FiiO e9 or Little Dot I+?

I don't think anyone here has compared the two yet. I REALLY wanna see just where the E9 lands in the desktop amp ladder. It is a transparent amp, so it'd be fair to compare it with other fairly neutral amps.

 

All I can say is that it has a crapton of power for the buck. Others with $600 amps said as much.

I have the Fiio E7 I use for my iPod and I'm now extremely tempted to get the E9 based on the price and what others are saying about it. I also have a Little Dot I+ which is the only thing that is keeping me from ordering the E9 immediately, as I am very happy with the sound. And it is slightly less expensive than the E9, with the opportunity to try different tubes and opamps, which I enjoy...since that allows you to change the sound slightly for minimal amounts of cash. But if solid state is your thing, Fiio looks like they've got a real winner with the E9.

 

The LD I+ has more than enough power to make my K702's sound amazing. And with the Amperex tubes I threw in for 30 bucks, it helped the bass quite a bit in both quantity and quality. Soundstage is also W I D E which I personally love :) So you're looking at a ~160 investment. What I will say about the LD I+ is at a recent meet, I got a few comments on how well it held up against some of the really expensive amps there, which I thought was cool.

 

However keep in mind that the little dot will add a slight amount of warmth depending on the tubes you use while the solid state E9 is very neutral. The slight warmth of tubes might help ease some of the sharp highs that the DT990 sometimes produces.

 

Either way, with the price of these two amps and the value you get, you really can't go wrong with either. Both produce gobs of power so whichever way you go, I think you'll be happy. It really just comes down to preference.

Edited by dxanex - 11/16/10 at 5:38pm

Wheres the cheapest place in UK to get this, also will be a good choice for my dt770/80 or will the Mini3 be better value?

Thanks
 

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Mini3.

I believe little dot ships to UK. I bought mine off ebay from Davidzhezhe (who also runs littledot.net)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Dot-I-Hybrid-Tube-Transistor-Amp-Amplifier-/190467858221?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c58c4df2d

 

Or you could buy directly from Littledot.net, but I found that the ebay prices are actually cheaper ;)

 

What ohm version are the 770's? If I'm not mistaken the DT770/880 are higher impedence cans correct? All you would need to do is change 2 jumper settings to adjust the gain which the instructions tell you how to do and it's very simple.

 

Or you could ask DavidZhe also. I've heard that the little dot I+ specifically drives lower impedence cans very well, better than the little dot II. Perhaps the little dot II would be better? It is slightly more expensive though.

 

Let me know what you find out!

 

EDIT: sorry, I just saw the 80 for 80ohm, duh haha. Then yes, I'm sure they would sound great on the LDI+

 

Edited by dxanex - 12/5/10 at 3:26pm

Ok thanks, the mini3 is a little cheaper than the LD+ so think I may go for the Mini3. Also don't know if the E9 would be the better choice? As all similar price!
Can anyone help, I have started my own thread but no one has answered!