Little Dot Micro+ initial impressions
Apr 22, 2006 at 2:15 PM Post #31 of 432
Quote:

Originally Posted by CookieFactory
Hmm, apparently these seem to drive full-sized headphones very well, but the stock gain is just too high for sensitive IEMs. You might want to try asking the amp maker to lower the gain of the amp.


In an earlier post, parrot5 mentions 'unity gain'. Can you explain what it is for me? I have searched and i think it means where at the lowest point on the dial it doesn't amp at all (unity being where output equals the same as the input)? Therefore you can start from no amplification and then work your way up, whereas one without unity gain would start from a 'plus' amount? (forgive my dodgy wording, am new to amps so go easy on me!)

I have IEMs (E4), and am looking to get an amp, so if I go for the LDM+, and I am pretty sure I will :wink: should I ask for unity gain also?

parrot5 - can you tell us how the battery life test went??

I had already been mulling over the LDM+ from a couple of previous threads, so this thread has been great! Thanks all!!
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Apr 22, 2006 at 8:26 PM Post #32 of 432
Quote:

Originally Posted by fiery
In an earlier post, parrot5 mentions 'unity gain'. Can you explain what it is for me? I have searched and i think it means where at the lowest point on the dial it doesn't amp at all (unity being where output equals the same as the input)? Therefore you can start from no amplification and then work your way up, whereas one without unity gain would start from a 'plus' amount? (forgive my dodgy wording, am new to amps so go easy on me!)

I have IEMs (E4), and am looking to get an amp, so if I go for the LDM+, and I am pretty sure I will :wink: should I ask for unity gain also?

parrot5 - can you tell us how the battery life test went??

I had already been mulling over the LDM+ from a couple of previous threads, so this thread has been great! Thanks all!!
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I told the amp maker (actually his associate in US) that my soundcard source is loud (I follow the belief that line-outs should be set to max to preserve all the signal), and I'm only using IEMs. He then suggested that the amp be set to "unity gain". My guess is that it means a gain number of "1". For most recordings I have never turned the dial past 12 o'clock.... (off is at 7 o'clock, minimum volume is at 9:30, and maximum is at 5 o'clock.) Channel imbalance is less of an issue than my other amps. It occurs during the first 1 - 2mm of the turn, but not like 1/5 of the turn like the PA2V2.

About the battery test... I went away for 2 days and didn't bring my portable setup with me so I couldn't test it for 2 days. I've just started using the amp again and it's still going strong. It better start fading soon because I'm losing track of the number of hours of usage
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Apr 22, 2006 at 8:39 PM Post #33 of 432
Meanwhile my silvery LDM+ has been shipped! Naturally when it arrives I'll post some impressions.
 
Apr 24, 2006 at 3:06 PM Post #34 of 432
Thanks for all the impressions the LDM+ certainly looks very intresting. The main reason I'm thinking of getting a an amp is because I'm have quite a few sibliance problems with my FC7s and Karma. When I use my bryston these disappear. I was wondering if any of you noticed any similar problems tamed by the LDM+.
 
Apr 25, 2006 at 7:55 PM Post #35 of 432
So, have been thinking about for last week or so... screw it, i am going to order it. (My first amp purchase!)

Emailed the address on the english part of the website, and spoke about the gain (btw, thanks for your reply parrot5!). I am ordering the amp with the 'unity gain' option, but am also getting them to send an extra resistor (plus instructions) to swap it back to normal gain if (haha - when!) i ever change headphones.
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Apr 25, 2006 at 10:27 PM Post #36 of 432
Quote:

Originally Posted by fiery
So, have been thinking about for last week or so... screw it, i am going to order it. (My first amp purchase!)

Emailed the address on the english part of the website, and spoke about the gain (btw, thanks for your reply parrot5!). I am ordering the amp with the 'unity gain' option, but am also getting them to send an extra resistor (plus instructions) to swap it back to normal gain if (haha - when!) i ever change headphones.
tongue.gif



Hey I didn't know that option to get an extra resistor for swapping is available!!!! But I guess I'm not going to buy another pair of headphones any time soon. Let us know how the swapping goes.
 
