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Originally Posted by pp312 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Don't take my post as a warning not to buy the LD MkV. It may well suit your phones and your listening taste, and you certainly couldn't call it poor value for money! I'm just warning against assuming it will necessarily be better than the Cute because it's bigger and more expensive. There are other factors involved.
I'm intrigued by your description of the Cute as occasionally sterile. If anything I'd have said that it veered toward the lively rather than sterile. Also I'm not sure how an amp can be good with music and female vocals but poor with male vocals unless its frequency response is wildly irregular. I suspect this may be due more to your phones or your expectations. While I found the only portable I've been exposed to (a Cmoy) very thin and bassless, the Cute is far from that, at least with the stock OPA 2227 op amp. And here's another point in its favour: the ability to roll op amps to get the sound you want. I wonder if you've experimented in this area at all.
Anyhow, don't let my comments turn you off the LD; just keep collecting opinions and see what the general trend is. Others here swear by the LD with HD650, so maybe it's MY ears that are at fault.
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No worries. I am not put off to buy a MK V or any amp just because of your opinion. If anything, it just made me all the more interested to hear one for myself where possible.
Moreover, it really is some some good value at its price and I do believe different people have different preferences. Just like I preferred a Predator over a Pico, perhaps many choose to think the opposite.
Honestly, you only helped put things into perspective by sharing your views and advice. I do not just act by others' suggestions but make my own decisions... especially when it means spending some hard earned cash. Lol.
I very much agree about SQ can sound good or bad because of synergy from software (music) and/or hardware... or even my ears, perhaps even moods may affect how I perceive them.
Actually I hate to describe sound, and I know it's so difficult to do so well. I really admire a lot of you guys here who do so well at it and making useful amp reviews and comparisons. Guys like skylab, jamato8, penchum and ... (just to name a few).
I have not tried op amp rolling as yet. And I have my concerns about maintenance of a tube amp too. But I might just end up getting both MK V and IV like thread starter (looks so nice together too! and good for different presentation of the SQ) someday.
Sorry if I had strayed off topic for this post. Perhaps I should make a holiday trip to somewhere in China where I could try the LD MK series out and get one I like. Till then, Cute Beyond rules just yet.
Thanks.