Review of Little-Dot MKIVse - Page 12

After reading Xoens nice little mini review, I´m so eager to get my hands on my new L D Mk4SE

And also about the tube switching. There are 2 screws on top that hold the whole thing down. So just unscrew those two and then the whole gold base plate and tube guards come off. Tube changing just got easy people!

*Edit* Thought about that nightshot thing, well here´s a pic of my old Mk4.

Thanks! I got almost 10 hours in it now, playing my trance music continuously. I can start to hear it open up a little.

Is it safe to leave this thing on overnight? Isn't that what Little Tube did during the quality check, running it 48 hours straight? Just wondering. I'll probably just turn it off for safety reasons for now before going to bed.

Here's another pic just because I felt like sharing it:

Little Dot MKIV SE with its little brother Little Dot II++. It gives a good idea about the size comparisons between the two amps.



Please excuse the little mess! And no that's not my computer. It's simply my portable DVD player I use as a monitor for my PS3 (not shown) using it's built in web browser. I'm planning to buy a new desk soon, and it'll be dedicated as my listening station.

Please compare your MKIVSE with your LD 2++

Well, since I did not fully compare my LD MKIV SE to my LD II++ in my mini review, I'll just go ahead and compare them one on one. Do note, however, that I'm NOT using the stock tubes on my LD II++. Currently, it has the Russian Ulyanovsk 6C19P-V power tubes from ebay, and the Mullard CV131 driver tubes I bought from a fellow Head-Fi'er here a couple of months ago. It has been fully burned in, over 500-700+ hours in it. My MKIV SE has only been burning in for a little over 20 hours, not continuous, but at least 12 hours a day at the most.

I did a little side by side comparison between the two amps, critically listened to both of them using certain tracks I use as reference such as Brian Adams "To really love a woman" for high resolution, Survivor "Burning heart" for depth, Oceanlab "Beautiful Together (Sigma Remix)" for bass extension, and Oceanlab "Clear Blue Water" for bass impact. I'm telling you right now the MKIV SE is a far better amp than the LD II++ from what I heard in the comparison. The LD II++ is just not in the same league as the MKIV SE. Entry level vs top of the line, I don't think it's really fair to compare the two together. Whatever good the LD II++ did to the sound, the MK IV SE did much better. That's not to say the LD II++ is a bad sounding amp compared to the MKIV SE. It just doesn't have the same tightness, detail, soundstage, and bass in comparison. The LDII++ sounded kinda dull and the soundstage is narrower, and the bass is leaner in all the songs played.

For the song"To really love a woman" by Brian Adams to test for high resolution, the MKIV SE brought out more details and crispier, metallic highs, whereas the LDII++, while it did sounded detailed, kinda dulled out the highs making it less analytical.

In Survivor "Burning Heart" to test for depth and soundstage, the MKIV SE seemed to 'surround' you with music and there was a greater sense of space. The drums and vocals seem to play just about 10-20 feet from you. The LDII++ narrowed all this in comparison and closed everything in, and sounded a bit more "stereo" than 3D, though it kinda surrounds you a bit as well, but just not as much.

In Oceanlab's "Beautiful Together (Sigma Remix)" trance song to test for bass extension, the bass extends really deep and is very punchy in the MKIV SE. The LDII++ in comparison sounded leaner on the bass, didn't extend as deep, but it sounded tight and fast, but not as punchy.

In Oceanlab's "Clear Blue Water" trance song to test for bass impact, the bass hits really hard and deep that I could almost feel it in my ears. In the LDII++, the bass didn't quite have the punching power and like the last trance song, it sounded leaner, yet tight and fast.

There goes my comparison between the two amps using my stock Sennheiser HD650 with my Sony PS3 with stock cables as my CD player.

I appreciate that!

Oh and when you bought your Tung Sol tubes, how long did you have to wait? Did you buy it from ebay? I'm considering those tubes once I get used to the sound of my amp as well as having it fully burned in.

My wallet hates people like you Thanks for the review, now I'll be looking at this amp very closely.

Nice review Xoen. Can you specify which tubes you are using in either of the amps? The tube compliment does affect the sonics a bit.

Thanks! For the LD MKIV SE, it currently has the stock M8100 and 6H30PI tubes, and in the LD II++ it currently has upgraded Ulyanovsk 6S19P-V and Mullard CV131 tubes.

The tubes in the LD II++ were put in just so to add a bit of low end in my AD700's without sacrificing much of the high end frequencies, and it did quite a bit. This was at the time before I ever bought the HD650's, and I upgraded the tubes just to make my AD700's sound their best, and it did, to my ears. I was impressed by the results since the new tubes did add a bit of low end in the AD700's, since they were kinda lacking bass a little. The LDII++ is not a bad sounding amp at all, nowhere near it. Now that I upgraded, I had to give my honest thoughts about the two amps and I still don't think it's fair to compare the two together. It's like comparing a Lexus to a Ferrari. Both have their ups and downs, but one has more advantages over the other.

I'll take a Lexus anytime!

regards,

double post.