[xing3ds]

Hi fellow headfiers,
I got this Little Dot II amp just 2 days ago and since then it have been operating for about 24 hours. I’m neither audiophile nor expert in audio field, I’m just someone who enjoys having a ‘good’ gear and listening music and would like to share my impression and experience about this amp.

So, here it goes…

Gear being used:
Cans: Sennheiser HD555 (120ohm version) *more than 200hours on it*
Source: Computer
- Sound Card: Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
- File Type: FLAC ripped using EAC
Cable:
- stock HD555 cable
- stock amp power cable
- cheap RCA Interconnects (I will change this later on..)[/list]
Music being tested:

1. Diana Krall – Live in Paris
2. Renee Olstead
3. David Benoit & Russ Freeman – Freeman Project 2
4. Norah Jones and the Handsome Band – Live in 2004 – DVD Video
5. Usher – Yeah!
6. Wang Leehom – (Newest Album) – Taiwanese Singer

Design:
As -------- have posted up and review Little Dot I (younger brother), ---- says that the design is not very good, where screws are seems not to fitter properly on the case and some other things. Read the reviews in here:

On Little Dot II, the design case is just OK! The body of the case is smooth. The tube position on the design has a slight elevation, its about 85’ degree instead of 90’ degree standing up in the amp. For the price I pay, I could accept the design. The Weight is about 2.5kg.

Performance on Sound:
Diana Krall – Live in Paris
I’m impressed with the soundstage and the detail that this little amp added. Overall: wider soundstage, each instrument is defined in a clearer way.

Renee Oldstead
Again, wider soundstage, more detail, better control on bass. Particularly in ‘Breaking up is hard to do’ track, I felt that Renee Oldstead voice is a bit dry compare to w/o the amp.

Norah Jones
Ahh… soundstage and detail are much better.

Usher – Yeah!
Bass is tested in this song. The reasons I choose this song for bass testing is that I think it have a low frequency bass throughout the song. So, it will good to know how the amp have change and control the bass. My impression is that the bass defined in much better way, more focus and control on the bass.

Summary:
The good thing is: wider soundstage, more detail and clear, more focus and control on the bass.
The bad thing: I felt that either male of female voice are dryer (which I don’t like) compare to w/o the amp. But this could be because I haven’t given enough time to the amp itself to open up.

An audible slight hum is there (its pretty annoying thou, especially when I listen to Jazz), but that could be because currently I’m using a crappy RCA Interconnects cable to connect the amp and the soundcard. I’ll post up something once I have changed a good and shielded interconnects.

My Thoughts:
I pay about AUD$60 for the amp and together with the shipping cost (3days DHL from China to Aus), it makes up about AUD$105.00.
So, should I recommend this amp to you? Well, I don’t know, because I haven’t had any experience on listening to the other headphone amp, but overall I impressed with the amp and I think it’s worth it.

btw, I ordered the Gold Color Case with Black Case on the top, but Yang (the maker) sent me this withouth my acknowlegement and the result is that I accept this color and think that its too troublesome to change the case color (need to change the amp with other buyer in Australia). for those who are ordering the amp from the maker, my advice, make sure that he ship your amp with the color u wanted.

Best Regards,
xing3ds - Y.S

some pictures of the amp

 

[cmanc]

The slight audible hum could be emanating out from your sound card, I know both my Home Vibe and LD2 both have this sonic artifact. It's not noticeable when music is playing though, and I have to hold both hands over the cups to hear it above room noise, since Grados let a lot of sound in i.e computer fan, CDP spinning etc.

Firstly the only real problem I have with LD2 is it's operating temp, after a few hours the housing really gets uncomfortable to touch, although not dangerously so. When summer hits in Australia I wouldn't be surprised if the surface temp was hot enough to fry an egg, literally.

Hmm impressions.. The package Yang sent me included a odd looking Australian wall plug, unsidedown infact (I plan to make my own real soon) so it was ready to go when I opened the box, well almost, I had to make a custom 9 pin-RCA connect (from Canare starquad and Neutrik connects) to actually listen to anything. I ordered 2 LD2s and found they sounded noticeably different to each other, one is noticeably warmer and bassier than the other; one was dry while the other is lush and full in sound, I figure this must be the variability in the tube manufacturing process huh? The bassier warmer tube was a better match for my headphones.

Compared to my Homevibe which tended to abbreviate the decay of notes and accelerate the attack for a more lively and exciting sound - the LD2 seemed to sound just right from my modded SR325i. I listened to a live recording of Hotel California and listened to the guitar plucks and the applause of the audience in particular to guage which sounded more natural in this regard. The SR325i unamped through the 0404 lacks the same articulation and focus in the midrange, but with the LD2 there's more weight in each pluck and each note just hangs a little longer, it just feels more immersive.

I aways like to listen for sibilance and one song where is shows up very easily is Adore You, Lisa Barbuscia (from the Kiss of the Dragon soundtrack). Unamped, with bowls it's cutting and simply painful to listen to, but with the LD2 and modded comfies it sounds quite tame.

I also listened to a Binaural recording of Rival, Pearl Jam to gauge the effects of sound-stage. In the opening there's a dog which circles you and growls straight into your ear, my Grados replicates this pretty well.. now who said Grados a bad for SS

.. maybe not for binaural stuff heh. I noticed that my Modded SR325i actually made things sound closer (or compressed) than the gold earcups. The LD2 also gave a slightly more focused posistioning too, mainly due to increased clarity though in my mind.

