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Little Dot MKVII+ Available Now! - Page 10

post #136 of 164
2/21/10 at 11:19am
This is the link to VIII if anyone is looking
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post #137 of 164
2/22/10 at 7:00pm

That is one very nice looking amp,worth buying just to look at as a work of art.
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post #138 of 164
3/12/10 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by feifan View Post
Thanks, sunneebear. Good to have the instructions if I ever want to to try the mod. I use the K701 a lot in my SE rigs so will probably keep it that way. I'll continue looking for a balanced pair that's affordable.

BTW, can you confirm that the K701 loses its characteristic bass shyness in balanced mode?
Wanted to report back in on this thread as I have been unable to use my MKVII+ in balanced mode until today. I just got back my LD DAC 1 today, it appears that they sent me a completely new unit. My AKG K701 sound like a different headphone with more bass and better dynamics. I am currently running high gain mode with volume in the low 20's on the dial. I was starting to think all the talk about the K7XX being picky on amps was just hype, but now I am a believer and I don't think these phones are even fully broken yet
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post #139 of 164
3/12/10 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowedtoothdoc View Post
Wanted to report back in on this thread as I have been unable to use my MKVII+ in balanced mode until today. I just got back my LD DAC 1 today, it appears that they sent me a completely new unit. My AKG K701 sound like a different headphone with more bass and better dynamics. I am currently running high gain mode with volume in the low 20's on the dial. I was starting to think all the talk about the K7XX being picky on amps was just hype, but now I a believer and I don't think these phones are even fully broken yet
Thanks, Bowedtoothdoc! Now I'll really have to think about balancing the 701. I had a feeling that it would blow people away in balanced mode. The DAC_1 and MKVII+ in balanced mode is quickly becoming a workhorse for me. It seems to do everything right, including getting out of the way to let the music shine. Its dynamics and balance throughout the spectrum are amazing, i.e., when I stop to think about it. I'm looking forward to your observations in the coming days and weeks as your system slowly burns in.
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post #140 of 164
3/13/10 at 2:25pm

AKG k701 balanced w/ Little Dot MKVII+

This is my first reply to a thread in Head-Fi. I became interested because a couple of people here have a rig similar to mine and especially because the MKVII+ is so new. I can say, with total confidence, that the AKG k701 is a much improved sounding can in balanced mode. I have had my cans for seven weeks now and listened to them for about 150 hours in SE mode. The last five days I have been listening to them in balanced mode after I received my new MKVII+. I have about 30 hours of music and burn in on the amp and am finding that at this early stage, the headphone presentation was greatly improved, especially in the bass department. I have read many threads that have claimed the AKG k701 was anemic in the bass register and perhaps this is an accurate impression if you are running them single ended. I feel it is a non-issue in balanced mode. The bass is deep, tight, controlled and fast now.

Even at this early stage, this is the best sounding phone/amp combo I have ever experienced.

Sony X707ES(modified) balanced out > Little Dot MKVII+ balanced input, balanced output > AKG k701 balanced input
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post #141 of 164
3/13/10 at 4:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by photons View Post
This is my first reply to a thread in Head-Fi. I became interested because a couple of people here have a rig similar to mine and especially because the MKVII+ is so new. I can say, with total confidence, that the AKG k701 is a much improved sounding can in balanced mode. I have had my cans for seven weeks now and listened to them for about 150 hours in SE mode. The last five days I have been listening to them in balanced mode after I received my new MKVII+. I have about 30 hours of music and burn in on the amp and am finding that at this early stage, the headphone presentation was greatly improved, especially in the bass department. I have read many threads that have claimed the AKG k701 was anemic in the bass register and perhaps this is an accurate impression if you are running them single ended. I feel it is a non-issue in balanced mode. The bass is deep, tight, controlled and fast now.

Even at this early stage, this is the best sounding phone/amp combo I have ever experienced.

Sony X707ES(modified) balanced out > Little Dot MKVII+ balanced input, gain low, balanced output > AKG k701 balanced input
I totally agree! Have you compared the high and low gain settings?
I have not had a chance to compare the two but will be in the near future.
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post #142 of 164
3/13/10 at 6:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by photons View Post
This is my first reply to a thread in Head-Fi. I became interested because a couple of people here have a rig similar to mine and especially because the MKVII+ is so new. I can say, with total confidence, that the AKG k701 is a much improved sounding can in balanced mode. I have had my cans for seven weeks now and listened to them for about 150 hours in SE mode. The last five days I have been listening to them in balanced mode after I received my new MKVII+. I have about 30 hours of music and burn in on the amp and am finding that at this early stage, the headphone presentation was greatly improved, especially in the bass department. I have read many threads that have claimed the AKG k701 was anemic in the bass register and perhaps this is an accurate impression if you are running them single ended. I feel it is a non-issue in balanced mode. The bass is deep, tight, controlled and fast now.

Even at this early stage, this is the best sounding phone/amp combo I have ever experienced.

