JordiMB Posted February 26, 2016 Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 Hi everybody! Greetings from Barcelona! This is my first post and I want to thank the attention of anyone who responds. I'm interested in buying a tube headphone amplifier, but I have a low budget so it would be interesting to hear some advice from more experienced owners. Looking for through the web I have ended with two interesting candidates: the Little Dot Mk II and the Appj PA1502a. Both have received quite good reviews (not many, but there are some) for the price so I'm undecided. The Little Dot is a class A OTL push-pull amp, while the Appj seems to be a class A transformer output single ended. As for the behavoir with different headphone impedances this is what I got: APPJ : 0.13W into 600 ohms 0.26W into 300 ohms 0.5W into 100 ohms 1W/32ohms Little Dot: 300mW into 300 ohms 200mW into 120 ohms 100mW into 32 ohms I can see the two amps have opposite power behaviors from different impedance headphones. That's not really a problem because I have to get a replacement for my dying old AKG k121 from the 90's, so I can buy new cans that fit the new amp (by the way, doubting between the more neutral Beyerdynamics DT 880 or the more temperamental Grado sr80). So... what do you recommend from your experience? Any help wellcome. Thank you very much in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Posted February 26, 2016 Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 Jordi, Little Dot is a POS or POJ (piece of shit/junk). I don't know the other one, but probably too. Join the dark side and build one of these: Crack and get yourself some decent headphone like the Sennheiser HD600. Cheap shit always will be that, just shit. Now read your welcome PM thoroughly and don't post more question like this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordiMB Posted February 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 Ok Torpedo, your advice is wellcome. I'm sorry for your bad experience with the Little Dot, glad not to have to pass through the same. I'll take a look at the Crack (diy doesn't scare me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Badly done DIY really scares me....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefQon Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 I had the VI which was pretty good for its money especially when compared to the Woo crap. But yeh both pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggil Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 11 hours ago, wink said: Badly done DIY really scares me....... There is only one way to learn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 You don't learn much six feet under.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Who knows, would you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 I never tried. Perhaps you have experience and a few pointers for the novices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Yup, a learned a lot from my other-side experiences. You may try too, just don't try poison, not a pleasant return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 3 hours ago, Torpedo said: Yup, a learned a lot from my other-side experiences. You may try too, just don't try poison, not a pleasant return. Well,there goes half the food that our civilized society consumes on a regular basis. Back to my liter of classic Coke and fries cooked in cottonseed oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggil Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Uncle Wink, is there DIY in heaven? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'll let you know when I get there....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwl168 Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 15 hours ago, eggil said: Uncle Wink, is there DIY in heaven? I do know there is heaven in DIY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 ...and there's Nirvana for sale on Amazon..... http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/183-6834455-5231528?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nirvana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordiMB Posted February 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Mmmmm, very useful and focused responses. Thanks to you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wink Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Amazing.......... Call Ripley....... http://www.ripleys.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxx134 Posted February 25, 2017 Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 This is an old topic. Yet I find no useful responses. The crack is waste of time unless you want to empty your wallet while learning to assemble a simple tube amp. The torpedo is the only recommendation I can see as a very good sounding solution, and a favorite with me. Yet it does not do low impedance headphones well. The Little Dot definitely earns it's POS rating due to cheap quality, but is value priced appropriately for beginners, and a reason I started with tubes. So the obvious reason I am posting can now be obvious, is that the APPJ PA1502A is a different story. It has the most modern design, and most probably a threat to anything priced under $600-800, once upgraded. It can hold it's own easily with a crack or Torpedo , but only once you (DIY ) upgrade it's coupling and cathode caps. Same applies to all these amps using cheapo WIMA as coupling caps anyways. But the advantage of the APPJ lies in the more modern PSU and elimination of a Transformer there. I don't see any hybrid or tube amps using surface mount devices on their boards, or a switching power supply to eliminate the PSU Transformer. Very smart and very compact. So there you go. I know this site likes to bash, but I speak from experience. None hear has stated they tried ALL of these mentioned amps. I HAVE. So I am only posting for those that Google and find this thread. So they won't go waste their money on a crack. Simply because it is an expensive alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grawk Posted February 26, 2017 Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 Tl;fo 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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