[Xymordos]

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Those two amps are very different in terms of how they handle headphones.
 
The Little-Dot MKII is a full tube amp using a Singled-ended Push Pull OTL design, which means it puts out a lot of Voltage but not much Current, making it ideal for high impedance headphones:
 

1. 300mW into 300 ohms
2. 200mW into 120 ohms
3. 100mW into 32 ohms

 
The Little-Dot I+ is a Hybrid design that uses Transistors for the output, which means it doesn't put out nearly as much Voltage but has tons of Current.  That makes it ideal for low impedance headphones:
 

1. 150mW @ 300 ohms
2. 300mW @ 120 ohms
3. 800mW @ 32 ohms

 
In my experience the full tube units will work well with headphones down to about 80ohms or so.  I use my DT770/Pro 80ohm headphones with my tube amps and the results are excellent.  When using the XB700's with my full tube amps however, they simply don't have enough current for a 24ohm headphone, especially at loud volumes.  At low to medium volumes they will work okay with the XB700, and the midrange is going to be smooth like only a tube amp can do it.  At high volumes, bad things will begin to happen as the amp runs out of power.  The dynamic range of the music you are listening to will become increasingly compressed.  Bass notes will lose their definition and impact, and begin to affect the rest of the sound spectrum negatively.  The I+ is a bit sterile sounding compared to the warm lush midrange of the full tube units, but it is able to easily supply the XB700 with the power it needs.  by 9 O'clock on the dial the XB700's are already getting loud.  Strong bass and clarity are maintained even at very high volumes.
 
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Whats the difference between Little-Dot I+ and Little Dot Mk-II? I'm thinking of getting a tube amp but cant decide between them and the Solid State Fiio E9...):. I use the XB700 btw.

T.T This is disastrous for me. I have a lot of low impedance headphones (ER4P, XB700) but also want to get a high one for details...Is there a tube that can do well (by well i mean decent, doesn't have to be excellent) at both high and low impedances? D:

 

[Banshee77]

I absolutley love these things they are not as clear as my shures are but they are so much fun to listen. By far the best bang for the buck.

 

[Merdril]

Just for a bit of fun, I decided to see what my foobar2000 DSP's do to my music on an objective level. The results are unsurprising:
 

 
The above segment is from the original 0-20 kHz sound file. The below segment is the same file with my DSPs applied. A bit of perspective: the original file has a peak of -6.2 dB and the DSP applied version has a peak of -7 dB. Frequencies above 30 Hz are pretty linear, which means I like the natural frequency response of the XB700. The hump on the DSP applied version at around 11.96 s I believe has a frequency of 10 Hz. In order to boost infrasonic, I used the Convolver plugin and made a 4096 sample long file consisting of the positive portion of a 5, 10, and 15 Hz sine wave, which I faded in and faded out and amplified to sculpt them either to level boost the bass or to increase the punchiness of bass in those frequencies. As it turns out, there's no simple way to boost infrasonic frequencies, as they are mostly irrelevant (in songs like "Inori," by Maaya Sakamoto, the absence or presence of infrasonic sound changes the feel of the song entirely). The effect of the equalizer is not noticeable here, nor is the channel mixer (which I use to increase stereoimage width). There is also some noise sharpening, whose effect I believe to be irrelevant as well (I'm wondering about the shape of the hump). Then, there is the matrix mixer, which I use to decrease the output to 0.4 (hence, my need of a strong amplifier to prevent clipping. A lot of my songs clip at 0.4 output, and I end up using Audacity to cut them). Anyway, I just though that looking at what my DSPs do on an objective level seemed interesting, what about your DSPs?

 

[MrJohnny]

IF you look at the drivers in these things ayou can see they are almost similar to the new sony Flag ship Headphone. Except the Flag ship has they Gold plated The Driver material is strange kinda like a squish kinda of plastic, simiarl to thick plastic rap. 

 

[WillHughes]

I have a pair of the XB700 and was wondering if/how people get more bass slam/kick out of them, going beyond EQing that is.
 
I'm looking for reasons to keep them because I love bass but without more slam I can't justify having them around.

 

[SoSpecial]

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I have a pair of the XB700 and was wondering if/how people get more bass slam/kick out of them, going beyond EQing that is.
 
I'm looking for reasons to keep them because I love bass but without more slam I can't justify having them around.

Retuurn them right now and get the XB500's your ears will be glad you did if it's punch you crave.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Quote:

I have a pair of the XB700 and was wondering if/how people get more bass slam/kick out of them, going beyond EQing that is.
 
I'm looking for reasons to keep them because I love bass but without more slam I can't justify having them around.

