One thought on “Little Dot MK II headphone amplifier”
If you are looking for a great headphone amp that doesn’t break the bank, this might be it. The amp does deliver on its promises and depending on the tubes can perform very close to my upgraded Bottlehead Crack amp. Sound is very transparent/detailed and musical. The most important aspect of the amp that it can work with practically all headphones. I tried it with Grado SR-80 and Sennheiser HD 650. In both cases, the amp performed very well and was able to deliver the power to drive Senns. As with any amp, the majority of sound depends on the tubes. That’s where the amp truly shines. It supports an incredible number of options. From the standard, EF91, EF92 and EF95 to a huge list of tubes like 6AW6, 6CB6,
6CF6, 6DC6, 6DK6, 6HQ6, 6CQ6 (EF92), 6AM6 (EF91), 8136, 6676, 7732, 6BZ6, 6JH6, 6064, 6065, 7498, 6AK5 (EF85), 6AJ5. The tubes are cheap and widely available, so the choices are just superb. The list includes great US tubes from Tung-Sol, Sylvania and RCA, but also includes such incredible tubes as Genalex, Brimar & Mullard. If that’s not enough here is even wider list… 🙂
CV4014, M8083, PM07, R144, S6F12, Z77, 6F12, 8D3, N79, CV138, 5A/160H, W77, 6CQ6, 6F21, 9D6, CV131, 6j1, 6069, 6F32, PM05, 5654, CV850, M8100. You get the picture.
I tried the amp with many tubes – but stopped my choice on Genalex 6AM6 and 6N30P-DR. My recommendation is not to use super expensive 6N30P-DR, they are great tubes, but don’t really shine in this amp. Cheaper 6N6 works as well.
How does it compare to Crack? Well, the biggest advantage of Crack is it’s use of 5998 tubes that open it up and allow incredible amount of air to come through in music. Especially combined with something like RCA 6189 & WE 421A puts Crack in a different class. Bass in LIttle Dot is also not as deep, but quite good.
So in conclusion, this little amp can deliver sound that you will really enjoy and will have huge number of tubes to roll – to get that perfect sound. RECOMMENDED.
(11 votes, average: 3.82 out of 5)
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If you are looking for a great headphone amp that doesn’t break the bank, this might be it. The amp does deliver on its promises and depending on the tubes can perform very close to my upgraded Bottlehead Crack amp. Sound is very transparent/detailed and musical. The most important aspect of the amp that it can work with practically all headphones. I tried it with Grado SR-80 and Sennheiser HD 650. In both cases, the amp performed very well and was able to deliver the power to drive Senns. As with any amp, the majority of sound depends on the tubes. That’s where the amp truly shines. It supports an incredible number of options. From the standard, EF91, EF92 and EF95 to a huge list of tubes like 6AW6, 6CB6,
6CF6, 6DC6, 6DK6, 6HQ6, 6CQ6 (EF92), 6AM6 (EF91), 8136, 6676, 7732, 6BZ6, 6JH6, 6064, 6065, 7498, 6AK5 (EF85), 6AJ5. The tubes are cheap and widely available, so the choices are just superb. The list includes great US tubes from Tung-Sol, Sylvania and RCA, but also includes such incredible tubes as Genalex, Brimar & Mullard. If that’s not enough here is even wider list… 🙂
CV4014, M8083, PM07, R144, S6F12, Z77, 6F12, 8D3, N79, CV138, 5A/160H, W77, 6CQ6, 6F21, 9D6, CV131, 6j1, 6069, 6F32, PM05, 5654, CV850, M8100. You get the picture.
I tried the amp with many tubes – but stopped my choice on Genalex 6AM6 and 6N30P-DR. My recommendation is not to use super expensive 6N30P-DR, they are great tubes, but don’t really shine in this amp. Cheaper 6N6 works as well.
How does it compare to Crack? Well, the biggest advantage of Crack is it’s use of 5998 tubes that open it up and allow incredible amount of air to come through in music. Especially combined with something like RCA 6189 & WE 421A puts Crack in a different class. Bass in LIttle Dot is also not as deep, but quite good.
So in conclusion, this little amp can deliver sound that you will really enjoy and will have huge number of tubes to roll – to get that perfect sound. RECOMMENDED.