[antenorhs]

As far as I have been able to determine the EL84 valve is not a drop in replacement for the LD MKIV.

Here is a link to the owners manual that gives some info on tube rolling, however the power tubes don't include jumper settings for alternate tube types.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/biytahabdg1xs1c/Little Dot MK IV SE Reference Guide.pdf?dl=0

I would stick with the power tubes that shipped with your amp. If you want to experiment with different flavors of sound, its the driver tubes you want to roll. They have far more effect on the sound.

Thank you so much for posting this link!

 

[ishmaelk]

I have a Little Dot MK-IV SE that I had given little use. With the holidays and some time to use it, I have to admit I'm quite impressed by its sound.
The pairing with my HD650 at the lowest gain setting is awesome. There's plenty of headroom, mids are heaven, bass is tight and highs are just right, not lowered or obscured by the mids.
I have a Valhalla 2 home and going back to the LD is making me think I may have made a mistake.
Of course, any comparison has to take into consideration that the V2 and the LD 4 use different tubes. I have the stock tubes in the V2, which I think are quite good, and some Mullard CV4010 in the LD.
Anyway, I'm pretty inexperienced in the tube world. But the LD 4 SE delivers.

 

[ishmaelk]

I'm looking for tracks that I could use to make a better comparison between the Valhalla 2 and the Little Dot MKIV SE for clarity, soundstage, detail and range.
For example, Swegbe & Pako by Fela Kuti is one of my go to tracks to compare soundstage. I love the spaciousness of the recording.
Another fantastic track is Chan Chan, from the first Buena Vista Social Club release. Terrific acoustic recording.

 

[antenorhs]

I'm looking for tracks that I could use to make a better comparison between the Valhalla 2 and the Little Dot MKIV SE for clarity, soundstage, detail and range.
For example, Swegbe & Pako by Fela Kuti is one of my go to tracks to compare soundstage. I love the spaciousness of the recording.
Another fantastic track is Chan Chan, from the first Buena Vista Social Club release. Terrific acoustic recording.

Hi!
have you tryed the album from Amber Rubarth, "sessions from the 17th ward"? In particular the 4th track "A kiss to build a dream on", is great to compare soundstage.
To compare Details and dynamics I like the trak "Guillaume Tell: Overture", from Rossini, conducted by Antonio Pappano.
Also the track "The expert", from Tello is good.

 

[antenorhs]

I have a Little Dot MK-IV SE that I had given little use. With the holidays and some time to use it, I have to admit I'm quite impressed by its sound.
The pairing with my HD650 at the lowest gain setting is awesome. There's plenty of headroom, mids are heaven, bass is tight and highs are just right, not lowered or obscured by the mids.
I purchased a Valhalla 2 recently and going back to the LD is making me think I may have made a mistake.
Of course, any comparison has to take into consideration that the V2 and the LD 4 use different tubes. I have the stock tubes in the V2, which I think are quite good, and some Mullard CV4010 in the LD.
Anyway, I'm pretty inexperienced in the tube world. But the LD 4 SE delivers.

I'm using now a pair of RCA's for preamp and another from Electro Harmonix for power on My LD MKIV, and its a perfect match. The sound is rich and very very clear.

 

[ishmaelk]

Hi!
have you tryed the album from Amber Rubarth, "sessions from the 17th ward"? In particular the 4th track "A kiss to build a dream on", is great to compare soundstage.
To compare Details and dynamics I like the trak "Guillaume Tell: Overture", from Rossini, conducted by Antonio Pappano.
Also the track "The expert", from Tello is good.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check them out.
Another favourite of mine to test headphones (and speakers) is Bill Evans' The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings. Some tracks offer a great sense of the room, with several layers of sounds from the venue.

 

[jpearson]

I'm looking for tracks that I could use to make a better comparison between the Valhalla 2 and the Little Dot MKIV SE for clarity, soundstage, detail and range.
For example, Swegbe & Pako by Fela Kuti is one of my go to tracks to compare soundstage. I love the spaciousness of the recording.
Another fantastic track is Chan Chan, from the first Buena Vista Social Club release. Terrific acoustic recording.