Retuurn them right now and get the XB500's your ears will be glad you did if it's punch you crave.

+1 for XB500, if you want to keep the deep bass rumble in your XB700 but want a lot more punch as well then XB500 won't dissappoint. Even EQing XB700 by boosting 125 - 250Hz range drasticly to get more punchy upper bass (which won't sound quite as nice either due to heavy EQ tamperement) the XB500 will still deliver more slam/bass impact. I've always found it works better to reduce the bass if you think it's too much but it's a lot more difficult to get more bass impact/slam by EQing without ruining the overall sound quality/balance. So IMO it's better to have too much than too little as long as you got access to at least somewhat decent EQ.

 

[sugarkang]

If you are providing amp power to your XB700, then you might do well with the XB500 or Beats.
What's your source and amp? 
For what music do you find the bass lacking?
How far up are you on your volume slider?
 
Quote:

I have a pair of the XB700 and was wondering if/how people get more bass slam/kick out of them, going beyond EQing that is.
 
I'm looking for reasons to keep them because I love bass but without more slam I can't justify having them around.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I doubt any amp will fix the lack of punchyness in XB700 while it definitely can improve it, I tested it with FiiO with bassboost and Gary's PA2V2 amp (which is known for delivering more punchy bass) and for fun decided to try use even 2 10-band EQs with kX drivers and it still didn't quite deliver a good slam/impact while the sound was ofc far too muddy at that point overpowering the mids quite a bit (ofc I did boost other values to make up for it but it was ofc not very great sounding by then anyway). It does a fine job at delivering rumbling deep slow & soft bass though, without doubt but for example Sennheiser HD 212 Pro and AKG K 518 DJs already delivered more slam/impact for the bass than XB700.
 
Gary's PA2V2 added noticable more punch to the bass but it sounded somewhat fake in my ears. E5 boosted the overall bass a little adding both deep and upper bass but not much change in the impact/slam, not as much of a difference as Gary's PA2V2 amp but I thought it still sounded better with the E5 though.

 

[WillHughes]

Sugarkang, I'm currently using a NuForce HDP as an DAC/Amp out of my computer. The HDP does suck out quite a lot of the bass from everything you plug in but not enough to bother me. I did not mean there is not enough bass in the XB700's, there is certainly enough, just not enough kick. As far as volume goes I will turn up the volume to maximum on my computer and on the HDP if I am really in the mood just because I am having fun and want some stupid kick, but I would rather have fun without going deaf if you get my drift.
 
My normal listening level in hopefully an understandable medium is probably about 50-60% on an iPod with the stock iBuds, not that I listen to them, just so you don't think I am a freak.
 
I would love to get a stupid amount of kick from my phones, maybe I should just hire someone to stand behind me and slap me every time the kick-drum goes off.
 
Obviously it isn't possible to get as much kick as I would love but I want more than the 700's offer, which just hasnt been achieved through my setup currently.
 
As for getting the beats, far too expensive. If I am going to replace my 700s I am doing it cheaply, I just want good amounts of kick from my "bass-head-fun" phone, sound-quality not so important as I am in the market for a T1.
 
I might look into the XB500 if the kick is so much better, seems ideal, does anyone have any other recommendations for good kick?

 

[sugarkang]

Your nuForce kills bass? 
I'm thinking you want a kick drum from John Bonham rather than a sine wave from T-Pain? 
Perhaps the XB-500 will fit your bill.
 
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The HDP does suck out quite a lot of the bass from everything you plug in but not enough to bother me.
 

 

[WillHughes]

I listen to every genre and as I have limited funds I just want a phone thats going to be good for bass with a nice bit of kick too it, for both T-Pain and John.
 
Will see what prices I can get for the 500, thanks for the help

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

XB500 is also a bit easier driven and doesn't require as loud volume to get a strong bass output, one thing I noticed with XB700 it had to be listened to a bit higher volume levels, I'd still concider it "normal" but it sounded significantly better compared to listening to just a bit below what I'd "usually" use to really get nice bass output and perhaps overall sound, more so than my previous headphones I had used in the past too, XB500 behaves more like my old headphones regarding volume levels to get some nice output so I think it would suit you well. I remember reading some1 else commented on this regarding XB700 too in the "bass impact - that's all I've asked for in life" or whatever it was called thread. Look, what I'm saying is that the bass came out noticeably differently compared to the rest of the frequencies depending on volume levels, well more so than what I was used to anyway.

 

[WillHughes]

Already bought the XB500, should be here in about 1-2 weeks. Got them for $60US or so on ebay, hopefully they are what I am after!
 
Will post how everything goes down when I get them including a comparison

 

[WhiteCrow]

these were my fisrt true  cans.