Little Dot I+ 6JI X2 Tube standard Hybrid Headphone Tube Amplifier

jmchrislip

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Anyone tried this unit? I don't have a headphone jack on either my preamp or poweramp and I like to listen late at night in the Fall/Winter. Also,
I'm also considering the Nobsound® 6J9 Vacuum Tube Integrated Amplifier Mini Audio HiFi Stereo Headphone Amp. Opinions?
 
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I have not but did have a little dot II and really liked it. It drove my Beyerdynamic DT990 pro with no problem. I sold it due to lack of use. I have read some pretty positive reviews at headfi about it.
 
I have had my Little-Dot I+ for quite some time, as well as several other Little-Dot units. The I+ is very flexible in the types of tubes that it can use. You can use so many different tube families, it makes tube rolling that much easier and fun. I keep switching back and forth between 408A and EF91 tubes, which are my favorites. You can also upgrade the OpAmps. I put the LM4562 in mine and I like it a lot.

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It's a keeper! Upgraded tubes to EF91 Mullard blue glass and opamp is the 2107 (Texas Instruments). Headphones in use are either the Grado ps500e or sr325is.

Current source is a Raspberry pi into a HRT Musicstreamer 2 dac but I'm going to get the Audiophonics sabre dac for the pi and a nice case & power supply to neaten things up.
 
Because of the universal praise of these units, I jumped at the chance when a friend offered me one in excellent condition with a small collection of tubes, for $80. Now, I've only had mine for a week, and have only tried akg k240, and t50rp mk2 on them. I've also only tried the GE jan5654, and russian voshkod on them. But so far, I'm not a fan. I like the power, which it has an abundance of, especially compared to the chi-fi max9722 based amp I was using (130mw / channel). The tubes definitely do something, the SQ changes noticeably with the tube changes, but to me it just seems like they're messing with the reverb. The unit picks up interference from nearby wireless devices, but it's not too bad long as you don't keep devices right next to it. The heat is excessive for a hybrid design, you'd swear it was actually class A after using it for over an hour. Overall, it's a really well built distortion device, with good driving power. I would actually really like to try out this amp without the tubes portions.
 
I purchased a Little Bear 8 in 2015 that I absolutely love. Plenty of power. Sadly I don't think that it is still available any longer. Hope you find something that fits the bill.
 
I purchased a Little Bear 8 in 2015 that I absolutely love. Plenty of power. Sadly I don't think that it is still available any longer. Hope you find something that fits the bill.

I actually also have a little bear p2, which uses the same tubes as this amp. Sound signature is very similar to the little dot actually, but with a lot less driving power, and much cooler running.

Don't get me wrong, these things are fun, and I see why people like them. But I personally just like the sound sig of my cheap SS amps just a bit more. I mainly wanted the little dot because my 130mw/channel amp wasn't really cutting it with my more inefficient cans, and it delivers on that front in spades. Which also puzzles me with all these comments about how the LD1+ is more suited for low impedance, efficient cans. This thing has ample power for inefficient planars, and can drive them with a very low noise floor.
 
I own one with upgraded tubes (WE408A) and opamp (OPA2107). It really sounds nice but my Keces HA-171 is honestly quite a bit better. After putting some op-amp upgrades in the Keces (Burson Audio V5-OPA-S) it's light-years beyond the Little-Dot 1+.

There's a lovely warmth to it though and I got it with upgrades for like $140... so not terrible all things considered.
 
I purchased a Little Bear 8 in 2015 that I absolutely love. Plenty of power. Sadly I don't think that it is still available any longer. Hope you find something that fits the bill.

Not only is the P8 still available but it's the cheapest OTL available right now at ~$140. You can both chassis, metal and clear acrylic on eBay and AliExpress.

NOW, since you have one, can you tell me about any hearing or grounding issues it may have? I am sorely tempted to try the Little Bear but the Schiit Valhalla and Dark Voice 336 are more, known quantities. But also more money.
 
Not only is the P8 still available but it's the cheapest OTL available right now at ~$140. You can both chassis, metal and clear acrylic on eBay and AliExpress.

NOW, since you have one, can you tell me about any hearing or grounding issues it may have? I am sorely tempted to try the Little Bear but the Schiit Valhalla and Dark Voice 336 are more, known quantities. But also more money.

I have nothing to compare it to, but I have not noticed any grounding issues or noise floor issues to my pretty good hearing. I am also am using good phones, Grado Reference 2s, along with other lessers. I didn't do any extensive searching on it's availability, just that it is not available thru the eBay supplier that I got it from in 2015. my bad. Glad that it is still available, and at such a reasonable price. I have the metal and it is very solid and attractive. Cheers to a good weekend!!!
 
I have had the DV336SE since Xmas... it can be frequently found for $199~ on Massdrop.. apparently even now for the next 4hrs anyways.

downside is you have to wait on shipping (est april 19) ... if you miss this drop .. don't worry it will almost certainly be on again very soon.. it has been for over a year now...

anyways.. the DV is my very first tube amp... it worked quite well with the stock tubes and is very quite w/ my 250Ohms DT880's with my DT770's there is a small bit of noise with certain tube(s)... the stock Chinese driver tube and with my RCA 6AS7G... however with the GE 6AS7GA tube I have I can't hear any hum / noise with the DT770 Pro 80's .. The build is nice the volume knob feels quite good.. I have no problem recommending one (so far at the ~$200 price range)

I am currently running RCA 6SN7GT and GE6AS7GA tubes in mine.. the stock tubes are ~ok and not as bad as some reviewers make out but adding the NOS American tubes really does make for improvements ... If you have higher impedance cans The DV is certainly worth considering.
 
subjective certainly but I think the DV looks somewhat nice than the little bear or little dot amps... I quite like the looks of the DV on my desk..

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Just an additional note. . . . I have the transformer not the toroidal . Don't really know the difference. Please school me and others.
 
Just an additional note. . . . I have the transformer not the toroidal . Don't really know the difference. Please school me and others.
Could you share a picture of yours? I thought they all only came with toroidal transformers.
 
I have the LD Mark I+ with a matched set of GE JAN5464W's in place of the stock tubes and LD Mark II on the way for which there is a matched set of GE JAN5464W's in hand. I've been listening to a lot of Tidal Master streaming using the Tidal app and I need to hook up the Medirian Explorer 2 DAC that I recently picked up to try out MQA via the hardware decoding.

I'm listening mainly with a set of HE-400i planars but will be switching off with Senn 598's as soon as I get them back from temp loan to a friend. No complaints at all about the sound quality of the amp.

 
When I was using tubes, never needed a shield in the audio section, just in the RF section of the radio/TV. The audio path had low enough impedance and enough parasitic capacity to filter any HF noise that would be picked up. Shields will affect the heat transfer, you need to pick up the right shield. Some tubes cannot handle cold metal agains the glass, some tubes don't like to have heat trapped close to them. Tubes designed primarelly for HF section will accept tubes gladly (like double triodes ECC8x series for example). Can't recall seeing a shielded penthode...
If you really want to add shields, you can look at something like this: https://www.surplussales.com/Tubes-Sock-Acc/TubeShields-1.html
 
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The little dot i+ is a tube hybrid, the tubes don't get more than warm. The unit itself actually gets much hotter than the tubes. Thanks for the link, I may just try experimenting with trying to shield the EM. I've tried turning off my wifi router, and that didn't help.
 
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