After some period of silence its time to update on the progress
I finally went ahead with Little Dot MK II with upgraded Mullard M8100 tubes. It was a gamble but owing to the less price of 11K I decided to give it a try. But I had one problem which is the LD had only one set of inputs and I needed at least 2 which it did not have. The preamp of sachin and aniket looked to be the right bridge device and aniket promised to make a unity gain setting in that with source selector too. Their project kicked off in rigour back in November but since its not commercial production is still in the pipeline. Probably will come one day soon
But I have to move on so the next best solution came to me was the Schiit SYS offered by my friend @subhashis_1980 which made the perfect source selector.
I made the connection as follows, the output from CDP goes to SYS and from there to the LD and then to the Power Amp. In this process in order to control the volume with my remote I have enabled the preamp in the CDP and I have maxed the volume of both the LD and the SYS. On the other hand the 2nd input of the SYS is connected to the output of the CNC phono, however in that case I use the SYS volume control to control the volume of the audio and still keep the LD maxed volume.
So that was about the connection and now a few words on the outcome. I now understand to a little extent what kind of difference tube brought. Mainly the highs are smoothened as the most observable change. This has resulted in the subdued details on one hand but very sweet female vocals that are real treat to ears on the other hand, I never like the albums of Asha and Shreya this much over Jagjit. I initially thought that the subdued details was bad but with time realized that this made the listening experience less fatiguing to years if I listen for longer hours. The male vocals probably I could not hear much difference may be a little warmth. In terms of lows, its less than before but not sure if I have to call in more controlled and less boomy, may be I liked a little better but it may have grown in previous gears as a habbit, still more to test. Also a lot of irritating sibilance is now gone. Overall very satisfied with this upgrade.
On a related note I made another swap, all connections from CDP to AMP is now using the DAC ARX interconnects as I realized the Zeus Z1 in its zeal to reveal details was adding brightness, so now its moved to the analogue size connecting the SYS and the CNC, a conscious change.
I have also ordered a pair if Mullard M 8161 tubes from ebay and these are on the way. This tube rolling option is one of the reason I chose the LD.
This may not be the end state but i term it as a humble beginning while the search for a better one continues.
Here are some pictures of LD MK II
I finally went ahead with Little Dot MK II with upgraded Mullard M8100 tubes. It was a gamble but owing to the less price of 11K I decided to give it a try. But I had one problem which is the LD had only one set of inputs and I needed at least 2 which it did not have. The preamp of sachin and aniket looked to be the right bridge device and aniket promised to make a unity gain setting in that with source selector too. Their project kicked off in rigour back in November but since its not commercial production is still in the pipeline. Probably will come one day soon
But I have to move on so the next best solution came to me was the Schiit SYS offered by my friend @subhashis_1980 which made the perfect source selector.I made the connection as follows, the output from CDP goes to SYS and from there to the LD and then to the Power Amp. In this process in order to control the volume with my remote I have enabled the preamp in the CDP and I have maxed the volume of both the LD and the SYS. On the other hand the 2nd input of the SYS is connected to the output of the CNC phono, however in that case I use the SYS volume control to control the volume of the audio and still keep the LD maxed volume.
So that was about the connection and now a few words on the outcome. I now understand to a little extent what kind of difference tube brought. Mainly the highs are smoothened as the most observable change. This has resulted in the subdued details on one hand but very sweet female vocals that are real treat to ears on the other hand, I never like the albums of Asha and Shreya this much over Jagjit. I initially thought that the subdued details was bad but with time realized that this made the listening experience less fatiguing to years if I listen for longer hours. The male vocals probably I could not hear much difference may be a little warmth. In terms of lows, its less than before but not sure if I have to call in more controlled and less boomy, may be I liked a little better but it may have grown in previous gears as a habbit, still more to test. Also a lot of irritating sibilance is now gone. Overall very satisfied with this upgrade.
On a related note I made another swap, all connections from CDP to AMP is now using the DAC ARX interconnects as I realized the Zeus Z1 in its zeal to reveal details was adding brightness, so now its moved to the analogue size connecting the SYS and the CNC, a conscious change.
I have also ordered a pair if Mullard M 8161 tubes from ebay and these are on the way. This tube rolling option is one of the reason I chose the LD.
This may not be the end state but i term it as a humble beginning while the search for a better one continues.
Here are some pictures of LD MK II
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