[discord]

anyone try the little dot micro?

 

[htbyron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubeamp35 Has anyone tried Grado 125's with Little Dot II. Thinking about buying one but have heard Grado's can be tough to drive. Is this true? Any help would be appreciated.

I don't think I've ever heard that the Grados are hard to drive. Some say they like a lot of current (though I could do with an explanation of what that means and how to identify good amp choices on that basis), but as low-impedance cans, the SR series are generally viewed as easy to drive and quite nice even unamped. That's been my experience with the SR-80s (apologies if I fail to appreciate the difference between SR-80s and SR-125s, as I haven't tried the latter).

That said, I have used my SR-80s with the LDII tube amp & find them a good match. Not quite as good a match as the Senn HD-580s (and bear in mind, I generally like the Grados better). But very nice. I find the LDII to have nice detail in the mids and high end, with slightly warm bass (compared to my Portaphile V2), but not muddy, with plenty of punch. All in all, a very good entry-level buy in a tube amp, I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by discord anyone try the little dot micro?

Didja look here: LDM Thread

 

[Tubeamp35]

Thanks for the reply, htbyron

I guess the fact that they were current hungry was what I had read in other places. In stereo HiFi with loud speakers they say that many tube amps are better at delivering current and that this is one of thier benefits. Hope Im not saying this wrong. I want to drive the Grados with a tube amp as I like the way tubes sound generally better than solid state. since I have not amplified my headphones with a seperate source this will be my first experience. I like the idea of the little dot being a tube amp and wanted to make sure it was a good match. The price is reasonable for tube amplification and thought it might be a good place to get my feet wet. Right now $300 is about all I can spare. If there is something better for $300 I would love to hear about it.

Thanks All for the good threads and info.

 

[htbyron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubeamp35 Thanks for the reply, htbyron I guess the fact that they were current hungry was what I had read in other places. In stereo HiFi with loud speakers they say that many tube amps are better at delivering current and that this is one of thier benefits. Hope Im not saying this wrong. I want to drive the Grados with a tube amp as I like the way tubes sound generally better than solid state. since I have not amplified my headphones with a seperate source this will be my first experience. I like the idea of the little dot being a tube amp and wanted to make sure it was a good match. The price is reasonable for tube amplification and thought it might be a good place to get my feet wet. Right now $300 is about all I can spare. If there is something better for $300 I would love to hear about it. Thanks All for the good threads and info.

Interesting -- I would like to learn more about this current thing, but I fear it will all go well above my head.

In the couple of hours since my earlier post, I decided to listen to some older rock (Violent Femmes, Pink FLoyd, Doors). With the Senn HD-580s through the LDII, I was not impressed -- soundstage was OK, but mids and bass were not as tight as I'd like, and sound was just not as pleasing overall as some of the other music I had been listening to through this setup -- mostly female vocals, jazz, folk, etc. So I switched to the Grados (SR-80s), and found the sound much more to my liking. It's getting late, and I'm working a bnit at the same time I'm listening, so I can't describe it with any precision or detail, but I will say that for some music at least the Grado / Little Dot II pairing is quite nice indeed.

 

[discord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by htbyron Didja look here: LDM Thread

Thanks!

 

[Bleed]

I just got mine today

this thing gets very HOT!!!

 

[Nandro]

Yea, when I first mentioned that they told me it was a ube amp ritual and you will get your mark!

 

[Bleed]

that's one painful ritual lol...

the real reason why I wanted a tube amp

nyahahahahaha...........

 

[oic929]

Is it just me, or is the little dot site not working for the past few days?

 

[m8o]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubeamp35 I guess the fact that they were current hungry was what I had read in other places. In stereo HiFi with loud speakers they say that many tube amps are better at delivering current and that this is one of thier benefits. Hope Im not saying this wrong. I want to drive the Grados with a tube amp as I like the way tubes sound generally better than solid state.

Hmm... how is it I missed this thread... ? (edit: duh, because it's a year old)

It's not that tubes deliver -more- current then solid state ; quite the opposite!!! It's that tubes are generally said to be more -linear- in their current delivery in amplification of a signal; it should be added, that is if not overdriven. It's perhaps easier to send the tube into its overdrive region then solid state (generally less gain in a single tube then a SS stage). But when overdriven, the tube "degrades nicely" in the manner in which distortion increases. With discrete solid state, distortion increases quickly once it's overdriven with more higher order distortion then most tube amps ; ramps up even faster with opamps and the harmonics created are of even higher order then SS. (I'm speaking in generalities; there are of course devices that fall at one extreme or another in any topology whether tube, ss or opamp) A great plus for the LD is the Directly Heated Triode power tube used in the Little Dot is used in a configuration that creates "acoustically acceptable" distortion when overdriven; ie. it's more 'musical' when cranked and distorting a bit, and this musical distortion is present in a bit higher quantity then other tube configurations even when the DHT tube is not cranked, which is part of its appeal.

BTW, if you get the LD II+ and your headphones are low impedance (as I think Grados are), I recommend you open the amp and pull the jumpers in the front to match the amp to low impedance better. The amp comes set to drive high impedance phones by default. This is detailed in another LD II+ thread. I learned this from listening with my LD III+ which does auto impedance matching; it really works.

All the best from a LD II+ and LD III+ owner!

 

[grubyhalo]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread after so long, but could someone tell me if the LDIII can be used as a pre-amp to feed a pair of active speakers? Thanks!

 

[fuzzy fuzzbucket]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrdon /img/forum/go_quote.gif According to Dr. Yang's Forum the 1B2 is the equivalent to a 1S5 and 1DF91. These are readily available at online tube dealers. The 4P1S is another story. Dr. Yang says the Russian equivalent is a 4¡Ç1¡Ç I can't read the Russian alphabet so it looks like we are going to need help from our Russian friends to find us this tube.

these are the tubes for little dot 2
4P1S --> 4п1л / 4P1L / 4LS1 / 4L1S / RL2 / 4P6
1B2 --> 1S5 / DAF91 / ZD17
1K2 --> 1U5
thats what i found on the net about some equivalent valves...
the 'J' on 4P1S-J for example stands for 'Japanese'.
the ones in orange are equivalents to the Russian valve 4п1л