LIttle Dot products im sure have won the heart of whomever owned them, even though if they are not permanent keepers they have a very special place in their price range (at least the budget ones).
The ones I tried have a very refined tuning which is warm but not in exagerated way, which a lot of budget budget tube amps fail to do, sounding artificially tubey.
I’m also interested to read @Deleeh impressions of the little dot dac, and in everyone else who has a Little Dot product.
Here’s my review of the Little Dot mk2, one of the most affordable pure tube amps available to this day.
Today I part with my LD2MK2 because I upgraded to a BHC and need to clear desk space.
This is my brief thoughts/review after owning the Little Dot mk2 for a good 9 months now.
Sound signature
The little dot mk2 provides great value for its price, its an amazing true blood tube amplifier with a Single Ended Push Pull (SEPP), Class A designation.
Given that one has medium impedance/sensitivity headphones and is looking for a large hollographic tubey sound that leans towards warm BUT keeps it neutral, this could be the amp for you, just keep in mind it doesn’t go to extremes with the “tubey” coloration like some xduoos or the darkvoice.
My favorite thing about this amp is the slight soundstage expansion and the liveliness it gives to the treble (with the right tubes), very crispy treble. To my ears it also adds just a touch of warmth without boosting the bass.
Tube rolling
You pretty much have to roll them, the stock tubes add distortion, extra noise and artifcats. Their only upside is they color the sound more than the tubes I recommend, so if you want kind of a boom-box bassier distorted sound (which can sound fun actually) then you can use them.
If not, these are cheap and easily available:
Recommended driver tubes
GE JAN 5654w
Voshkod 6ZH1P-EV
there’s really not much difference between these two with the LD2, they both sound excellent.
Recommended power tubes
Russian 6H6P or 6H6P-I
For more information on Little Dot tube rolling refer to:
Dac pairing
Straight from my phone it sounds good enough, really can’t complain, but with a proper dac they scale to the next level.
Using the Zen Dac v1 and the Fiio BTR5 as a DAC with the LD2 there was very little difference between them, I preferred the Zen Dac because it had a hint of smoothness, but very subtle, If I were to blind test the two of them I probably couldn’t tell the difference.
Using the more expensive Pro-Ject Pre box s2 digital, there is a very noticeable improvement in the presentation, it just sounds straight warmer and more inviting.
Headphone pairings
HD600/650/6xx are amazing pairings, if you come from a Topping, SMLS or some analytic amplifier the difference is night and day, the sound becomes very sweet with very smooth vocals, warmer bass delivery and livelier treble.
Just keep in mind LD2’s sound signature is balanced, don’t expect a very warm sound, for instance the HD6xx sound way warmer on the Zen Dac’s Headphone Jack than on the LD2.
With the Sennheiser HD560s another incredible combination, those have some sharpness in the treble and an analytic signature, but with the LD2 they just sound smooth and fun. Note that you may get some artifacts from time to time but not a deal breaker.
Haven’t heard this combo but im pretty confident they do as just good with the HD660s
Beyerdynamic T1.2 - They don’t drive them to their full potential, not even close, but its actually a decent pairing if you are on a budget, they sound good and balanced, with smoother treble than on a schiit magnius. Enjoyable pairing.
I didn’t test them with the dt880 600ohm but I would expect similar results as above, good enough pairing but wont reach their true potential.
Beyerdynamic T90, dt1770 and dt1990 - Very good pairings, you may get some artifacts from time to time but not a deal breaker.
With lower impedances
There may be audible hiss (noise floor), artifacts, distortion, and channel imbalance when using with sensitive headphones. For the most part I never found none of these issues too annoying, the noise floor and distortion I could look past if I liked the coloration of the pairing, but the artifacts got extremely rough on low impedance and high sensitivity headphones.
With Alessandro MS2i (grado sr325is) I detected absolutely none of these issues, in fact I absolutely love this pairing, as enjoyable as using them with my RNHP, but different signature.
With the Koss KSC75 and Porta Pro, it was acceptable, some noises here and there, but they sounded better on every other amp except maybe for the treble region. Similar results with the Grado sr80e, sennheiser hd25 and Hifiman Ananda
With all of my audio technicas it sounded decent, but the noise floor and artifacts were too extreme.
As a preamp
This is a very clean sounding preamp, it added no noise whatsoever to my chain, but it does it best to not color the sound, if you want a tube preamp that actually colors the sounds you’ll be a lot better of with one of the chifi tube preamps.
