Getting My Feet Wet With Balanced- MKVII Initial Impressions - Page 7

I have not seen many balanced cables with reasonable price..Cardas, APS, Zu...etc are quite expensive (often cost more than the headphones themselves...)

The cheapest way is buy a 4-pin Neutrik XLR male plug and terminate the stock cable yourself

I believe there are quite a few head-fi'ers offering such service (for a fee, of course). Try asking in the DIY forum.

Mogami cable is .69 cents a foot, new HD650 Cardas connectors are $16 on eBay and Neutrik xlr's are about $4 (try Markertek.com). You can solder the cable directly to the driver posts (super easy and reversable) and save the $16 connector cost. Most simple is to reterminate which takes a few minutes if you've got your + and - figured out correctly. Go to the Audio-gd website and pull up the Phoenix page, scroll down to "modification" and it gives step by step instructions for reterminating.

Yes that explains a lot,they had a problem sourcing the opamps so looks like they found a way to get rid of them.
I do not agree with the amp sounding warmer bit,the job of a good amp is to remain neutral.

Here are the specs from the Chinese website:

MK VII + key features are as follows:
@/non-equilibrium compatible ear drop

@ two input:
Enter PIN XLR balanced INPUT1:
INPUT2: RCA nonequlibrium input

@ two output:
OUT 1: four core XLR balanced output
OUT2: 6.35 noneqilibrium with autolocked output

@ internal 4â group of independent amplificatory channel, the first-level with an operational amplifier for ultra low distortion, gold-foiled souvenir post BUF-driven devices, makes it easy to adjust the last stage of driving current so that it works in group a in order to achieve better sound.

@ balance work modes: single-end balance mode.

@ power supply, double-ring, rectifter, 4-way independent of the voltage, constituting a separate dual mono ” “ schema.

@ pre-stage OP: national LME49710HA ultra low distortion gold-foiled souvenir operational amplifier

After the @ BUF: using unique level design of discrete components for ultra low distortion buffer amplifier.

One-inch MK VII technical parameters
1. Enter the port:
Balance: the XLR-3 pin x 2
Nonequlibrium: RCA x 2
2, output port:
Balance: the XLR 4p x 1
Nonequlibrium: 6.35mm x 1
3. input impedance: 20 K ohm
4. the distortion of 0.01% (output: 5 v rms 1000Hz)
5, signal to noise ratio: 98dB
6, frequency response: 5Hz-200KHz (-1dB)
Power output: 7、
1.5W (8 ohm)
1.0W (32 ohm)
0.5W (120 ohm)
0.3W (300 ohm)
8. daedr heahest impedance: 8 ohm ~ 600 ohm
9. xtb:
Gain = HIGH: 5
Gain = LOW: 2.5
10. the failure of a power consumption: 25
11, volume: 275x217x61 (h) mm
12, weight: 3.5Kg

Looks like they did away with the buffer stage opamp in favor of discrete transistors?

You can find the specifications on the new LD web site as well:
Little Dot Amplifiers • View topic - Little Dot MK VII+ Balanced Headphone Amplifier

Thanks,
Looks like they are available to be ordered at this point!

Quote::Looks like they did away with the buffer stage opamp in favor of discrete transistors?

The choice was made for them,they have problems sourcing the opamps that is why you can not buy a MK Vll at this time.

Oooh man..nice balanced combo! xD Seems sound great and integrated in an excellent price range. I'm gonna ordered the LD MK VII, can't wait to connect it into my DacMagic and see the new sound-stage *.*

Just gotten my ld mk vii+

 

To owners of ld mk vii, here are a few question for you guys

 

1) If the dac and amp is connected by rca only, which output, XLR or SE can be used ? Only SE or only XLR or Both SE and XLR can be used ?

2) If the dac and amp is connected by xlr only, which output, XLR or SE can be used ? Only SE or only XLR or Both SE and XLR can be used ?

3) If the dac and amp is connected by both xlr and rca, which output can be used ? Only SE or only XLR or Both SE and XLR can be used ?

 

 
1.   Only SE.

 

2.   Both SE and Balanced.

 

3.   The MK VII has a switch for SE/Balanced inputs.

 

hey ford2,

 

1) I am using mk VII+, which is the newer one, which doesn't have the switch.

 

2) with regards to xlr input leading to both SE and balanced mode, so your ld mk vii+ is only connected to your dac via XLR ?

Then is your XLR-XLR connector shielded ?

 

 

Thanks alot.

 

I asked 2) is because i can hear some zapping sound when i am listening to it in SE mode with only XLR connected at the back.

I used to own the MKVII+ and I didn't hear any any 'zapping' sound from the SE headphone out (source was my DAC_I)

 

 

Yes,I only use balanced (xlr) inputs and it is not shielded,but it is only 6" long,just enough to connect the two units together.

 

With your unit if you just connect the two XLR plugs and nothing else you should have output from both balanced and SE.

 

I do not know how you select inputs on the + model.

 

You really need some balanced phones to test the amp..