Apr 26, 2006 at 4:41 AM Post #38 of 432
This amp continues to impress me. After doing some extremely careful listening, I've discovered it offers better control of the extreme ends of the spectrum over my SuperMini-3! Not that it gives better detail, imaging, or dynamics, just better control over the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum. There are parts in some of my music that have ultra-quick sounds in the highs that fizz out on the SM-3, but are clearer on the LDM+.

I've also found it drives both the K701 and DT880 easily! Easily enough that I can hear fairly significant differences between the two! Although I do have to add here, the LDM+ is NOT an ideal amp for either headphone, the K701 sounds dry & hollow on it, and the DT880 sounds like it has a hole in the mid-range.

Killer amp for the price.
 
Apr 26, 2006 at 4:44 PM Post #40 of 432
Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr
This amp continues to impress me. After doing some extremely careful listening, I've discovered it offers better control of the extreme ends of the spectrum over my SuperMini-3! Not that it gives better detail, imaging, or dynamics, just better control over the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum. There are parts in some of my music that have ultra-quick sounds in the highs that fizz out on the SM-3, but are clearer on the LDM+.

I've also found it drives both the K701 and DT880 easily! Easily enough that I can hear fairly significant differences between the two! Although I do have to add here, the LDM+ is NOT an ideal amp for either headphone, the K701 sounds dry & hollow on it, and the DT880 sounds like it has a hole in the mid-range.

Killer amp for the price.



Thanks. I'm happy I'm awaiting it
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Apr 27, 2006 at 2:21 PM Post #41 of 432
I orderded today the gold one.
I got the mail from David quickly.

>Thank you for purchasing our Little Dot Micro+ amp! May I inquire as to if you are going
>to use sensitive IEM headphones with this amp? If so, we can adjust the gain level to
>minimize background noise. If you are planning on using full-sized headphones, then
>everything should be fine.

My main portable system : IPod5G>RnB Black Diamond>RSA Hornet>UE Super.Fi 5 Pro
Therefore I request to ajust the level control.

After well burn-in,I will report the impression.
 
Apr 27, 2006 at 5:34 PM Post #42 of 432
Hi guys, I have an original LDM but thought I'd give some impressions now that I've had it for a little while - should be fairly applicable to the + model.

In short, I think this is a great piece of gear for the money. It's driven any can I've hooked it up to fairly well and definitely helps my Grados shine vs unamped. I've run my Super.fis out of it a lot as well and do see a small bump in SQ but not of the same degree the Grados do. With volume 3/4+ I can get a bit of hiss out of the amp when nothing is playing but I think that's pretty reasonable - my amp has stock gain. Both my cans are low impedance and I rarely pass 12 on the dial, most listening is ~9. I don't forsee replacing this with a "better" portable any time soon.

It also has a strange battery failure mode - I've been running down the original non rechargables to see how long it could go (60hrs is my guesstimate) and it was getting pretty low, the LED was really dim but the amp still seemed to play fine as long as the volume was kept low, which I usually do. It is plugged in at work to my PC there and last week the music kept cutting out with every app I used, couldn't figure it out. So today I brought my DAP in and plugged that into the amp and it did the same thing. Ah ha! When the amp gets low (too low!) on juice it will start dropping the audio. Weird, huh? I guess this is a function of the chip it uses.

Mine is gold btw.
 
Apr 28, 2006 at 3:02 PM Post #43 of 432
Hey, thought I'd mention one other thing about channel imbalance & volume. I've heard some amps have problems at low volumes with this, the LDM does show this trait to some degree but it is fairly minor IMO. Turn on is at 6 and imbalance is gone past 8 (o'clock).
 
Apr 29, 2006 at 6:15 PM Post #45 of 432
Hi, I have had my Little Dot Micro+ for over three days now and enjoy it better than the PA2V2 with the three headphones that I have used with it (DT880, ETY ER6, and DT770). While less than perfect with the DT880 (highs still a little bright), it provides wonderful detail. With the ER6, I still need to use the equalizer on my portable source (Rio Carbon) to boost the bass but it provides a cleaner sound than the PA2V2. Have not used it much with the DT770 but I expect that it will be a better match than the PA2V2 since it has an overall cleaner and less dark sound. Until PINTS become readily available (and I get the M3 amp that I ordered from MisterX), the LDM+ will be my main amp.
 

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