[cryoparts]

I thought I'd post a couple pics I snapped today of my Little Dot MKIV SE that I just finished modifying/optimizing today.  In the first pic, you can see the pile of parts that I upgraded/changed.

All in all, this amp stock is really a pretty nice piece, the board is fairly well laid out, the parts quality is good and the sound quality is really nice for the price.  However, I can never leave well enough alone, so...

No, I don't sell Little Dot amps (I would if they weren't sold direct!), and no, I don't get a commission for any that are sold.  I am just a fan.
 



In any event, thought I'd share.

Peace,

Lee

[ecramer]

are those the parts going in or the ones that came out? or both 

[cryoparts]

Those are the parts that came out.   aa

I have some "favorite" caps, wires, and other such stuff that I like to use when I "optimize" something.  Actually some of the parts that I removed, the Solen 2.2uF caps for example, are pretty good--I'm just crazy and like to use "my" parts...   

Next up is a Zhaolu D3.  Much more extensive "optimization" happening on that piece.

Lee

are those the parts going in or the ones that came out? or both 

[Tubes 4 Ever]

So how does it sound? I am in the market for an amp and since I have never owned a headphone amp I am curious how it sounds. It seems Little Dot has a pretty strong following but I am torn between portable and permanent.
Tubes

[cryoparts]

I'm not acquainted with many portable amps, so I can't help you there.  I used to have an RSA SR-71 which I liked.  Talk to Dan (burlaptocashmer) or ecramer, they both have  nice portable rigs.  I will say that one of my business acquaintances, Ken Ball from ALO Audio is coming out with a portable amp soon, you might want to look into that as Ken is a really great guy to deal with.

I liked the MKIV SE quite a bit in stock form.  Nice and clear through the mids, good bass depth, impact, while being tightly controlled.  Little Dot offers the MKIV in a regular version as well as the SE.  The SE (which I have) uses better input/output jacks, includes nicer tubes and has a 2yr warranty.  If you don't want to tube roll, the SE version is a great deal as it comes with nice Mullard M8100 drivers and Sovtek 6H30PI outputs.

I've been slowly introducing parts changes for a few weeks now to gauge what does what.   I'm not ready to make any final determinations on my modded version yet until I put at least 100 hours on it.  I've also just substituted some NOS CV4010's for the M8100's for the burn in, once everything is burned in, I will compare the M8100's to the CV4010's.  Then I will start messing around with cryo'd tubes!  It never ends...   

However, if you are in the market for a good, inexpensive home headphone amp, check out the Little Dot, I really like them.  They have 5 or 6 models now, and I think they are coming out with a portable soon.  I have an older Little Dot II and the aforementioned MKIV SE, and like them both:

http://www.little-tube.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=193&posts=2&start=1

In addition, many speak highly of the Woo amps (although I think they are all desktop amps, no portables), so check those out as well.

I will eventually have a Trafomatic Head One here to listen to as well, so I'll be sure to post my impressions of it, as is doesn't look like I'll be able to become a dealer for them for a while, so my opinion can be "unbiased".

Peace,

Lee

So how does it sound? I am in the market for an amp and since I have never owned a headphone amp I am curious how it sounds. It seems Little Dot has a pretty strong following but I am torn between portable and permanent.
Tubes

[PurplePanties]

It would've been nice if you took pics of the inside after you've done the mods as well. I can't mod anything at all but I'm always interested in seeing other people's build

[ecramer]

Here are some shots of the stock LD MKIV SE from the Little Dot sight





From the looks of the pile of parts Lee has he probable could have started with a blank board 

[cryoparts]

Yeah, I thought about that after I had buttoned it up.    Next time!

Lee

It would've been nice if you took pics of the inside after you've done the mods as well. I can't mod anything at all but I'm always interested in seeing other people's build

[cryoparts]

Here are some shots of the stock LD MKIV SE from the Little Dot sight





From the looks of the pile of parts Lee has he probable could have started with a blank board 

Good pictures, Ed!  The stock unit is nice, with good parts choices.  I don't recommend one mods it, unless you are obsessive compulsive like I am.   

I don't really want to go into my parts choices, as everyone has their favorites and I don't want to open that can of worms.  However, I will list the parts that I changed for anyone who feels like voiding their warranty to eke a bit more performance out of this unit.

I replaced every electrolytic cap in the thing, except for the large power reservoir caps.  I replaced the Solen caps, the two yellow film caps, the two green film caps and the blue ERO X-caps.  I also replaced the bridge rectifiers (there's another that is not visible in the pictures) with higher performing units and replaced the three large power resistors that are barely visible behind the three Rubycon 470uF/250V caps.

I also rewired all the signal wire with my cryo'd silver wire that I crafted into a shielded twisted pair.  And, finally, I stuck a cryo'd fuse in the unit for good measure.

While I was in there, I re-flowed every solder joint and took care of a couple of other housekeeping issues.

I'm sure I did a couple of other things while I was in there, but they are family secrets!  Either that, or I don't remember right now!   

Peace,

Lee

[ecramer]

Don't blame you for not disclosing your parts although i was curious really don't need a three page debate if Malory caps are better than rubycon's    From the Pict's there all ready good parts there so i figured that you just had favorite caps / resistors that you likes the sound of. You will keep us posted of the sonic improvement.

Ed

Here are some shots of the stock LD MKIV SE from the Little Dot sight





From the looks of the pile of parts Lee has he probable could have started with a blank board 

Good pictures, Ed!  The stock unit is nice, with good parts choices.  I don't recommend one mods it, unless you are obsessive compulsive like I am.   

I don't really want to go into my parts choices, as everyone has their favorites and I don't want to open that can of worms.  However, I will list the parts that I changed for anyone who feels like voiding their warranty to eke a bit more performance out of this unit.

I replaced every electrolytic cap in the thing, except for the large power reservoir caps.  I replaced the Solen caps, the two yellow film caps, the two green film caps and the blue ERO X-caps.  I also replaced the bridge rectifiers (there's another that is not visible in the pictures) with higher performing units and replaced the three large power resistors that are barely visible behind the three Rubycon 470uF/250V caps.

I also rewired all the signal wire with my cryo'd silver wire that I crafted into a shielded twisted pair.  And, finally, I stuck a cryo'd fuse in the unit for good measure.

While I was in there, I re-flowed every solder joint and took care of a couple of other housekeeping issues.

I'm sure I did a couple of other things while I was in there, but they are family secrets!  Either that, or I don't remember right now!   

Peace,

Lee

[cryoparts]

Don't blame you for not disclosing your parts although i was curious really don't need a three page debate if Malory caps are better than rubycon's    From the Pict's there all ready good parts there so i figured that you just had favorite caps / resistors that you likes the sound of. You will keep us posted of the sonic improvement.

Exactly!  I'll just leave the lid on Pandora's box...  I like this place and don't want it to become like some of the other sites... I just don't have the desire or energy to online.

Peace,

Lee

[ecramer]

Hey Lee

Do we have an update on this How's she sounding. If you are running short on time you can always ship it to me and i can put some hours on it for you

ED

[cryoparts]

Hey Lee

Do we have an update on this How's she sounding. If you are running short on time you can always ship it to me and i can put some hours on it for you

ED

Hi Ed,

She's sounding pretty good.  Have about 150 hours on her now, however, I need to put at least that much more before I can make any definitive conclusions.  I will say that the bass has tightened up considerably and things are much more focused now.  It lost a little bit of the "tubeiness" it had before, but, to me, that's a good thing as I like things very clean and open sounding.

I'll report back as I get her fully burned in.

Peace,

Lee