[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif The internals are on three boards: The front board is the electronics and the rear two are the transformers. There's a generous amount of wire connecting everything so that you could just pull out, say, the front boards to change the opamps. To change the opamps, you first remove the volume knob and the nut on the volume pot, then the two hex screws holding on the front panel. Then you have to turn it over and remove the 9 front-most screws. It's easiest to do the front-center one last, as the board will then drop, which you can catch. Then you carefully turn it over again and slide it out. If it doesn't slide out because the wires catch, you have to remove the rear panel and push the wires from it through, as they tend to get caught. Note that the voltage regulators are on aluminium blocks, held by two screws each. On the bottom of them they seem to have lots of thermal grease, so things can get a bit messy. If you're thinking of (tediously) opamp rolling, the results will be the same as in the Zero DAC, roughly: LT1364: sounds rather "hard" and not musical, as well as running very hot. LM4562: Very "fun" sound with boosted bass and treble. I didn't have OPA627s to try unfortunately. I did manage to fit HDAMs in mine, with wires, leaving them to sit on top of the voltage regulators with a piece of plastic in between. There wasn't much difference between Earth, Sun and Moon in the MKV though. Securing the HDAMs in the unit though I didn't find a satisfactory solution for.

Thanx! What a pain in the Azz!

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif The internals are on three boards: The front board is the electronics and the rear two are the transformers. There's a generous amount of wire connecting everything so that you could just pull out, say, the front boards to change the opamps. To change the opamps, you first remove the volume knob and the nut on the volume pot, then the two hex screws holding on the front panel. Then you have to turn it over and remove the 9 front-most screws. It's easiest to do the front-center one last, as the board will then drop, which you can catch. Then you carefully turn it over again and slide it out. If it doesn't slide out because the wires catch, you have to remove the rear panel and push the wires from it through, as they tend to get caught. Note that the voltage regulators are on aluminium blocks, held by two screws each. On the bottom of them they seem to have lots of thermal grease, so things can get a bit messy. If you're thinking of (tediously) opamp rolling, the results will be the same as in the Zero DAC, roughly: LT1364: sounds rather "hard" and not musical, as well as running very hot. LM4562: Very "fun" sound with boosted bass and treble. I didn't have OPA627s to try unfortunately. I did manage to fit HDAMs in mine, with wires, leaving them to sit on top of the voltage regulators with a piece of plastic in between. There wasn't much difference between Earth, Sun and Moon in the MKV though. Securing the HDAMs in the unit though I didn't find a satisfactory solution for.

Did the HDAM's improve the sound to you over the "Stock" amps?

 

[Kernmac]

I bought minivan's Little Dot MKV, and this is my first non-portable amp. I use it with AD900 (35ohms) and ESW9 (42ohms) and it hisses like hell. This is with either sources attached to RCAs or nothing attached except the headphones. I have fixed the problem with a Shure in line volume attenuator. I also use it with my K601s, and is black, dead silent without the attenuator. I also used ferrite core EMI noise suppressors on both the power cable and RCA to source, however they really have very little effect.

Sound wise, I'm am very happy with the MKV. It opens up the soundstage a little and seems to add some punch and maybe even a bit of clarity/detail. It is not a substantially powerful amp, only marginly more volume than my Corda Move, however it does drive the K601s to another level over the portable Meier (mind you the Porta Move and Corda III are very good amps by comparrison, better than I thought.) I will stick with the MKV for some time, as now that I have the hiss problem under control, it produces a very clean, wide, and impactful sound. I'm still a noob to this game, and I think other noobs should be aware that amps do not give headphones night and day sound improvements (except where the fon is not efficient enough to be driven by an under amped source). Spending $300 dollars on a Headphone and $300 on an amp probably wont give you the same result as $500 on a headphone. Now if you have more than one headphone, then amps become more economical, as the investment can be divided by the number of headphones that will benefit. For me, the MKV serves its pupose well, however maybe I would have been better selling one of my $300 headphones and putting the money toward a $600 SA5000 and amping that with my Porta Move. Well now I will sell my Move and a fon and use that money to help purchase the SA5000 or even AD2000 and use the MKV to power them. Anyone got a MKV and an SA5000 or AD2000?

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did the HDAM's improve the sound to you over the "Stock" amps?

I'd say so. Didn't push it into the territory of the C2C I have now, which was about the same price though.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernmac /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought minivan's Little Dot MKV, and this is my first non-portable amp. I use it with AD900 (35ohms) and ESW9 (42ohms) and it hisses like hell. This is with either sources attached to RCAs or nothing attached except the headphones. I have fixed the problem with a Shure in line volume attenuator. I also use it with my K601s, and is black, dead silent without the attenuator. I also used ferrite core EMI noise suppressors on both the power cable and RCA to source, however they really have very little effect. Sound wise, I'm am very happy with the MKV. It opens up the soundstage a little and seems to add some punch and maybe even a bit of clarity/detail. It is not a substantially powerful amp, only marginly more volume than my Corda Move, however it does drive the K601s to another level over the portable Meier (mind you the Porta Move and Corda III are very good amps by comparrison, better than I thought.) I will stick with the MKV for some time, as now that I have the hiss problem under control, it produces a very clean, wide, and impactful sound. I'm still a noob to this game, and I think other noobs should be aware that amps do not give headphones night and day sound improvements (except where the fon is not efficient enough to be driven by an under amped source). Spending $300 dollars on a Headphone and $300 on an amp probably wont give you the same result as $500 on a headphone. Now if you have more than one headphone, then amps become more economical, as the investment can be divided by the number of headphones that will benefit. For me, the MKV serves its pupose well, however maybe I would have been better selling one of my $300 headphones and putting the money toward a $600 SA5000 and amping that with my Porta Move. Well now I will sell my Move and a fon and use that money to help purchase the SA5000 or even AD2000 and use the MKV to power them. Anyone got a MKV and an SA5000 or AD2000?

