[RC99]

Enjoying my I+ with RS-2s and D5000s. What a musical little amp -- my first tube experience.

Before buying the Little Dot, I'd been on the verge of selling my RS-2s. I wouldn't now. They sound much better than when driven by my SS amps -- the modded Zero and Rev. B iBasso D1 -- as in different cans entirely. Exciting, punchy, and definitely warmer.

The D5000s benefit somewhat less from the I+ but still sound good. I notice recording quality has become more critical... This is with the EF95 tubes.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RC99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Enjoying my I+ with RS-2s and D5000s. What a musical little amp -- my first tube experience. Before buying the Little Dot, I'd been on the verge of selling my RS-2s. I wouldn't now. They sound much better than when driven by my SS amps -- the modded Zero and Rev. B iBasso D1 -- as in different cans entirely. Exciting, punchy, and definitely warmer. The D5000s benefit somewhat less from the I+ but still sound good. I notice recording quality has become more critical... This is with the EF95 tubes.

Glad to hear that, what tubes are you using with your I+?

 

[thevoiceofalan]

Got my little dot I + a couple of weeks ago and it realy is great

This takes a analog feed from my pc at the moment, but I am thinking about getting a Zero DAC to accompany my Grado SR60's whats folks thoughts on those together?

 

[katanka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thevoiceofalan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got my little dot I + a couple of weeks ago and it realy is great This takes a analog feed from my pc at the moment, but I am thinking about getting a Zero DAC to accompany my Grado SR60's whats folks thoughts on those together?

dew it. It will sound cool

 

[taso89]

For the money, I feel like it would be better spent upgrading your cans to the SR225 if you like the Grado sound. I guess it depends on what your current source is, as in how good your current sound card is.

 

[malldian]

I wouldn't put that much behind the sr60.. while I love them I would imagine that they are the weak point in your system right now.

 

[StratCat]

OK -

Late to the party, but count me in.

Got the stock LD 1+ just now for ~87 bux (+ shipping) using the MSLive rebate. The rebate's been 20% the last several days...too bad I waited, it was 30% 2 or 3 days ago.

Will use a Zero DAC to drive the LD feeding Grado SR225, Denon D2000, and AKG K701. I'm really interested in seeing how it handles the K701's and D2000's, especially the K701's.

Thanks for the great thread, guys.

 

[taso89]

I'm not sure about the K701 but the SR225 and D2000 are going to sound quite a bit better, upgrading from the Zero amp.

 

[Charles_1985]

I bought mine a week ago, came today.

I won't have a chance to fire it up until Sunday/Monday, but I took it out of the package. This is my first amp. It feels very solid and has nice build quality. I'm eagerly looking forward to hearing it.

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taso89 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not sure about the K701 but the SR225 and D2000 are going to sound quite a bit better, upgrading from the Zero amp.

I suspect so, and TBH, the K701's have to sound better than when driven by the two LT1364 op amps in the Zero's HPA section. Tho how much better, will remain TBD, but I'll report back.

FWIW, the K701's actually are relatively low impedance: 62 Ohm

LD 1+ published specs show:

- 150mW output @ 300 Ohms
- 300mW output @ 120 Ohms
- 800mW output @ 32 Ohms

So it should supply somewhere between 300 - 800mW to the K701's, I'm guessing maybe ~1/2W. No idea if that's trully sufficient, but hey, for 120 bux to my door it's worth a shot.

If not, I can always toss it off to my wife for her D2000's use based on the cuteness factor alone, I bet!

 

[taso89]

I am confident that the amp will drive the K701 loud enough, how WELL it is driven is another question but I don't see any reason it wouldn't be. BTW the I+ works quite well with the LT1364 inside, so if you are happy with the I+ you can unplug the power from the zero head amp section (may be a good idea to do anyway if you're going to put an HDAM in the DAC section), take out one of your LT1364's and stick it in the I+.

As far as I know I was the first to start some opamp swapping with this little amp, with the mindset that the opamp in the I+ is pretty much the last part of the audio chain, since it is the output, and that a poor stock opamp would "bottleneck" the sound, so to speak.

But to add on to your point (phew), yes it will DEFINITELY sound better than the Zero with LT1364's

 

[StratCat]

Quoting myself:

Quote:

Originally Posted by StratCat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got the stock LD 1+ just now for ~87 bux (+ shipping) using the MSLive rebate. The rebate's been 20% the last several days...too bad I waited, it was 30% 2 or 3 days ago.

Bah!

9 hours pass and the rebate's back up to 30% !!!

So now, what could I have done with all that x-tra savings? Uh, err, oh! That's right...FULL price on this goofy thing is only around 100 bux!

nm

(Seriously tho, $76 + shipping right now with MSLive rebate if anyone needs the pot sweetened to take the jump - Crazy cheap, IMHO)

 

[RC99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dept_of_Alchemy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Glad to hear that, what tubes are you using with your I+?

Sorry for the confusion. They're not EF95s after all. I'm using the stock Ediswan EF92 tubes provided by Little Dot.

I'm also watching the tube rolling thread with interest.

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taso89 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as I know I was the first to start some opamp swapping with this little amp, with the mindset that the opamp in the I+ is pretty much the last part of the audio chain, since it is the output, and that a poor stock opamp would "bottleneck" the sound, so to speak.

I don't have the LD 1+ here yet, so I can't signal trace, but was wondering: Do you know the general circuit architecture for this new amp? Specifically the tubes/op amp/output FETs relationship?

I was wondering if the op amp drives the tubes or vis' a versa (assuming the output is thru pwr FETs - I'm not sure that's a valid assumption)

Quote:

But to add on to your point (phew), yes it will DEFINITELY sound better than the Zero with LT1364's

Not wanting to get too OT, but check out the Zero's HPA op amp I'm considering getting (in my sig) - 310mA OP current vs the LT1364's 50mA, and the stock NE5532's 38mA!

I'm still working on maxing out the Zero even tho I'm getting the LD 1+ so I can still have a purely SS singal path when I desire.

 

[malldian]

Just bought one... considering downgrading for a while. Can't wait to check it out!