[sweiss420]

Hi - I am a newbie here. I bought a Little Dot MKIII (used) a month ago. Have been enjoying it. I first upgraded the driver tubes to the Mullard M8100 tubes and thought that it really improved the sound - warmed it up and made it more lush than the stock driver tubes.
 
Just received and plugged in SovTek 6H30PI purchased at The Tube Store and am listening as I write this. What a difference!!!!! It sounds like a totally different amp, I am amazed that there is such a huge difference in sound - it has really come alive!
 
If you haven't done so already and you can spring for it - I highly recommend using these tubes - they are amazing.
 
Thanks for this forum - I find it really interesting to read all the posts.
 
Regards,
Steve
 

 

[lemonjelly]

I've got the mkIII too and think it's great as a first foray into tubes.  I'd been using the Yulong D100 as the amp/DAC, and while I think that was good, having the extra warmth of the mkIII, with that as the DAC sounds better.  I found that the change from the families of tubes, from EF95 -> EF92 -> EF91 was pretty nice as well.  I bought some Mullard EF91s and Westinghouse EF91s which I really like, and of course the soviet EF95s are pretty famous as being fantastic and easily available.  Just in case you hadn't seen there are some good threads elsewhere in the forum:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/563884/little-dot-tube-amps-vacuum-tube-rolling-guide
http://www.head-fi.org/t/276757/little-dot-mkiii-tube-rolling
 
And in case you ever fancied a bit more advanced change in sound there's a good discussion about changing the capacitors, resistors and volume pot here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/439449/little-dot-mk-iii-mods/15
 
Which having done a lot on mine, does make a big difference, but the biggest problem is definitely the ridiculously small case it's crammed into.  I ended up making my own separately as trying to shoehorn it in was getting a bit ridiculous !

 

[sweiss420]

HI - thanks for the tips and the info!!! I am looking into getting a DAC. Right now I am using a cheapo CD player. I think I will benefit more from cleaning up what I am putting into the MKIII, once I decide on a DAC I can then think about some of the mods and tubes you suggested.
 
I really appreciate the information - thanks!!!!!
 
Regards,
Steve