Sony X707ES(modified) balanced out > Little Dot MKVII+ balanced input, gain low, balanced output > AKG k701 balanced input
Congrats on your first post -- and an excellent one at that!
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post #143 of 164
3/13/10 at 6:44pm
I tried the high gain setting on the MKVII+ a couple of times and found it to have too much drive for my tastes. I would barely get the volume knob above 20 and would find it to be too loud for most cds, but not all. I also like the idea of reducing the alps pot effective tracking error by having the knob end up in the 30-35 (10 o'clock-10 thirty) range. Maybe the balanced output of my Sony X707ES being fed into the MKVII+ player is higher than some other players or DACs? I am pretty sure I'll be keeping it on low gain at least for now. Maybe after extensive burn in I might find that I can raise it, but I doubt burn in would cause that radical of a change in its output.
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post #144 of 164
3/15/10 at 1:57pm
I did a noise floor test with the MKVII+ using a digital test CD with recorded "O" data, yesterday. With the MKVII+ in high gain mode, I could BARELY perceive some noise if I raised the volume control knob to the 90-100 position. Below 90, it disappeared. In low gain mode, I could not perceive any noise at any volume setting. I can't imagine anyone having a noise issue with this amplifier with any impedance headphone played at any volume. If someone does find a noise problem, it is probably being generated somewhere else in their audio chain.
This is a very impressive noise characteristic, especially for an amplifier that has it's power capabilities.
Speaking of power, in high gain mode I could not get the volume control above 40 (11 o'clock) comfortably, even with recordings that were mastered at the lowest of levels. This amplifier is powerful!
For all intents and purposes, the amplifier has an extremely quiet and "dark" background, even when in the high gain mode.
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post #145 of 164
3/16/10 at 3:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by photons View Post
I did a noise floor test with the MKVII+ using a digital test CD with recorded "O" data, yesterday. With the MKVII+ in high gain mode, I could BARELY perceive some noise if I raised the volume control knob to the 90-100 position. Below 90, it disappeared. In low gain mode, I could not perceive any noise at any volume setting. I can't imagine anyone having a noise issue with this amplifier with any impedance headphone played at any volume. If someone does find a noise problem, it is probably being generated somewhere else in their audio chain.
This is a very impressive noise characteristic, especially for an amplifier that has it's power capabilities.
Speaking of power, in high gain mode I could not get the volume control above 40 (11 o'clock) comfortably, even with recordings that were mastered at the lowest of levels. This amplifier is powerful!
For all intents and purposes, the amplifier has an extremely quiet and "dark" background, even when in the high gain mode.
Its more powerful brother the MK Vll did have a problem with noise on some units,mine included,but this was using CD3000's which can pick up a pin dropping in an elephant stampede.
This by the way was fixed and now it is so dark you have to look to see if its on.
The + version was made to rectify the problem with low impedance/high sensitivity phones,by having a reduced output.That plus the fact that certain parts for the MK Vll were not available.

All up a great amp.
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post #146 of 164
3/16/10 at 8:59pm
Anyone try the Grado HF2 in SE mode with the MKVII/VII+? I just spent the last hour or so with this combo, and it blew me away! The first thought that came to mind was, "Grado's a genius!"

I've been searching, within my gear, for a sync for the HF2 and haven't found it until now. Dynamic, quick, lively, punch, resolution, musical.

This is the lineup I used:

24/96 tracks > Foobar2000 > toslink > DAC_1 > balanced > MKVII+ > SE > HF2

Blew my other 'phones away, including the balanced HD650 in the same lineup.

I'm still shaking my head.
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post #147 of 164
3/16/10 at 11:48pm

Trying to resist

You guys are really making it hard not to buy this thing. Curse you all...
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post #148 of 164
3/17/10 at 1:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by photons View Post
This is my first reply to a thread in Head-Fi. I became interested because a couple of people here have a rig similar to mine and especially because the MKVII+ is so new. I can say, with total confidence, that the AKG k701 is a much improved sounding can in balanced mode. I have had my cans for seven weeks now and listened to them for about 150 hours in SE mode. The last five days I have been listening to them in balanced mode after I received my new MKVII+. I have about 30 hours of music and burn in on the amp and am finding that at this early stage, the headphone presentation was greatly improved, especially in the bass department. I have read many threads that have claimed the AKG k701 was anemic in the bass register and perhaps this is an accurate impression if you are running them single ended. I feel it is a non-issue in balanced mode. The bass is deep, tight, controlled and fast now.

Even at this early stage, this is the best sounding phone/amp combo I have ever experienced.

Sony X707ES(modified) balanced out > Little Dot MKVII+ balanced input, balanced output > AKG k701 balanced input
Hi Photons,

How do you modify your 701 to balance? Does the stock cable have 4-wires ? I am not a cable believer, but I believe in balance. I don't want to spend too much to modify the K701, if the stock cable has 4 wires, I can solder a 4 pin XLR plug by myself.
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post #149 of 164
3/17/10 at 2:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mudhole View Post
Hi Photons,

How do you modify your 701 to balance? Does the stock cable have 4-wires ? I am not a cable believer, but I believe in balance. I don't want to spend too much to modify the K701, if the stock cable has 4 wires, I can solder a 4 pin XLR plug by myself.
Stock cable has 4 wires.
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post #150 of 164
3/17/10 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bloodoath View Post
You guys are really making it hard not to buy this thing. Curse you all...
Best bang for buck on planet Earth.
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