Little Dot question

[bobbagels]

Hello hello.

I was looking at the Little Dot 

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/littledot-tube-amp

over at mass drop.

 

My question is if I was to purchase this amp would I need anything else?  I mean, do I need a dac or do I go right from the PC to the amp?

(im learning)

 

I have the 770's and 990's right now, and I am using the SMSL  SD- 79311 which is optical / SPDIF input only. Sounds good, no complaints.

I would like to try a tube amp now, and if i'm not mistaken with this type of set up I can utalize some EQ settings not available with SPDIF (with spdif I have no eq options, its just raw sound i guess)

I just thought at the price at massDrop right now this might be a good deal for me.

 

 

[SSL]

If your onboard doesn't have EQ or whatever you'll probably need a soundcard. Xonar DX is supposed to be a good one. You can run the line out from that to the little dot. The amp on it's own is not going to provide any digital functionality.

[Jacona]

The SMSL SD- 793II has RCA out, so you could bypass the amplifier on it and use the little dot with it. 

[bobbagels]

MY MoBo is Asus Rampage V Extreme

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME/

 

Even with the Realtech drivers installed (which I do not have in now cause they were worthless with optical) I could not get the realtech software to do any enhancements or eq settings when it came to the SPDIF connection. If I plugged the headset directly in to the PC without the SMSL optical connecten,,,, Whala!! EQ and anything else i wanted available. But not enough power.

Now maybee I was doing something wrong, but no matter what I did, if using SPDIF connection no options were available. (hope i am explaining this right)

 

If I used the SMSL SD-79311 as a dac I would still have to use the SPDIF connection as that is the only input on the SMSL.

 

So with my MOBo is a dac going to be necessary with this amp?

[SSL]

MY MoBo is Asus Rampage V Extreme

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME/

 

Even with the Realtech drivers installed (which I do not have in now cause they were worthless with optical) I could not get the realtech software to do any enhancements or eq settings when it came to the SPDIF connection. If I plugged the headset directly in to the PC without the SMSL optical connecten,,,, Whala!! EQ and anything else i wanted available. But not enough power.

Now maybee I was doing something wrong, but no matter what I did, if using SPDIF connection no options were available. (hope i am explaining this right)

 

If I used the SMSL SD-79311 as a dac I would still have to use the SPDIF connection as that is the only input on the SMSL.

 

So with my MOBo is a dac going to be necessary with this amp?

 

No. You can use your motherboard. Some people would argue that you should get a DAC or decent soundcard to pair with an amp on that level, though.

[bobbagels]

THX SSL,

I will try the amp right to the MoBo first, take it from there.