Audiophilepure

Little Dot LD H1 Review

According to Little Dot, the fully discrete, symmetrical, pure class A amp circuit has better transient response and lower cross distortion than the asymmetric circuit, which makes the sound quality more sweet. You can find out more about the LD H1 hybrid design philosophy and the impact of it on the “sound” on the Little Dot product page. The beauty of a hybrid amp is that it in theory can drive headphones with an impedance between 16 and 600Ohm. We’ll be looking at the sound part later in this article.

The Little Dot LD H1 has a single ended RCA input, a 3-pin XLR input as well as a balanced 3-pin preamp output. Headphone-wise it has a 4-pin XLR balanced output and 6.35 SE output. Internally the LD H1 uses top quality components such as Philips BC Components electrolytic and coupling capacitors, as well as dedicated (German) Mundorf MCap EVO audio coupling capacitor.

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“And that’s without recourse to the crossfeed control, which can occasionally just make things a bit confused. Listening to the recently released Oslo Philharmonic/Vasily Petrenko recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade [Lawo Classics LWC 1198; DXD], the impression is one of large orchestral forces, persuasively recorded, and a free-breathing, uncompressed and hugely dynamic sound.

I’ve also never heard the Oppo PM-1 headphones driven so convincingly: powered by the HA 200 they take on even greater weight and precision, which serves well a recording such as Snarky Puppy’s Live At The Royal Albert Hall set [Live Here Now; n/a cat no], with its large musical forces, tumbling rhythms and palpable audience presence. Even Ella Fitzgerald’s 1956 Live At Zardi’s set, from Qobuz [Universal/Verve 5798051; 192kHz/24-bit] sweeps the listener up in the atmosphere of the evening, the immediacy of the recording shining through.”

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“The CMA Twelve also operates as a preamplifier, with both balanced XLR and single-ended RCA outputs. Unlike the CMA600i, the output from the DAC section can be switched to either line-level or variable output, a neat feature that I did find lacking in the earlier model. Another studio-friendly feature is the ability to switch the gain level of the preamp section from 14 dBu to 20 dBu. Questyle really has gone above and beyond with the included remote for the CMA Twelve, which I can honestly say is the best remote I’ve come across on a DAC/desktop device, at any price. Far from being simply a volume control, it allows for input switching as well as playback control when the CMA Twelve is paired with its companion QP2R+Super Hub SHB2 lossless audio player, which can be connected via the CMA Twelve’s inbuilt 5 GHz wifi functionality.

Straight out of the box, the CMA Twelve reeks of high-quality manufacturing, and (like its other family members) is probably the most solid-feeling piece of personal audio equipment I’ve encountered thus far. The black, sand-blasted aluminium casing is 10mm thick and constructed by Foxconn, the manufacturers of the iPhone. It’s a great-looking piece of gear, and the CMA Twelve straddles the line neatly between ‘hifi’ and ‘pro’ in terms of aesthetics.”

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“Schiit is known for providing quality products at reasonable prices, and they have not failed in doing so with the Magnius. They have managed to create an op-amp based balanced amplifier that has lots of power, with a fast and detailed presentation, while remaining fairly neutral.

Despite being neutral, the Magnius manages to have a dynamic low end, texturized midrange, and a smooth and detailed treble. I wish they just moved the power switch to the front though, but that might be asking for too much from Schiit.”

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“The Bartok experience is all about depth and width and more importantly generating excellent power from that depth. The low-end power is incredible, to be honest, and not just right at the lowest reaches but seeping up into the mids it carries that power and density with it if paired to the right headphones.

Despite the Bartok offering excellent headroom and a wonderfully black background, I would not consider this to be an ethereal airy staging experience. Unlike our tested competing amps, the Bartok does not really push the treble that far forward and you can hear that difference side by side. It is less dominant more coherent especially for percussion in recordings.

Cymbals and high hats have tons of texture and weight but its even-harmonic weight as opposed to odd-harmonic overtones that shine brighter so they are pleasing sounding rather than crisp and shimmering in tone.

The office Studio 6 SET actually sounds a little bit airier and a shade brighter from the upper mids onwards on the HeDD Studio HeDDphones but that is not to say the Bartok is relaxed or dark but rather it feels neutral in quantity and positioning.”

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“– an Xmos XU208 for USB. A multi-core chip, fully compliant with USB 2.0 specification, and advertised as a “major upscale” from the previous U8.

Moreover, the xDuoo TA-30 now gets an FPGA chip, provided by Altera, to reduce the jitter and a dual active low phase noise crystal oscillator. That, and no less than 7 PCM filter + 1 DSD filters to adapt the DAC, to your taste”