I have 25 ohm Denon D5000 25 ohm, and no hiss at all. Strange/

 

[cwell2112]

Well, I hate to continue discussing hiss, but I recently got a pair of HD650's which are supposedly "dead silent" with the MKV, yet when I plug them in I hear a noticeable amount of hiss...what gives!?

Maybe I have a dud MKV (though this seems unlikely), or maybe I'm just really sensitive to background noise.

Oh, and to further complicate issues, when I pair a 120 Ohm impedance adapter with my 32 Ohm Grados, they go silent, yet when I pair this same adapter with the HD650's, the hiss is lessened, but still present. Again...what gives!?

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwell2112 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I hate to continue discussing hiss, but I recently got a pair of HD650's which are supposedly "dead silent" with the MKV, yet when I plug them in I hear a noticeable amount of hiss...what gives!? Maybe I have a dud MKV (though this seems unlikely), or maybe I'm just really sensitive to background noise. Oh, and to further complicate issues, when I pair a 120 Ohm impedance adapter with my 32 Ohm Grados, they go silent, yet when I pair this same adapter with the HD650's, the hiss is lessened, but still present. Again...what gives!?

Hello,
Did you purchase new? I don't hear ANY Hiss with:

DT770-80
Denon D5000 24 ohm
HD650's

Where on the Vol POT clock do you hear the hiss?

 

[cwell2112]

Yes, the amp and headphones were both purchased new. I just took some notes, so here's a breakdown of what I'm hearing with each of my three headphones. The adapter is a 120 Ohm impedance adapter included with my MKV. I rate the hiss level on a scale from 0-10, 0 being no hiss, 10 being an absurd amount, as in the device is not functioning properly:

ALO SR225 (32 Ohm):
--no adapter, very noticeable hiss, uniform throughout the volume knob, except above 80% where it gets louder (though this is to be expected) -- 4/10
--with adapter, no noticeable hiss at all, except at very high volumes -- 0/10

HD515 (120 Ohm)
--no adapter, very noticeable, same deal as SR225, but slightly quieter -- 3/10
--with adapter, very, very slightly noticeable, definitely can only hear it when I'm listening for it -- 0.5/10

HD650 (300 Ohm)
--no adapter, mildly noticeable hiss -- 2/10
--with adapter, still there, but a little quieter than the HD515 -- <0.5/10

I think perhaps my standards for a black background are higher than a lot of other folks.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwell2112 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, the amp and headphones were both purchased new. I just took some notes, so here's a breakdown of what I'm hearing with each of my three headphones. The adapter is a 120 Ohm impedance adapter included with my MKV. I rate the hiss level on a scale from 0-10, 0 being no hiss, 10 being an absurd amount, as in the device is not functioning properly: ALO SR225 (32 Ohm): --no adapter, very noticeable hiss, uniform throughout the volume knob, except above 80% where it gets louder (though this is to be expected) -- 4/10 --with adapter, no noticeable hiss at all, except at very high volumes -- 0/10 HD515 (120 Ohm) --no adapter, very noticeable, same deal as SR225, but slightly quieter -- 3/10 --with adapter, very, very slightly noticeable, definitely can only hear it when I'm listening for it -- 0.5/10 HD650 (300 Ohm) --no adapter, mildly noticeable hiss -- 2/10 --with adapter, still there, but a little quieter than the HD515 -- <0.5/10 I think perhaps my standards for a black background are higher than a lot of other folks.

Ahhh, I got a question? Mine has no hiss, and I bought mine new from LD, and guess what? It didn't come with an "anti-hiss" adapter like yours did. Did anybody else's come with an "anti-hiss" adapter?

 

[cwell2112]

When did you buy your amp? I bought mine mid October, 2008, so including the adapter might be a new thing.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwell2112 /img/forum/go_quote.gif When did you buy your amp? I bought mine mid October, 2008, so including the adapter might be a new thing.

Sorry,

Little Dot MK V "Dual-Mono" Headphone Amp Amplifier! - eBay (item 200272759693 end time Nov-14-08 09:20:09 PST)

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anadin /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am waiting by the front door for Parcelforce to deliver my LD MkV today

did you ever get the mkv and keces??
interested to know your views as i am considering upgrading my dac (zero) to the keces.
i also have the mkv!

 

[cwell2112]

So it's been a couple of weeks since I received my HD650's, and as I've been burning them in, it seems as though the amount of noticeable hiss has reduced slightly. I'm not sure how to explain this, but it's at a point now where I just plug them into the MKV, maybe hear a little hiss if I listen, but I just enjoy the music.

I'm listening to Steely Dan right now through the DA-151, MKV, and HD650's, and I'm really impressed with how clean and dynamic the setup sounds. Very sophisticated, impressive, and enjoyable to my relatively inexperienced ears.

EDIT: I have around 75 hours on the HD650's, probably 150-200 on the MKV, and 3-400 on the DA-151

 

[intoart]

The connectors on the back look different than standard RCA. Will a standard RCA cord work for connecting a CD player, or is something unique required?

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intoart /img/forum/go_quote.gif The connectors on the back look different than standard RCA. Will a standard RCA cord work for connecting a CD player, or is something unique required?

Standard RCA for the outs, and RCA for the COAX IN.