Little Dot MkVI balanced tube amp?

[Smeggy]

Heh, looking forward to impressions. Gotta be better than a kick in the bawlz.

[JimP]

I just won a Pudge Rodriguez autographed all-star cup off ebay, so I'm prepared...

[Fungi]

Let's hope the LD doesn't burn that in too.

[Voltron]

I just won a Pudge Rodriguez autographed all-star cup off ebay, so I'm prepared...

Too bad old Pudge turned to poop without the juice.

[Voltron]

Too bad old Pudge turned to poop without the juice.

Got timed out on the edit because of a phone-call, thus the self-quote:

Before JimP or anybody else gets bent out of shape, I have no ill-will toward Pudge and have no independent corroboration of steroid use. As a SF Giants and Barry Bonds fan I have lived through a lot of grief, but the last time I saw Pudge in Oakland earlier this summer he was a shell of his former shell and the assumption of course is that Canseco was telling it straight on that one. Who knows.

[JimP]

no offence taken. used to be huge fan of american baseball (Clemens, McGuire, Sosa, even Bonds etc etc), but have been turned off exactly by the pervasive steroid scandals. I just needed to borrow Pudge's cod piece (figuratively) to fend off Smeggy's roundhouse kick to my groin...(Smeggy, please - for the love of god, we're trying to have a second child...)

[Smeggy]

Let's just compromise here, I'll tie a nice soft cushion to my boot, how's that sound

[JimP]

OK the following items arrived today:

--build quality is excellent

--heat issue: not bad (but that's with the fans), I have other tube amps that run warmer. Sure they could have put it in a bigger enclosure and put heat sinks like Pass Aleph 3, but it's their product and I don't have to buy it if it really bothers me.

--speaking of the fan, it is LOUD and it does BOTHER ME, must be replaced! But that's mechanical noise, there is no amp hum/hiss.

--sonically, it's superb - there must be something to this 'balanced mode'. I never really regretted selling off my PS-1, L3000, and K1000 (as the funds were - for me - better allocated elsewhere), but this cost effective 'balanced' side project with the LDVI absolutely seals it for me. Kind of like the cheap rebound date metaphorically with headphones...

This was US$720 delivered to my door. I encourage others to try it. That's the price of a couple of dinners - or if I include bird's nest/abalone/shark's fin in my neck of the woods, maybe just ONE dinner. You can bash this product all you want, but I think what LD's delivered is quite amazing.

In use:

[Hopstretch]

Good with the Senns? How's the bass control?

[laxx]

Are the fans installed with pins or are they directly soldered? Replacing them with much quieter fans would be good.

[JimP]

Hopstretch, dew eet...dew eet...dew eet...dew eet...dew eet...dew eet...dew eet...

[Hopstretch]

Noooo. I'm a single-ended spud, I'm a single-ended spud...

Laxx, the fans are easily replaced. There's a picture a page back from the Head-Fi thread, where the guy swapped them out for quieter (and blingier) LED ones.

[JimP]

Good with the Senns? How's the bass control?

I'm listening as I type:

840C --> the cheapest XLR ICs ever (must replace!) --> LDVI --> HD580 (hardwired with Enigma Oracle to XLR)

This is the best I've heard the HD580s. HD650s are amazing as well, but the bass is too much for my taste.

The bass control is the best feature - IMHO - of the LDVI (don't know if this specific to LDVI or a benefit generally of going balanced) - taut, punchy bass.

[JimP]

Are the fans installed with pins or are they directly soldered? Replacing them with much quieter fans would be good.

I've yet to open mine, but PKJames on head-fi has already completed a successful fan-echdectomy. Honestly, without that precedent, I would have canceled my order or returned the product. The fan noise is that bad.

[Hopstretch]

Les Yeux sans visage!

[JimP]

Les Yeux sans visage!

sorry I don't understand spanish...

[GPH]

sorry I don't understand spanish...

That's French man, not Spanish!

It means "Eyes without a face".

[JimP]

That's French man, not Spanish!

same difference to me...

[Fungi]

Has the Little Dot always been this un-little? Because that thing is huge.

[n_maher]

If you feel up to emptying your wallet Jim I think that amp should be able to run 5998s on the output without modification and they should sound quite a bit better than just about any 6080 variant you'll find. The 6080, in my experience, is a pretty tubby sounding tube. Another "leaner" option would be the 7236, but again I'd have to scour datasheets to make sure you wouldn't be overloading the heater power supply.

[Dusty Chalk]

OK the following items arrived today:

--build quality is excellent

--heat issue: not bad

Okay, but how's the amp?

[Hopstretch]

I can think of some design issues with putting a fan in there!

[n_maher]

I can think of some design issues with putting a fan in there!

Joke aside - what happens when one of the invariably shitty computer fans fails and the temps skyrocket? I wonder if there are any thermal protection devices outside of the 2, $3 fans?

[guzziguy]

Les Yeux sans visage!

'ya un pif aussi.

[crappyjones123]

i very common practice amongst diyers over in the extremeoverclocking.com forums is to put a relay or some kinda time delay so that the processor can be put under some kinda load and then the phase cooling unit would start. if both were started at the same time, the processor would be too cold to even start functioning. (im talking about temps below -50C). in response to nate's question, couldnt one put a similar mechanism in place in series with the fan and see if the fan is getting power or not. if it is, then everyone gets cake, if not then it turns off the amp. im assuming its a lot easier saying it than actually doing it, but regardless of the amount of work, couldnt something like this be done? just as a safeguard.

ps. jimp, thats a pretty looking amp. :drool: