Review and Measurements of Little Dot MK III Tube Headphone Amplifier

[Silou]

Those are electrostatic headphones which require custom built amps. You wouldn't be able to drive an electrostatic headphone from a regular SS amp like the Atom.

That is obvious but there are also Solid State Stax amplifiers that should technically be better than the tube ones

 

[flipflop]

That is obvious but there are also Solid State Stax amplifiers that should technically be better than the tube ones

Maybe. Would need measurements to confirm that.

 

[Krunok]

Yes. Would there be a market for it? Mmmmaybe, but I suspect not. The use of tubes these days is a fashion statement (to which I plead guilty, since I use tubes in my preamps and power amps for midrange and tweeter).

Is it really possible to design and build a tube amp with at least 30W that will have THD in range of 0.0X% or even 0.00X%?

 

[Nango]

You obviously missed the part where he said he burned his fingers.

Ouch ... right!!!!

 

[Silou]

Is it really possible to design and build a tube amp with at least 30W that will have THD in range of 0.0X% or even 0.00X%?

Just use tubes for show and secretly use a solid state amp

 

[SIY]

Is it really possible to design and build a tube amp with at least 30W that will have THD in range of 0.0X% or even 0.00X%?

Yes, assuming a reasonable load (i.e., not crazy stuff like the Wilsons with 1 ohm dips in the midrange). My midrange/tweeter amp (25W) runs about 0.04%, but could be scaled up, and with some extra complexity, I could get another zero in there. For preamplification, my designs are in the 0.00x range.

 

[Krunok]

Yes, assuming a reasonable load (i.e., not crazy stuff like the Wilsons with 1 ohm dips in the midrange). My midrange/tweeter amp (25W) runs about 0.04%, but could be scaled up, and with some extra complexity, I could get another zero in there. For preamplification, my designs are in the 0.00x range.

Wow - impressive! Are you sure such amps wouldn't sell?

 

[SIY]

Yep. I know at least two people, in Asia and UK, who built them and complained that they sounded like solid state amps.

There's a reason I do hifi designs for fun and not for money.

 

[Silou]

Wow - impressive! Are you sure such amps wouldn't sell?

I think most "audiophiles" do not care that much about these numbers as we do This year at the High-End in Munich was such a big focus on cables tube amps and these products sadly caught the most attention from the visitors

 

[Krunok]

Yep. I know at least two people, in Asia and UK, who built them and complained that they sounded like solid state amps.

LOL Of course they sound like SS amps but I bet they look much more "sexy"!

 

[daftcombo]

@amirm, is it true that valves need to run hot
(up to 30-45 mins.!) BEFORE you listen to them ....did you that?

Probably the time it takes for the wine bottle to be down a few glasses and for alcohol to take control of your sensations?

 

[SIY]

LOL Of course they sound like SS amps but I bet they look much more "sexy"!

Yeah, I had a guy make some cherrywood bases, and the output tubes are bottom-lit with about a hundred red LEDs used for biasing. One of these days, I'll get around to doing the higher powered version, but lack of time and money have been inhibiting.

 

[Dro]

Yep. I know at least two people, in Asia and UK, who built them and complained that they sounded like solid state amps.

There's a reason I do hifi designs for fun and not for money.

Pretty much what I expected. If you are that good of an engineer, you either build SS gear for pros who appreciate excellence or you just do it for fun.

 

[Nango]

Probably the time it takes for the wine bottle to be down a few glasses and for alcohol to take control of your sensations?

No alcohol while critical listening, Sir, please.

 

[amirm]

That is obvious but there are also Solid State Stax amplifiers that should technically be better than the tube ones

I have both tube and solid state amps for my Stax headphones. One of these days I will find the time to measure them both.

 

[AndrovichIV]

It seems that we have reached sufficient transparency in amps that we can't distinguish "extremely" noisy amps from reference amps unless actively listening for differences, and even then the differences are small.

Maybe it's not such a bad idea to buy the cheapest, prettiest amp

 

[flipflop]

Maybe it's not such a bad idea to buy the cheapest, prettiest amp

Would be a fine rule of thumb for DACs. With amps you still have to consider power output, output impedance, and also channel matching to some degree.

 

[GioF71]

Normally, the objective measurement sins would be enough to give a vote of no confidence to Little Dot. The low price (for proper tube amps), good looks and feel, plus very acceptable subject performance entices me to put the Little Dot on my recommended list! No, it gives you nothing you can't get out of $99 JDS Labs Atom. But if you have an itch for a retro, tube amplifier, the Little Dot MK III is an appropriate way to scratch that itch. It does that for relatively little money so you are not paying for privilege of lots of distortion.

I have to say I was expecting a very different conclusion, but I see your point. I'm quite happy now with a THX 789, but those Little Dots have had my attention for long. Not anymore.. the channel imbalance alone would probably drive me crazy.

OTOH, would you buy a little SD card audio player for a quick review? After all it's less than a hundred... and it seems very nice
I could not believe my eyes when I stumbled upon this one! See:
https://www.lessloss.com/laminar-streamer-sd-player-p-207.html

EDIT: that was a silly joke. That thing costs 91.181$ (yes more that ninety one thousand us dollars)

 

[GioF71]

A quick search on the forum shows that this item has been spotted by someone on this forum in 2016. I should have done the search before posting, sorry!

 

[invaderzim]

Maybe it's not such a bad idea to buy the cheapest, prettiest amp

Years back for one of our cars I overpaid to get a specific color. The car wasn't going to hold its value as well as some other makes and it wouldn't be as fast as many other choices so it wasn't the logical choice but every time I walked into the garage I smiled.

If I'm doing something with music on in the background and I finish what I was doing and still sit there listening to the music in an uncomfortable chair then I know I've got the right setup.