 for great detail, massive soundstage, crisp highs and controlled lows.

I have also been toying with the idea of swapping my integrated for a power amp but have had little luck in receiving advice on these forums.

The little dot company often says it puts as much effort into the product as a headphone amp as a pre-amp. Unfortunately it's difficult for me to test this in auditions recently but I hope to give it a try later in the month.

 

[matengawhat]

i took the a32 as the arcam integrated but could be wrong! with regard to your power amp brisk contact lintone and see if they still have any black arcam p35 - great power amp - i picked mine up from them for just over £400 from memory - absolute bargain

 

[Anonymous]

To the rescue again, thanks matengawhat. Is this part of your current set up? I would like to no how the dot performs as a pre, hopefully as a step into the pre/power market.

With the recommendation of davidzhezhe I have the volume on the dot set to ó. This seems to match the fixed line level output from the Beresford in volume level.

 

[matengawhat]

i have a proper pre amp so never tried the littledot as a pre but also have a look at quad power amps

 

[Anonymous]

I have looked at the quads and to be honest I can't get past their hideous looks, call me shallow but they are UGLY! Much prefer the Arcam.

This is a big ask but if you every find the time could you do a quick comparison for me? I don't have my own transport so find it hard to take my own kit to auditions but will consider doing this when I find the right dealer, its a pain little dot are internet based and not widely stocked. No worries if this is a pain, I understand it can be a hassle moving equipment about. I have emailed Lintone to check if they have any stock as that seems like an unbelievable bargain. Will also shop around and get to some dealers later this year.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for your helpful comments. Yes it is the arcam a32.

I suppose I am wondering if there is a solution to computer music that has been recorded on lesser bit rates. Some of my music has been recorded at 128kb and does not sound too great. Would the little dot smooth this music out a bit?

Also, this may be a cheaper way to start experimenting with tubes. It is rumoured that the proacs love valves (they love vinyl). And, as much as I love the cd192, I feel that my Technics 1210 with denon dl-160 makes a larger range of music sound better, to my ears.ÿ

So, from my understanding, the little dot may be worth experimenting with to warm the sound a bit?ÿ

 

[matengawhat]

in my opinion nothing will make 128kb sound good - too much has been compressed/removed - its a good way to start experiment with tubes but if its the warmth you are after have a look at this - http://www.moorgateacoustics.co.uk/index.php?product_id=2055523&option=Prod_detail&image_id=637130 - this has a tube buffer in it which adds real warmth to music and could be exactly what your looking for as an inroad into a more warm/anaogue sound

has the a32 got a home cinema pass through - might be called something different in arcam kit but it allows you to attach a home cinema amp to an intergrated bypassing all the volume controls which would be perfect for the little dot to allow it to run as a pre amp/volume pot for your arcam.

 

[matengawhat]

just looked at specs for the a32 and you can actually set it to work as a power amp using the switching on the back so the little dot could work really well for you.

However the little dot only has one input and output so you would only be able to connedt one source - do you have anything else but your cdp connected to it?

 

[Anonymous]

The MF cd player is tempting but is a no go at the moment. I will keep this in mind for the future.

I currently have the record player, cd, blueray and tv plugged into the amp, and soon the dac.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Well that the solution really, the dac has 4 inputs, I run the cd, pc, Xbox through it then the fixed out from the dac to the dot. This allow you to have everything connected without needing to swap any leads around, just use the dac to switch sources. Run the one output from the dot into the A32 in the power amp mode and use the volume control on the dot. No idea how it will sound though, but tubes gives you good flexibility to tailor the sound. But nothing will make 128 sound good, stretch up to 320 and you will be rewarded.

 

[Anonymous]

Why have you put the idea of a new cd player in my head? (I must remove this thought from my head!!!)

But seriously, I think I may buy the little dot IV once the Final scratch 2 has been put on ebay. Even if it is to play with. Or wait for the little dot dac to come out.

Using the a32 as a power amp is an interesting thought but then I'll have problems with selecting ÿthe record player as a source.ÿ

Or I could sell the lot and start again

At least it gives me something to mull over. Many thanksÿ

PS, all the 128 tracks have come from friends hard drives. I am slowly educating them all on the virtues of lossless or flac.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Its a tube buffer that I'm after!ÿ