Well I know I said I was going to test for a few days and get back on my thoughts.. well after one day, about 9hrs of listening at work I am confident in saying I love the Micro+.
I in no way have a trained ear but I will let you know the differences the Little Dot Micro+ made for me..
First I am using a
Iriver PMP-120 in conjunction with Shure E3's. My feelings of these headphones before the amp was fairly good, they were much better than anything else I had ever listened to before, yes they lacked the real punchy bass of most cheaper brands but the mids and highs are amazing. I solved alot of the bass problem by making custom foamies that give me excellent isolation, I cannot express how important this is.
Things I did notice while listening to different music, my primary music is rock/metal is that under stock power from the PMP-120 is that the mids are excellent and very pronounced, the Highs I thought were good (will get to this later) and the Bass as explained with the custom foamies is adequate and balanced.
Bass under stock power was fine and dandy until you introduced more complex sounds then it seemed to dwindle and get lost. Mids never seemed to have a problem, I would say this is the strong point of the E3's. Highs to me sounded good, not bright or over done but it too could get lost when a barage of sound was being played at once. I was in a constant EQ Adjustment to try and get things sound the best possible.
Add the Little Dot Micro+ to the mix and I thought to myself as I did when I originally started using the E3's.. WOW these sound amazing.. I honestly didnt think I was going to improve the sound quality that much with the Amp but I was very wrong and very pleased.
I had originally thought that adding the amp would help the bottom end the most but I have to say the Highs are what really shine now, they are so clear and crisp and put to shame what I thought was very good Highs I had under stock power. Mids are still about the same from what I can discearn. Bass has become stronger and I dare to say a bit deeper.
Big improvements came from the ability to now play all sounds at the same time and not experience and drop off from either the Bass or the Highs, everything comes through nice and clear. Another huge plus is that unlike the stock power the amped system is able to play great sounding music at very low levels, stock it would be flat and centered, powered gives full range and soundstage.
Soundstage, Amped opens things up like never before, music hits you from all over with the Micro+, Stock power gave me some of this but nothing close.
The only negative I can see with the Micro+ is a bit of Hiss when nothing is being played. While at work this cannot be heard, only when I was at home and things are very quiet. Once the music starts and its at the lowest setting possible the hiss cannot be heard. Volume control is another positive addition for me, with the PMP volume control being digital it jumps in steps and always seemed to be a bit too loud or soft, the Micro+ gives you a smooth analog control over the volume to suit your listening needs..
I had my gain adjusted before shipping which was here in 8 days from placing my order, short of the 10days that I was told.
Well I hope this helps some of you thinking about making this purchase, any questions please ask and I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities.
**note** im sure everyone is using many different players than I, im sure results will vary some between players.
