The great thing about the Little Dot MKii is that it definitely gives you the tubey goodness without going overboard. Pair them with a matched pair of Voskhod 6zh1p-ev tubes. I absolutely adore these tubes.
I finally relented and bought the 6xx on the Drop BF sale and I’m honestly stunned how good they sound on my Feliks Echo OTL for under $200. The amp probably outclasses them a bit but they really scale up well on this pairing so I’m glad you finally found one that shows off a bit of the 6xx magic. IMO they are the real deal with the right tube amp. BTW, they DO sound fairly mediocre on both of my SS amps that should be able to drive 300 ohm cans adequately.
Nice review, check your gain settigs are right ,dont go by the instuction book its actually the other way round ,look up some forums about it .ive had my little dot for a couple of years, the 3 tubes that work well are Voshkod 6ZH1P-EV , GE JAN5654W and Mullard M8100 / CV4010 the reason the little dot works so well with the HD6xx 300 ohm is the little dot has a output impedance of 50 ohms you can look up the rule of 1/8th and ohms law. when impedance matching amps, also some food for thought, other headphones that match up well with the little dot are DT770/990 250 ohm, DT880 600ohm, R70X 470 ohm, AKG K612 120 ohm, HD600 300ohm .dont bother with planar headphones they get all wonky bass thanks for your work , new subbscriber. one more thing the power tubes benifit from changing from stock chinese to 6N6P russian tubes.
I've owned a pair of hd 6xx for 2 years and I gotta say I think they are endgame for me. I use a SMSL SP200 with Topping E30 as my current and permanent setup. I've had a Darkvoice tube amp for a few weeks and used my 6xx with it. As soon as I hit play for the very first time using a tube amp I was paralyzed by how beautiful everything sounded and at that moment I knew that was endgame for me. I ended up returning it because I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding tubes at the time and I preferred something more permanent/smaller. I've tried the atom stack but that sounded too bassy for me. The Fiio E10K sounded like the Schiit Fulla 3. I used the Schiit Fulla 3 for a year and still own it because it's such a little beast. 2 years later and now I'm reconsidering a tube amp again. My eye's are on the xDuoo TA-26, Darkvoice(maybe) and lil dot mk2. I would consider the bottlehead crack but that's too expensive especially since I don't have a soldering machine. I'm open to recommendations.
Well, I had the Bottlehead Crack when I did this review, and I preferred the Little Dot with the tubes linked. You should be able to find one for around $100 if you shop around.
@@MrAyrit I own Little dot mk3 with all tubes rolled to higher quality. I was blown away when I heard my Verite Closed on it. It sound so much better than Singxer SA-1, solid state should sound clearer but in this scenario is opposite
what chefsteve said basically, knows their tubes. I bought the xd05 think it is the little 2 tube hybrid so I have quite of a few of the same tubes around Inc the Voshkod and mullard 1968, yes manufacturing year also makes a difference :-), I'll try this with my 6xx asi am still waiting for it to melt my face to be honest
I just returned this amp, i found i had to put it on the highest gain to drive 6xx headphones and that lead to way to much distorion. I think the Xduoo TA-26 is much better and more powerful.. Dont get me wrong the Little dot mark 2 sounds good just underpowered for 300ohm cans.
No idea if you got something by now but the Xduoo TA-26 changes are subtle, like what changes the most is how bass sounds, it becomes fuller and same more or less goes for the midrange but only ever so subtle that the difference is very debatable. Even with rolled tubes the difference is not bit to solid state imo, but audiophile reviewers are often exaggerating things so it sounds like it's night and day between solid state and tubes (which I have not experienced yet). But it sounds great, that's for sure.
@@PinePizza Thanks for this insight. I'm looking at that amp myself, but as others have pointed out too, the Xduoo isn't that 'tubey', even with swapping out the tubes. Mind you, having never heard a tube amp I don't know fully what to expect. HD800S/LCD-X owner.
@@MrAyrit It's pretty much identical to the HD 560s. Better cable, slightly different color. Marketed as exceptionally linear for studio mixing and mastering. In fact, they are so accurate that they are marketed for binaural reproduction as well. Came out a couple years ago.
@@MrAyrit One of the glaring omissions from other reviewers is how can you make this thing 'more tubey': ie, Is it at all possible, or is the circuitry hardwired to solely produce a 'clean' sound with a hint of tube? Looking forward to this one.
Maybe someone else can weigh in that has more experience with tubes. I thought the Little Dot with the 6xx has some pretty enjoyable bass in quantity and texture.
How do you like this amp compared to the bottlehead crack for the HD800? Just bought an HD700 and I’m debating whether or not it’s worth it to get a crack+ speedball or just go for the Littledot MK2 with those listed tubes
Sorry, can't really weigh in on that. I didn't have the 8xx when I had either of those amps. The thought has crossed my mind to pick up another little dot though, just to try it with them.
You can roll both, but most people roll the input tubes. Power tubes can make a difference too, but it gets pretty pricey to roll them all. If you’re interested in more about tube amps, I’d recommend watching the four part series Passion for Sound did with Bottlehead.
