Negatron
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2006
- Posts
- 422
- Likes
- 16
Day one, out of the box
I checked the amp visually and cleaned the tube pins with isopropyl alcohol and applied a very small amount of Caig Pro Gold contact conditioner to them and plugged it in and flipped the switch.
The amp gave no surprises, it was constrained, everything rather damped. The bottom registers though low were flabby as to be expected from a new amp and complex passages were shrill. Quite honestly I don’t bother with extended listening with a new amp. I consider it a waste of time other than getting a glimpse of it's early nature.
After about 20 minutes I plugged in a set of 30 ohm $1 Walkman type phones and let it endlessly repeat ZZ Top’s ‘Eliminator’ from the CD player. The technical choice of CD was based on the fact that it was at the top of a pile on a shelf by my worktable. We technical types are precise in method.
Little did I know a surprise was in store for me. Vacuum tube audio has been a serious hobby for me for a very long time. I have rebuilt vintage gear, modified much and designed and built many pieces. I am very aware of how much the character and sound of a circuit will change as the caps break in and to a lesser degree the rest of the passive circuit. Tubes change a great bit as well but are rather predictable.
Last night I plugged the amp into an Fubar USB DAC and pluged in my old trusty set of K240 monitors. Those phones may not be the first choice of HeadFiers world wide but they have probably logged more hours in mixing booths over the last 30 years than any other phone. I very much like them for evaluation.
As I was working on the computer and casually listening to Ambient Space music on Soma FM, I began in a very short time span to hear a dramatic change.
Now this is at about 10 hours of running. The congestion that was fairly evident in the beginning had fallen back. The dampened, actually rather sterile quality had changed, it was still evident but more subdued. Keep in mind that what I am starting to hear was not there a short time before. It really got my attention as I started listening in to the music and separating the individual sounds as they happened at the same time.
Over the course of another 30 minutes the music started to expand, the soundstage widened the height increased and that “bloom” that those of us who love tubes started to be born. I attribute this to the power supply caps becoming formed to the voltage and current that they would be opperating at. The demands of an amp running class A remain constant other than the demands of the AC signal and this make sense to me. I know the cathode bypass caps will take much longer as will the output electrolytics. Film caps break in more subtly.
As hour eleven in the amps life went on, the amp gained musicality, a subjective term to be sure. What it means varies with different people, but the essence is the same. The amp was becoming 3 dimentional in presentation. Transients became defined, attack and the decay following became an involved process. I had started taking brief notes as I worked.
I then plugged in my bench CD player, a Heart 5000, essentualy a tubed Marantz 5000 and I finally sat back and closed my eyes and just listened. And as I listened I realized I was witness to something very transitory in an amps life, be it great amp or just a good amp. It is like the amp had discovered music and was finding out how to play with it . Yeh, I know that is fantasy, yet this little guy had come to impress me.
There is a synergy in the Little Dot MK III that is being born in this unit. I’ve listened to too many amps over the years to not know whether one will turn out good or mediocre. There are still edges to the highs, the bass has not tightened fully, the mids are rich but complexities get confused but it is only a day old. I can forgive it's youth.
I have become to think that my money was not only well spent on something I can enjoy but something I can yet discover new things from. That was one of the more rewarding 2 hours I have spent in electronics.
I will post an update as this breakin progresses if I can get off my A** to do it.
I checked the amp visually and cleaned the tube pins with isopropyl alcohol and applied a very small amount of Caig Pro Gold contact conditioner to them and plugged it in and flipped the switch.
The amp gave no surprises, it was constrained, everything rather damped. The bottom registers though low were flabby as to be expected from a new amp and complex passages were shrill. Quite honestly I don’t bother with extended listening with a new amp. I consider it a waste of time other than getting a glimpse of it's early nature.
After about 20 minutes I plugged in a set of 30 ohm $1 Walkman type phones and let it endlessly repeat ZZ Top’s ‘Eliminator’ from the CD player. The technical choice of CD was based on the fact that it was at the top of a pile on a shelf by my worktable. We technical types are precise in method.
Little did I know a surprise was in store for me. Vacuum tube audio has been a serious hobby for me for a very long time. I have rebuilt vintage gear, modified much and designed and built many pieces. I am very aware of how much the character and sound of a circuit will change as the caps break in and to a lesser degree the rest of the passive circuit. Tubes change a great bit as well but are rather predictable.
Last night I plugged the amp into an Fubar USB DAC and pluged in my old trusty set of K240 monitors. Those phones may not be the first choice of HeadFiers world wide but they have probably logged more hours in mixing booths over the last 30 years than any other phone. I very much like them for evaluation.
As I was working on the computer and casually listening to Ambient Space music on Soma FM, I began in a very short time span to hear a dramatic change.
Now this is at about 10 hours of running. The congestion that was fairly evident in the beginning had fallen back. The dampened, actually rather sterile quality had changed, it was still evident but more subdued. Keep in mind that what I am starting to hear was not there a short time before. It really got my attention as I started listening in to the music and separating the individual sounds as they happened at the same time.
Over the course of another 30 minutes the music started to expand, the soundstage widened the height increased and that “bloom” that those of us who love tubes started to be born. I attribute this to the power supply caps becoming formed to the voltage and current that they would be opperating at. The demands of an amp running class A remain constant other than the demands of the AC signal and this make sense to me. I know the cathode bypass caps will take much longer as will the output electrolytics. Film caps break in more subtly.
As hour eleven in the amps life went on, the amp gained musicality, a subjective term to be sure. What it means varies with different people, but the essence is the same. The amp was becoming 3 dimentional in presentation. Transients became defined, attack and the decay following became an involved process. I had started taking brief notes as I worked.
I then plugged in my bench CD player, a Heart 5000, essentualy a tubed Marantz 5000 and I finally sat back and closed my eyes and just listened. And as I listened I realized I was witness to something very transitory in an amps life, be it great amp or just a good amp. It is like the amp had discovered music and was finding out how to play with it . Yeh, I know that is fantasy, yet this little guy had come to impress me.
There is a synergy in the Little Dot MK III that is being born in this unit. I’ve listened to too many amps over the years to not know whether one will turn out good or mediocre. There are still edges to the highs, the bass has not tightened fully, the mids are rich but complexities get confused but it is only a day old. I can forgive it's youth.
I have become to think that my money was not only well spent on something I can enjoy but something I can yet discover new things from. That was one of the more rewarding 2 hours I have spent in electronics.
I will post an update as this breakin progresses if I can get off my A** to do it.
