Want to dip my toe in to valves so will the little dot mk3 be a good start?

[gbhsi1]

As the title suggests I am changing my hi fi completely in Jan 13 but would like to dip my toe in and see what all the fuss is. I was thinking of purchasing the little dot MK3 to drive my grado SR80's - what do you guys think? good choice? can it be used as a pre amp too and how would I use it? I have a roksan power amp and integrated.

 

[Anonymous]

A very good little system. There are some sellers on eBay who charge a bit more but this circumvents the risk of loss or long postage delivery times from the Far East and potential customs duty charges. To use as a pre amp, simply connect output to the power amp using the RCA terminals. The Little Dot MK III is not recommended to be used with a DC or direct coupled power amplifier.

If you do buy one you can enter the world of 'tube rolling'. The guide that comes with the unit offers some safe alternatives, including the ones tested. Lots of internet advice too.

 

[gbhsi1]

A very good little system. There are some sellers on eBay who charge a bit more but this circumvents the risk of loss or long postage delivery times from the Far East and potential customs duty charges. To use as a pre amp, simply connect output to the power amp using the RCA terminals. The Little Dot MK III is not recommended to be used with a DC or direct coupled power amplifier.

If you do buy one you can enter the world of 'tube rolling'. The guide that comes with the unit offers some safe alternatives, including the ones tested. Lots of internet advice too.

Cheers Oneboxsystem

 

[GeoffreyW]

Hi, gbhsi1, I've been using a Little Dot 3 for a couple of years, fed by my Naim amps to drive either my SR60's or, mostly, my Alessandros, (enhanced SR80i's), with excellent results. Can highly recommend the LD3, and "valve rolling" can become another journey in itself, as different valves will give different sounds. I'm in my late 60's, and my hearing isn't as sensitive to higher frequencies, so don't find the Grado sound too bright, but I can definitely hear changes in valves. The sound is clear, very detailed, with the "warmth" valves give (other than the heat from the valves). There's a dedicated website (Littledot.net) where you can get advice on which valves to try. Haven't tried it as a preamp, so can't comment on that.

I'm also assuming that you're happy with your Grados?

 

[gbhsi1]

Hi, gbhsi1, I've been using a Little Dot 3 for a couple of years, fed by my Naim amps to drive either my SR60's or, mostly, my Alessandros, (enhanced SR80i's), with excellent results. Can highly recommend the LD3, and "valve rolling" can become another journey in itself, as different valves will give different sounds. I'm in my late 60's, and my hearing isn't as sensitive to higher frequencies, so don't find the Grado sound too bright, but I can definitely hear changes in valves. The sound is clear, very detailed, with the "warmth" valves give (other than the heat from the valves). There's a dedicated website (Littledot.net) where you can get advice on which valves to try. Haven't tried it as a preamp, so can't comment on that.

I'm also assuming that you're happy with your Grados?

yeah I'm pretty happy with the Grados but could eventually get some akg's - the Grados are very noisy for the girlfriend. I can't wait to get the little dot never heard valve amps before

 

[gbhsi1]

Pay day tomorrow and will order the little dot mk3 - can't wait to hear what the fuss is all about oh what about the dealer on e-bay from hong kong - can I trust them or would it be better uk dealer?

 

[GeoffreyW]

If it's the authorised dealer - David Zhezhe - you should have no problems at all. Having said that, I had the same misgivings, and bought from a UK dealer, but had no problems, though (fingers crossed) have not had any problems with mine. Do give it time to run in, it will change over 50 - 100 hours. Depending on how you like your sound, alternative valves to try are Mullard 8161's, but you'll find plenty of help on the website. Good luck, let's know your findings when it arrives.

 

[gbhsi1]

okay so I've got the little dot and I want to know what setting I should have the gain? are my grado's high sensitivity, medium or low sensitivity?

 

[GeoffreyW]

The switches on my LD3 are both pointing away from the volume control, if that helps. I think that Grados are considered high sensivity, but could be wrong. This is to drive my Grado SR80 derived Alessandros.

Did you get an instruction booklet/manual with your amp? All the words are English, but arranged in an interesting manner.

Just checked my manual, which says both switches, when at "off", gain factor 10, are for High impedance phones, 300+ (ohms?); when both are "on", gain factor 3, suitable for High sensitivity phones. Switch 1 at on, 2 at off gain = 5, or switch 1 at off, 2 at on = gain = 4, both settings for medium impedance/sensitivity phones.

 

[gbhsi1]

Thanks for the reply, I've tried a few of them and finally settled for gain=5, I guess there is not right or wrong setting enjoying it at the moment - now thinking of new headphones! what do you kind folks think of the hi fi man he400's? or akg 702? any other recommendations would be great

 

[quadpatch]

I have the AKG Q701 (technically the same as the K702) and I really like it - it's very transparent, kinda on the bright side, soundtsage is really wide, not as three dimentional as some of the competition though, bass-heads deffinitely need not apply.

I think you will struggle to find anyone around here with the HE400. I am very curious about this one myself. If you want to read more about that try Headfonia.com or Head-fi. Other good open back headphones around this price are:

● Beyerdynamic DT880 (which I just got and love / prefer over the AKG).

● Sennheiser HD650 (Classic choice)

● Shure SRH-1440 / SRH-1840

I assume it was open-back you were looking at specifically? What kind of price limit are we talking about?

 

[gbhsi1]

Price limit would have to be £400 - that's the maximum of course anything cheaper would be ideal! what about German maestro headphones? I'm open to both variations to be honest

 

[lonely boy]

It's probably a good idea to move on from low impedance Grados as I would think they aren't really a suitable companion with an OTL amps like the LD.

Generally, as opposed to hybrids and transformer coupled amps, output transformer-less designs have high output impedance, the "warmer" sound that some people hear with valve amps can be attributed to this.

With reference to the gain, it's also worth taking into account the output voltage of your source, portable gear can go as low as half a volt to over 2 volts from some dacs, obviously a lot of gain wouldn't be necessary for the latter.