Little Dot MKVII+ Available Now! - Page 6

I will once they come in. Both the MKVII+ and HD650 are on their way to me.

Thanks !
Will await for your impression !

I have, with a DACmagic. I just wrote a review of my HD650s with them.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/my-...hd650s-469552/

Ah, Thank you too !

According to DHL mine is is LA(CA). I hope they come in tomorrow! Sooner that I expected. I don't think the HD650 will be here until later this week.

I am not sure myself about getting the hd650 in the future afterall haha..
most likely sticking with balanced k701 after all, will see how it goes, but most likely thats the case haha

LD VII+ (w/ LD DAC_1) in the house -- yesterday.

Several of you mentioned the imminent arrival of the VII+ but haven't posted initial impressions. This is either bad or good. I'm guessing that it's good. Like me, you've probably been so busy listening to your favorite music that you haven't had time to post.

Out of the box, I spent yesterday afternoon/evening listening to the duo with 24/96 lossless tracks (via toslink) over a balanced HD800.

This morning, SE via GS1000.

Quick initial impressions:

- The units are solid, professional looking, beautifully crafted and engineered. Buttons, jacks, display, dial all have a precision feel. First rate all around. They also look great on my desktop.

- The units run cool. Only a slight warmth after many hours.

- For me, if SQ is subpar, I can't listen for more than a few minutes. In balanced mode with the HD800, I listened to the VII+ and DAC_1 duo for hours without a break. I simply didn't want to stop.

- This morning, with the GS1000 in SE mode, I've been listening continuously for a couple of hours and don't want to stop. My favorite playlist (in Foobar2000) includes blues, classical, jazz, folk, ballads, instrumentals (primarily acoustic guitar), and rock (traditional).

- This is a keeper. The price is nowhere close to a reflection of the quality of the amp and DAC.

- I'd characterize the SQ as more musical than analytical. Smooth, fluid, warm.

- The speed is exceptional, especially as it punches power down into the bass.

- The background is completely black.

- Be careful with the volume. I'm at 9:00 with both cans. A little higher, and fatigue sets in.

- Listening at low volume is enjoyable, perhaps preferred.

- Soundstage -- neither vast nor compressed. I feel as though I'm in an acoustically flat environment, sitting directly in front, close to the performers but not in the first few rows.

- Bass seems to be uniformly deeper, well-defined, and slightly emphasized.

- The mids are vivid, warm.

- General impression: very, very listenable. Brings out the beauty and musicality of well-recorded tracks.

- I'll be testing the balanced mode this afternoon with the HD650.

- Other: Delivery via DHL was quick. Very securely packed. Usual gentlemanly service from David.

Looking forward to reading impressions from others.

ADDED 2.3.10: By far, the HD650 is the best match in balanced mode!

Question...

Is there an input selector switch on this thing? Are both active at same time? Looking to order before Saturday. Please advise.

Mine just arrived yesterday, although I wasn't able to sit down and listen until today. Sadly, I discovered that the reterm'd 4-pin cable I had bought was done by a hack, so I'm limited to SE listening on my Senn 650's for the time being (although I'm using a balanced signal out of my DAC_1), until I make a proper cable.

Shipping time: Quick, with David sending multiple notifications during final testing and shipping. $12 in mystery fees at the door, but that's par for the course. Everything well-packaged, not a scratch or blem to be seen. But this is my third order from Little Dot now - I'm not surprised at all.

Out of the box: Also good. Only came with a basic pair of L/R cables, so it's a good thing I already had some XLR's to hook up to the DAC_1. It came with a blue LED, instead of the requested red, but meh. I may swap it out at a later date if I'm feeling picky. An English instruction manual (it did include what I presume is a Chinese one) would have been nice as well, if only to confirm what the default gain setting was (from the volume and volume dial setting, my money is on 4).

Quick listening impressions:

Setup: PC > toslink > LD DAC_1 > LD MkVII+ > Senn 650 (SE for now)
Old Setup: Same as above, except with LD MkIV
Music: 10 hour marathon of live Dream Theatre albums

As best I can describe it, the MkVII+'s sound is more detailed, and definitely with more low-end extension in the bass. Not necessarily more (although maybe slightly), but I almost immediately noticed that the bass didn't try to fade at the very lowest frequencies. Not that the MkIV was ever bad, but I've heard that OTL amps have this tendency, and I think I may be getting a comparative demonstration of this now. It's something that I definitely expect to appreciate for a long time to come. Other parts like the cymbals and high-hats are clean and distinct, and background details like crowd voices or guitar string scratching are there for the hearing, moreso than before. No flaws or imbalances in any frequency range, although I intend to put it through a gauntlet of jazz and electronic trance stuff as well.

While it obviously doesn't have the tube signature of the MkIV, the sound is by no means sterile, still plenty warm for my liking, and meshes well with the 650's. Ten hours of straight listening (okay, maybe a bathroom break or two), and I was experiencing no fatigue or ear strain.

Since the MkVII+ is rated at a lower 300ohm output power(300mW) than the MkIV(500mW), I was a little curious whether that would become an issue. Not that I can see so far, as I can crank the volume up well past my comfort levels without encountering any clipping or distortion. Since I'm almost certainly giving up some voltage swing running SE, I'll see if anything changes once I get the phones balanced.

At this point, I'm definitely looking forwards to trying everything out in full-balanced, but I have no complaints with how things are now. Very definite improvements to to the sound, and this gives up very little to the MkIV, unless you're hardcore into the tube sound signature. No scouring Ebay for affordable replacement tubes, no trying to position the amp so there's a little bit of airflow past it. Much more listening in the days to come with different genres, with both amps, but if things keep going the way they are, there may even be a used MkIV showing up in the FS thread in the future. Although I'd miss the glow

My 2c

No input selector switch for the balanced XLRs and the analog RCAs. I'm running the amp balanced from the DAC_1. I haven't tested the RCA in's, but I don't think I want to try both at the same time.

I have an input selector for XLR and RCA on my MKVII. It's on the rear, close to the RCA inputs.

My MKVII has also a selector. Why shouldn't be one on the VII+?

Because no one would use the balanced and unbalanced input at the same time!

Yeah, you're right. I found a photo on their homepage. No selector.