I have searched for the “tube sound” for a couple of years, with no luck. I burned through several hybrids and one SET amp with no satisfaction. I finally bought an OTL, the Little Dot Mark III. I bought a used one that came with extra tubes. I also hooked up the Schiit Loki in the chain to accentuate the thick/bassy sound. It was the opposite of accurate, but a lot of fun. A couple of surprises though:
Could not come close to running the DT880’s, even in high gain.
My Grado GH2’s sounded Awesome on it. I really didn’t expect that with 32 Ohms.
I actually re-bought the HD6XX’s as people said you HAVE to try an OTL to understand the awesomeness of the HD6XX’s/HD650. This “awesomeness” still escapes me. 
However the HD660’s sounded really good. I will never for the life of understand the love for for HD600’s/HD650’s.
After enjoying this amp for several months and even buying another set of tubes, it is time to move on. I am going to stick with a three amp set-up and so say good buy to my little tube buddy. It is a nice, warm, fun amp.
Hello,
Yes, I am in a way very impressed with the LD products but also a bit disappointed.
In December 2020 I bought a Ld 1+ which works great with the Lcd 2c, (I bought both at pretty much the same time) and also with the Aeon R/T. (It was only added this August).
From that moment on I was in love with the tube sound and bought the Feliks Euforia.
The Ld1+ didn’t have many hours on it and I often took it on trips with the Dac Dongel Nuprime Hi mDac paired with Emu Purpelheart.
However, at the end of July I noticed that something was wrong with it, and when the Aeon R/T was added it gave up the ghost.
The left channel failed and I opened it up.
The cause was quickly found.
The tube socket on the left side had a loose contact and a capacitor had also gone.
I then repaired it myself and improved it a bit.
I exchanged the capacitors for the current with Audio Note, the Elna’s with Nichichon FG and new film capacitors and the tube sockets.
I left the original op amp in after it worked again, but replaced it with the Burson V5i and found that it only really made sense then.
Through all these modifications I lost a bit of the tube sound but also gained in headroom, transparency, clarity and overall sound.
The LD 1+ is actually a great hybrid amplifier and offers quite a lot for the money, especially after the tube exchange.
But the workmanship of the circuit board and the choice of quality parts leave a lot to be desired.
Nevertheless, it is good and easily drives an Lcd2c and Aeon, which are quite picky in the amp range.
I can only recommend running it until it dies and then repairing and improving it.
The work is quite easy and simple on it.
The only important thing is not to use too much solder.
About the LD Dac 1:
I’ve only had it for a week and haven’t heard much yet.
It is definitely better than the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic100.
So far it plays well with the LD1+, and at the moment it’s attached to the Euforia, where it’s also doing very well.
I’m still trying to find out where it will do better on the Euforia or LD1+.
Although the Singxer Sda2 should be better, both play surprisingly well.
I had it on the Singxer Su2 for a short time to see what it was like and heard a bit of the Singxer sound.
But I will do it again when I have more time.
Also to see if the Singxer F1 might make sense.
I am still split.
The output with the Ipad and Tidal although only via Usb 16/44 is actually perfectly fine.
Sometimes the track change with Tidal is annoying.
I suspect it’s the app itself.
Although the Nuprime Dac dongel the “new Wolfson chip " which runs under the name Cirrus logic”.I find the old Wolfson chip but better.He is just more magical and magical than with the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic100 when I heard all 3 with the LD1+.
There is simply more power,refinement,intimacy and stage presence better represented.
It’s fun to listen to also because it comes across as soft and charming and you can enjoy music.
The good thing is that he actually has 4 inputs. Usb is limited to 16/44 but the rest goes to 24/192 if the file allows it.
I don’t see the point with Tidal because 24/192 is only possible with Mqa.
With other streaming providers, on the other hand, coax, optical or Bnc must be used as inputs for Lossless.
At the moment, I have only concentrated on the Ipad.
It was not yet connected to the PC.
But I will give more impressions of the Dac.
All in all, the LD products are good, but it is a pity that they have not been updated, especially technically.
That’s what’s sad about it.
And the support has also decreased, you don’t get an answer anymore.
The manuals are also in Chinese instead of English.
It is also noticeable that they are building more and more high-quality products, but that the people who made them great are now being left behind.
Unfortunately, this is a typical Chinese mentality and not good for business.