with its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920
from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple some years
back Chinese tube amplifier companies came crashing onto the headphone amp
scene offering impressive specs and features at prices that traditional
audio companies were simply nowhere near if you wanted something with similar
performance and inexpensive worldwide shipping but all of the usual questions
must be asked when buying something from China before investing your hard-earned
dollars because they're still not cheap will the manufacturing quality be
consistent are they using high quality componentry what about after sales
support well over the last few years one of these Chinese brands has expended
their portfolio Beyond a few products established a solid track record for
user support and has turned into pretty much the go-to for inexpensive but high
quality Chinese built tube amps and that is little Dot and this is the MK4 a
premium single-ended headphone amplifier and one of the most famous with a
469 deep appreciation thread on headfi
that's actually been running since 2010 but was even posted in today but before
we get into this product you're probably asking yourself already well why would I
even want a tube based headphone amplifier I heard from oh I don't know
my plumber or some tall dark techsavvy hippie or something that they're bad and
solid state amps are much better great question and it comes down to the
subjectivity versus objectivity argument
that has been and continues to be a raging internet War hopefully I can
clarify things a little bit objectively tube amplifiers do typically sound
different than accuracy Above All Else solid state amplifiers like the
objective 2 they're less bright more
natural sound signature is real and a result of a number of factors including
their relatively high output impedance also objectively they straight up do
introduce Distortion and therefore will not achieve that purest For Better or
For Worse it sounds exactly like the original recording goal that you might
be going for but that is where subjectivity comes in a lot of people
don't give any cares about that they just want an enjoyable listening
experience and to their ears the Richer base warmer sound and subdued highs of a
tube amp sounds a okay and to those people I'll say this rock on just keep
your thoughts about the obvious Superior I ority of tubes to yourself but before
the solid state Fanboys get all high and mighty now lonus and Logan are on our
side about this frankly I don't want to hear about the obvious superiority of
solid state either enjoying music is not that black and white and there are other
variables at play here like the fact that everyone hears a little differently
that make it actually impossible to have a one-size fits-all solution so take the
rest of this video for what it is my own subjective personal experience with the
little dot markv tube headphone amplifier the the manual is functional
if not amazing the only things I really needed it for were the Fairly Specific
Instructions for powering the unit on and off and the procedure for flipping
the dip switches on the underside to increase gain to five when I was testing
my fairly inefficient lcd2 headphones
the warning about how hot it gets was also pretty helpful as well the unit
itself was well packed in soft foam and looks absolutely stunning the vacuum
tubes and the gold accents give it a very steampunk look and frankly the
wasted desk space a if I was going to go pick a headphone amplifier just based on
how badass it's going to look I would probably go this route in the Box Little
Dot includes a power cord a headphone adapter and a set of RCA cables so
you'll be able to easily plug into an existing external deck they're perfectly
nice and only folks who believe in fancy
cables are likely to replace them on to the listening tests with my senheiser
hd8 DJs frankly it was impossible for me to tell the difference between my
stack and the mark I figured the strong base and lack of
Sparkle in the hd8 in the first place was making it hard to make out those
characteristics in the tube amp so I moved on to my dt990 Pro 250 ohms from
be Dynamics these headphones have a lot of fans but I don't personally really
like them because the clear and accurate Highs are a little bit too bright for me
and I find them fatiguing to listen to still couldn't tell moving on to the
ad's LCD 2s whether it's my music tastes
un as shamed top 40 listener here or something else I still just couldn't
tell as it happens the lcd2 sound fantastic on the markv but I guess that
leads to the only real conclusion that I could draw from this buy whatever makes
you happy aside from the high price and the usual tube inconveniences uh it does
take a few seconds to power on you may get the occasional audible anomaly and
you should clean and replace your tubes from time to time the mark 4's build
quality looks and sound quality out of the box left nothing to be designed Des
ired for me another selling point is the fact that it allows you to tube roll or
swap out for different tubes which will be a lot of fun if you're a tinkerer who
wants to experiment with different pairings the way wine enthusiasts will
look for dishes that go well with their favorite vintages personally I'm not and
for me the much more obvious differences between one pair of headphones and
another make them a more Sound Investment than searching for the
perfect amp but your mileage may vary so
there it is guys I mean feel free to call me out on this video I don't mind
and I'll even save you the trouble of debating the validity of my tests in the
comments aside from being inconclusive they are not scientific at all a double
blind experiment with normalized output volumes would have been a better more
scientific way of testing the two against each other and while I do plan
to obtain an SPL meter and take another crack at this on my own time for the
sake of training my ears and refining my audio Gear review process you the buyer
won't have any of that stuff anyway and if I can't tell the difference when I
know which is which sitting right next to them in the time it takes to switch
between them then my recommendation of buy whatever will make your friends
think that you're cooler won't change either way so I just don't think it's
that big of a deal thank you for watching guys the link to pricing and
availability of this product is in the video description below the like dislike
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