[parbaked]

Quote:

well, some new pieces have come in, the first of which a music streamer II+, and the other is a pair of RCA 6ak5's for the little dot I+
so far, very good

I'm a huge fan of HRT products! I'm sure you're in for much enjoyment! 

 

[stacker45]

I just ordered a Little Dot +1 to use with my vintage Yamaha sound system, but after all the good things i have read about it, who knows, it might end up replacing my Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 in my ''main'' system.

 

[joseph69]

Quote:

I just ordered a Little Dot +1 to use with my vintage Yamaha sound system, but after all the good things i have read about it, who knows, it might end up replacing my Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 in my ''main'' system.

If you've been reading my posts, I've recently purchased the LD1+ and the Schiit Magni/Modi combo, but have yet to spend enough time with either, but will give my opinion on which one I prefer, because I will most definitely be selling the other. I'm interested in hearing your impressions on the LD1+. I mainly purchased these amps for my 325is's, where as my 80's sound fine out of my any of my prior sources and my 325is's didn't.

 

[jaywillin]

Quote:

I'm a huge fan of HRT products! I'm sure you're in for much enjoyment! 

i've had the msII, the microstreamer, the msII+ , to me, the hrt products, these any, sound the most analog, the least digital, of all the dacs i've tried. they also serve "the most" of the stuff i listen to, low-fi mp3 streamed spotify, mog, wolfgangs vault, to high res downloads played through jriver, now i've had the msII+ just briefly, but as a whole, i love hrt !!
msII+ > little dot I+ > alessandro ms2 = so much enjoyment

 

[jaywillin]

Quote:

I just hooked up my LD again with the Modi to the MBP, and I'm going to listen to this set up for a while, when I can. 
Didn't your LD also come with Siemens 6AK5W"s like mine did?
Are the RCA 6AK5's different?

yes, i have the siemens too, i suspect the modi and the LD would pair well
just initial impressions, more fleshed out, smoother top end, more TUBEY i guess, they are NOS, so not burned/broken in

 

[HPiper]

I am using the Modi with my LD MkIII and while the MKIII is arguably a better amp than the 1+ I think I can safely say you will really like that combination. I am getting a bit annoyed with my 325is phones, they are so fussy about the source. I was listening to a cd yesterday (BB King) and after a while I just had to switch to my Sennheiser's. Sounded great on the Senn's but the imaging was all over the place on the Grado's. With the right source and a well engineered recording I have heard nothing that sounds more like a real live performance than the SR325is phones, but man are they picky, planets have to be in the correct alignment, temperature and humidity have to be right, everything has to be just so, but when it is WOW they really deliver.
 I had a very brief encounter with a Magni amp and while I didn't not like it, I didn't hear anything that made me say Wow either. I guess I would say it is a good amp but not a great amp.

 

[parbaked]

The LD MkIII is arguably a better match for the Sennheisers than it would be for Grados.
I believe it is an OTL amp with a 32Ohm output impedance, so on paper, better suited for higher impedance cans.
The hybrid LD1 has lower output impedance and is, again on paper, the LD amp for low impedance cans like Grados.
That may explain your frustration with your 325is through your LD MkIII
 
The Magni is also designed to be able to drive high impedance cans so is also not optimized for Grados.
Asgaard would be the Schiit...

 

[jaywillin]

Quote:

I am using the Modi with my LD MkIII and while the MKIII is arguably a better amp than the 1+ I think I can safely say you will really like that combination. I am getting a bit annoyed with my 325is phones, they are so fussy about the source. I was listening to a cd yesterday (BB King) and after a while I just had to switch to my Sennheiser's. Sounded great on the Senn's but the imaging was all over the place on the Grado's. With the right source and a well engineered recording I have heard nothing that sounds more like a real live performance than the SR325is phones, but man are they picky, planets have to be in the correct alignment, temperature and humidity have to be right, everything has to be just so, but when it is WOW they really deliver.
 I had a very brief encounter with a Magni amp and while I didn't not like it, I didn't hear anything that made me say Wow either. I guess I would say it is a good amp but not a great amp.

before i got the ms2's, i was considering the 325, but decided to go ms2 because a lot of my music is not "high resolution" my thinking was the 325 would be very  revealing of lesser source material

 

[HPiper]

Quote:

before i got the ms2's, i was considering the 325, but decided to go ms2 because a lot of my music is not "high resolution" my thinking was the 325 would be very  revealing of lesser source material

 Yes I was thinking about that a bit after my post and I think I am pretty sure what was causing the problem, compression. It was a "Greatest Hits" type cd and they obviously had to use some pretty heavy compression to get 20 tracks on one cd and I think that is what was driving the Grado's nuts. I think that is the case with a lot of older and particularly rock/pop music. Back then most people didn't own real high resolution equipment and the majority were listening over an fm radio, so who is going to hear a bit of compression, probably made it sound even better over most stereo systems of the day. They simply were not able to reproduce a full dynamic range recording. Whole different ball game today however.

 

[HPiper]

Quote:

The LD MkIII is arguably a better match for the Sennheisers than it would be for Grados.
I believe it is an OTL amp with a 32Ohm output impedance, so on paper, better suited for higher impedance cans.
The hybrid LD1 has lower output impedance and is, again on paper, the LD amp for low impedance cans like Grados.
That may explain your frustration with your 325is through your LD MkIII
 
The Magni is also designed to be able to drive high impedance cans so is also not optimized for Grados.
Asgaard would be the Schiit...

 I think a lot is more is made of impedance matching than is really there to be honest. Point being that same amp and that same headphone is capable of reproducing astonishingly real music with different recordings, just not that one.

 

[parbaked]

Quote:

 I think a lot is more is made of impedance matching than is really there to be honest. Point being that same amp and that same headphone is capable of reproducing astonishingly real music with different recordings, just not that one.

That's true, but as a rule OTL amps don't generate enough current for some cans.
It is very hard to design an amp that can drive all loads well. 

 

[whirlwind]

Quote:

That's true, but as a rule OTL amps don't generate enough current for some cans.
It is very hard to design an amp that can drive all loads well. 

That is the reason that I decided to go with the Little Dot 1+ for my RS1i
 
I was just afrayed to try an OTL amp when my main phone is the RS1i.
 
I must say that I am really enjoying my time with my LD1+ & RS1i combo

 

[stacker45]

Can't wait to compare the Little Dot+1 to my vintage Yamaha CA-610II int amp. the old gal's headphone output is a bit noisy, so i'm hoping that the Little Dot will at least quiet things down a bit.

 

[bassboysam]

i have an LD MKIII which i use with all my Grados. i have also used a 250ohm adapter cable with the Grados and MKIII and i noticed no difference with the higher impedance.

 

[rnadell]

Hi, wondering what mods really make the difference in the sq of SR 80's??
Looking for opinions on Turbulent Labs products. Looks like you can make 
a pair of cans from their mods?? Thanks