[sammcj]

I just purchased (second hand) some lovely GS1000's.

I have a Little Dot MK/II headphone amp, and am wondering if it will drag the GS's down or not, the reviews for the MK/II were very, very good for the price and have worked well with my AKG K701's thus far.

Thoughts?

http://www.gradolabs.com/page_headphones.php?item=fa25fd0be6abcd040b8093b9915a2126


Running Gear:

Plinius SA-50 Class A Power AMP
Plinius M-16 Pre-Amp
Linn Sondek LP12 w/ Rega RB600 tonearm and Dynavector Karat 17d2 MK II Cartridge
Marantz CD-52 MK2 Optical Source
Heavily Modified Kef Calinda Floor Speakers (Active Crossover, Different Tweaters, Repacked)
Little Dot MKII+ Headphone Amp with Mullard CV131 Tubes

Digital Sources:

2011 Macbook Pro
Fiio E10 DAC

Question:

I know the Fiio DAC isn't an amazing DAC, but it is all I could afford at present and it gets very good reviews in the low-end / portable range, Should I be running from my Macbook to the FIIO then to the Little Dot or just straight from the Macbook to the Little Dot?

Around 60% of my headphone use is through the Little Dot, the other 40% is straight off the FIIO E10 DAC.

The K701's sound good on this setup, but I miss having Grado's, I loved my SR-80i's after I install the L-cush pads on them and the K701's are just a bit... Boring!

 

[Han Bao Quan]

The Fiio E10 is actually quite an amazing DAC for its price. I tested a few DACs and in the end I prefer the E10.
 
I don't own the GS1000i, but with the 32 ohm impedance it should not be a problem for your Little Dot MKII. Also the E10 drives my Q701 just fine.

 

[Gwarmi]

 
Did you have a budget at all for the amp?

 

[sammcj]

Did you have a budget at all for the amp?

Do you mean did I have one when I bought the Little Dot or do you mean now?
If you mean now, after buying the GS's I have _no_ money heh.

 

[Zombie_X]

Well for Grado's I think a modest $200 amp would be more than what they actually need. Grado's don't really scale with amping IMO but can become more refined sounding. All Grado's are super sensitive and really don't need an amp IMO. I think the GS1000i sounded excellent out of my Zune HD. Of course others have called me crazy before
 
So the Little-Dot should do them perfect justice as it's a warmer sounding amp and it can mellow out the highs a bit.

 

[sammcj]

After doing a LOT of research, reading / studying amplifier and electrical engineering papers, I've decided to go with nwavguy's Objective2.

Keeping the little dot MK/II which is a nice amp, would be silly as tube amp's output impedance is so high, I've now got the Grado's and they sound great, but on valve amps it's clear the bass is not properly under control.

I've had a friend who's an experienced audio engineer look over the designs of several amps, the Schiit Asgard, Objective2, Little Dot MK/II,IV & V and his thoughts were that the Objective2 is better in almost all aspects he thought that all the other's we looked at either cut courners or their reviews were very 'subjective' in nature where the electrial measurements let the hardware down.

So I've ordered a pre-assembled O2 and hopefully I'll have it around the 15th (fingers crossed!).

I'll post an update with how I get on once it arrives!

Sam.