Little Dot MKV11 Balanced Headphone has just arrived - My Initial Impressions

Have just recieved my Little Dot MKV11 amp only took just over a week to arrive ordered via Ebay from davidzhezhe (first class ebayer), on opening the box I was suprised how large the amp was, particularly the overall depth, and the quality of finish which was superb, as good if not better than many of the old established UK/USA manufacturers, all the sockets were of excellent quality, I particularly like the xlrs, all properly countersunk into the thick solid alloy faceplate.
I initially connected it up to my laptop using a Musiland Monitor 02US usb converter connected to the little dot via its phono outputs (single ended connections only) using Kimber PJB interconnects (player Foobar set to WASAPI output) in turn connected to my Beyer DT880 and Audio Technica ATH1000 headphones. Everything switched on ok with no mechanically or electrical noise, the immediate sound straight from the box was excellent with good extension to the top and bottom ranges and an open midrange, there didn't appear to be any obvious grain to the top end or overblown bass, the sound was simply great, a clear step up from the musiland inbuilt headphone amp. I think the ATH1000 headphones were the best match a liitle bit more open than the beyers, although both were excellent.
After this initial check I installed the little dot into my main system, which comprises of Intel 7400 desktop computer with internal RME 9632 pci soundcard with added wordclock module connected via balanced digital output into a Storm Audio dac with wordclock connected and the dac set as the master, the analouge outputs from the dac connected to the Little Dot via its balanced outputs, I had to use the headphones unfortunately with the normal three pin jack type connector at this stage as I haven't as yet converted my headphones to balanced, my intention initially is to convert my other beyer headphones DT990 (original 600ohm version) as they have two seperate cable connections from each ear speaker and therefore will be relatively easy to convert to balanced.
As with the musiland converter, the sound via the main system was again excellent, with added openness, better bass definition, a very powerful sound but still musical. I will have to be careful with the volume as the amp sounds so clean and powerful and unstressed that there may be a tendency to turn up the volume a bit too much which could damage my hearing.
The sound seems to be getter better and smoother with use after only approx. 10 hours, all in all a great headphone amp, thoroughly recommended to anyone who may be considering buying one.
I now wish I had kept my AKG K1000 headphones as this amp has sufficient power to drive them, it would have been interesting match as I couldn't find a suitable power amp setup for the AKGs when I had them.

now converted my beyer dt990s to balanced

Have just converted my Beyer DT990 headphones (original 600 ohm version) to balanced operation to work with my Little Dot MKV11 headphone amp, the conversion was fairly straightforward as the original cable has four seperate wire conductors so all I had to do for the conversion was to snip off the jack plug and solder on a four pin xlr making sure the relevant earths and channels matched the xlr pin nos.
All I can say balanced headphones are the way to go, there's just more of everything that you were hearing from single ended operation, the bass is stronger and goes deeper the soundstage is wider and more open and the treble is extended, there's a fullness and more tangable sound to the midrange and there's better seperation between voices and instruments (provided the original recording is good), pluses all the way, the better and more open the original recording the better the results with the balanced connections, can't wait to get my other headphones converted, if you are considering balanced go ahead you won't be disappointed, and the Little Dot MKV11 amp is a bargain amp for use in a balanced system with an excellent sound and superb build.