Little Dot LD2 Review - Page 2

Yep, I bought from zunqiu too. Very quick responses to emails (few hours tops), even questions after the deal was done (ie tech q's later on). Although its obvious english isn't his first language, I've had no problem understanding him.

Never saw the other seller david...? Anytime I searched on ebay, it was always zunqiu that came up. It would be worth checking out if this other fella is an authorised seller, because at the time I bought, zunqiu was the only one, ensuring that guarantees etc would hold up.

Fran

I also purchased from Zunqiu. Before the purchase I had some questions for him and he always responded quickly. Once I made the purchase, the great communication continued. I made the purchase late in the night on July 3rd. The website and the ebay auction said that it will take 1-2 weeks to build the amp and then another few days for delivery. So I was pleasantly surprised when after just 6 days, I received an email from Zunqui saying that the amp had been sent and included the tracking number. I checked the tracking number and it had already passed through customs. Next day, I received the amp. In total, I received the amp within 7 days of purchase in Nebraska, USA!

I opened the box and everything seemed to be packed very well. Upon lifting the amp I was surprised by it's weight as it's heavier than I had imagined and feels very solid. The build quality looks good. The only thing is that I ordered a silver amp but received a black one... but oh well, not a big deal. I took out the tubes from the box and immediately could see what others had mentioned about the 4P1S power tubes looking sorta cheap. At any rate, they slid into the sockets on the amp very nicely and once installed on the amp, they look just fine. Same goes for the smaller tubes. I quickly looked over the rca wires that were included with the amp and they look to be decent quality.

At this point, I glanced down at my watch and I had to get going to the airport. Unfortunately I won't be able to listen to the amp right away. As soon as I do, I'll be sure to post my impressions of it here.

Sounds good, I orderd mine on Friday the 7th. However it looks like I ordered mine from David, not from Zunqiu, hopefully it will be just as smooth, can't wait to use the pre-amp function and see how it synergizes with the Gilmore Lite

I just hooked up my LD2 to an E-mu 0404 with Headphile BlackSilver IC's and running to Grado SR-225's. I am using GE 1U5's in replacement of the stock output tubes. This is a considerable upgrade over using it with the X-fi. Anyway, I'm blown away by the pure enjoyability factor of this setup. I don't want to admit it might even be more fun than than my MG Head with DT-880's, which cost a bit more.

double post. oops.

I think I'm going to order a LDII+ from davidzhezhe as well.

Nice comments.

(Please note that this is my first headphone amp and my first vaccuum tube amp although I've heard high end vaccuum tube gear before in speaker setups)

I finally got a chance to fire up my new Little Dot II+ today. I'd like to note a few easy to spot differences between this newest version and the older Little Dot II as I've seen described on this forum.

As the website states, this new version has a set of RCA output jacks in the back so it can be used as a preamp ( I haven't tried it in this capacity yet but will do so later on after the burn in). Also the website sates this new version uses an Alps-16 volume pot, Mullard tubes, WIMA caps and Dale resistors.

First thing that in my opinion is a very good decision made by the company that makes the Little Dot is that my amp does NOT have the blue led's that illuminate the tubes. It does have the blue led that indicates power. IMHO the led's that illuminate the tubes seemed sorta cheesy. So instead of the cheesiness, you can see the Mullard tubes have a very soft orange glow coming from the inside.

Also others have mentioned that this amp does get hot. This is indeed true but then again this is just after my first few hours with the amp. Just how hot? Well let me tell you.... This is after 3.5 hours of being powered up.
I used a Raytek laser temp gun to get these numbers.

metal case: 123 F
transformer: 129 F
bigger tubes: from top 167 F, from sides with temp gun aimed at hottest inner part of the tube 235 F
smaller tubes (Mullard): from top 136 F, from sides with temp gun aimed at hottest inner part of the tube 165 F

Others had mentioned that the previous versions were microphonic when tapped on the case. I did this but did not notice any microphonics so it seems the new tube have helped with this possibly.

I'm going to wait to post details about the sound quality until the amp has been properly burned in and I've tried it with more of my audio equipment. However overall, I'm very pleased and have no regrets about the purchase!

i'm very much looking fwd to what you have to say about the two amps. do they run equally hot?
the other comparo i'd like to hear about would be to include a LD3 in this mix. i'm also wondering how hot that one runs.

Does the heat generated in any way equal to shortened tube life span?

Honestly, I'm not sure if these are normal temperatures for a tube amp since I've never owned one before. So I'm not sure how they will effect the life of the tubes.

A little about the sound: Today was my second day listening to the amp. After about 7 hours of playing music through it, I noticed a dramatic improvement in it's sound. It really opened up and makes sweet and delicate sounding mids and highs. I'm not absolutely sure but I think the bass diminished a little at this point. Can't tell if I think this because the highs and mids opened up a lot or because the bass actually did diminish slightly or maybe both. I can't wait to see how the sound will evolve during the breakin period which I'm sure will last at least for a couple more weeks.

Anybody else who already has a Little Dot, how long did the break in period take?

Burning in my new LD2+ now. The main issue I have with it is that the bass isn't as punchy and as defined as I'd like it to be. Otherwise, the tube-treatment it gives acoustic material is pretty sweet. Eric Clapton sounded like he was playing in the room

Is the amp strong enough to drive high sensitivity speakers?

I don't think so, but adding a t-amp to the mix and using it as a pre-amp worked great for me.