So yeah, pretty nice Amp. For the money I say it's a pretty nice little unit.

 

[xing3ds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmanc The slight audible hum could be emanating out from your sound card, I know both my Home Vibe and LD2 both have this sonic artifact. It's not noticeable when music is playing though, and I have to hold both hands over the cups to hear it above room noise, since Grados let a lot of sound in i.e computer fan, CDP spinning etc. Firstly the only real problem I have with LD2 is it's operating temp, after a few hours the housing really gets uncomfortable to touch, although not dangerously so. When summer hits in Australia I wouldn't be surprised if the surface temp was hot enough to fry an egg, literally. Hmm impressions.. The package Yang sent me included a odd looking Australian wall plug, unsidedown infact (I plan to make my own real soon) so it was ready to go when I opened the box, well almost, I had to make a custom 9 pin-RCA connect (from Canare starquad and Neutrik connects) to actually listen to anything. I ordered 2 LD2s and found they sounded noticeably different to each other, one is noticeably warmer and bassier than the other; one was dry while the other is lush and full in sound, I figure this must be the variability in the tube manufacturing process huh? The bassier warmer tube was a better match for my headphones. Compared to my Homevibe which tended to abbreviate the decay of notes and accelerate the attack for a more lively and exciting sound - the LD2 seemed to sound just right from my modded SR325i. I listened to a live recording of Hotel California and listened to the guitar plucks and the applause of the audience in particular to guage which sounded more natural in this regard. The SR325i unamped through the 0404 lacks the same articulation and focus in the midrange, but with the LD2 there's more weight in each pluck and each note just hangs a little longer, it just feels more immersive. I aways like to listen for sibilance and one song where is shows up very easily is Adore You, Lisa Barbuscia (from the Kiss of the Dragon soundtrack). Unamped, with bowls it's cutting and simply painful to listen to, but with the LD2 and modded comfies it sounds quite tame. I also listened to a Binaural recording of Rival, Pearl Jam to gauge the effects of sound-stage. In the opening there's a dog which circles you and growls straight into your ear, my Grados replicates this pretty well.. now who said Grados a bad for SS .. maybe not for binaural stuff heh. I noticed that my Modded SR325i actually made things sound closer (or compressed) than the gold earcups. The LD2 also gave a slightly more focused posistioning too, mainly due to increased clarity though in my mind. So yeah, pretty nice Amp. For the money I say it's a pretty nice little unit.

about the hum, When I plug my cans directly to the soundcard line-out, I never noticed any hum.
One thing I forgot to mention about the hum or its probably noise, when listening to music and at the same time moving my mouse (e.g scrolling), the hum actually increase, so i thought it would be the cable.

when the music plays, I still heard the hum. its so annoying.
but btw, I'm planning to buy harmony RCA interconnects cable from Dicksmith store. hopefully, it will remove the hum or noises.


yes, you are right about the operating temp. after some time, the whole amp case and even the volume knob temperature increase.

the information paper that came with the amp written that something relate to the amp could reach the operating temperature of 130' celcius degree. (got a fren who translate that for me). could it be the tube?

so much diff. between ur two LDII amp..... hm..

 

[cmanc]

It's lucky I have 2 then - when one warms up enough I can rotate to the cooler one, like a gattling gun.

I think it must be refering to the tubes rather than the case. I doubt the housing reaches anything like 130C.

Yeah there's a reasonably big difference between the two, I might switch the tubes around to see whether they're the cause.

 

[xing3ds]

I have changed the crappy RCA Interconnect cable to a better one (Harmonics Gold RCA - well a pretty crap one too, but at least its better than the first one). the hum or noises or any kind of distortion are now gone away.....
The amp has been more than 40 hours of break-in time, and the singer voice are better.. less dry.. much smoother... and most important of all, it makes me SMILE!!!

Cheers

Xing

 

[RnB180]

I dont think yang has gold cases for those, all his pics look like yours. I have yet to see any pics with difference colors for the dot II.

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xing3ds I have changed the crappy RCA Interconnect cable to a better one (Harmonics Gold RCA - well a pretty crap one too, but at least its better than the first one). the hum or noises or any kind of distortion are now gone away.....

sounds like perhaps some AC line-related interference was involved. 50Hz AC = 50Hz hum.

 

[palchiu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB180 I dont think yang has gold cases for those, all his pics look like yours. I have yet to see any pics with difference colors for the dot II.

How about this? my friend.

A silver one.

 

[RnB180]

thats cool, then I guess that other guy got screwed

palchui is that your amp?

 

[palchiu]

Ya~ that's my baby~ still hot.

 

[adhoc]

palchiu: let me guess, the 3 tubes in your PPX are:

1x syl 6sn7wgt (brown base)
2x syl 6sn7gta (?)

 

[fr4c]

the 6SN7 Archivist at work...

 

[EdipisReks]

it's a cute little amp.

 

[axle]

$85 USD to US? Around there?

 

[palchiu]

To adhoc,

Ya~ you're right.

To EdipisReks,

They're very cute, and hot. And sound not bad!!!

To axle,

Yes, w/DHL will around the price you say.