Hi @ishmaelk, does the LD have a more tubey sound than the V2 to your ears? Do you have any thoughts about comparison of the top end? I have the V2 and I find the upper mids a bit rough at times and some sharpness in the treble that is unpleasant to my sensitive ears... On a quest for a more relaxed sound from a tube amp, but perhaps the LD is not that!

 

[ishmaelk]

Hi @ishmaelk, does the LD have a more tubey sound than the V2 to your ears? Do you have any thoughts about comparison of the top end? I have the V2 and I find the upper mids a bit rough at times and some sharpness in the treble that is unpleasant to my sensitive ears... On a quest for a more relaxed sound from a tube amp, but perhaps the LD is not that!

I don't have neither of them anymore. I remember the sound of the LD seemed a bit smoother, more tubey if you please, but they didn't use the same tubes, so it's not a fair comparison, really.
If I had to go back to any of them, I'd go for the V2. I used it with great results as a preamp too.
I'd check the V2 tube rolling thread and see if there's anyone that can recommend you a nice pair of affordable tubes to soften up that treble. The stock tubes were quite good but harsher than some gold lions I had too.
I'm a bit sensitive to treble harshness too and I know it's hell when something is bothering you.
Good luck!

 

[ikoster]

Got the MKIV SE because I wanted "more tubey" sound than what I get from the LD1+ and I must say that I got that !
btw the soundstage is bigger too...

When I first turned it on for the first time the right channel was louder than the left one...

One of those gain switches at the bottom was set to higher gain (from fab) for some reason so I switched it back and now both channels sound the same and all is good

This is a monster compared to the LD1+ (not just the size) it is "better" more "high-end" sounding one too.
I am using it with my Grados with both gain switches set to ON (gain 3).

edit: I will be cleaning tube pins on those EF95 tubes (not sure which ones are in there and I will post some pics too) because I had good results doing so with the ones that are in my LD1+ (NE408a). By good results I mean that everything improved significantly to the point that I decided not to tube/opamp roll at all because it is already "perfect" (at least for me).

 

[sennsay]

Hi @ishmaelk, does the LD have a more tubey sound than the V2 to your ears? Do you have any thoughts about comparison of the top end? I have the V2 and I find the upper mids a bit rough at times and some sharpness in the treble that is unpleasant to my sensitive ears... On a quest for a more relaxed sound from a tube amp, but perhaps the LD is not that!

I found the same thing with the Valhalla 2 I had for a year or so. I used mine exclusively with Sennheiser HD540 Ref1s and there was something about the upper mids I did not enjoy that much, I felt unconnected emotionally to the music and this is NOT an aspect of the HD540s. I eventually sold the V2 and bought a Schiit Modi Multibit instead with change to spare and never regretted it. I've often wanted to have an LD MkIV some years back, yet haven't thought of it again until today. I'm so happy with the newer Magni 3+ amplifier being fed my the highly upgraded FrankenZero DAC that I've not considered or wanted for anything else, so good is this system running with the 600 ohm HD540 Refs. A tube option might be nice.

 

[sennsay]

I don't have neither of them anymore. I remember the sound of the LD seemed a bit smoother, more tubey if you please, but they didn't use the same tubes, so it's not a fair comparison, really.
If I had to go back to any of them, I'd go for the V2. I used it with great results as a preamp too.
I'd check the V2 tube rolling thread and see if there's anyone that can recommend you a nice pair of affordable tubes to soften up that treble. The stock tubes were quite good but harsher than some gold lions I had too.
I'm a bit sensitive to treble harshness too and I know it's hell when something is bothering you.
Good luck!

When I had my V2, Jason from Schiit (I think it was him) suggested a pair of 6DJ8 Amperex Orange Globes for the inputs and indeed they were a small improvement, but still something wasn't quite right for me overall with the HD540 Ref1 headphones, so it was sold on, still in mint condition. My current Schiit Magi 3+ is a far better amp and drives the 600 ohm load beautifully.

 

[ikoster]

Cleaned those tube pins it sounds "better" now...

that damn thing is not going back in there...

 

[TrollDragon]

It's nice to see LD used a real Neutrik jack on the SE as opposed to the 50¢ version they used on the regular MK IV. I changed mine out as soon as I got the amp.