Little Dot MK II: power output and what it will drive

The Little Dot MK II is a desktop amplifier at $176. It delivers 100 mW into 32Ω and 300 mW into 300Ω, which ranks it 216 of 280 for raw power among the sources in this database.

Measured at 100 dB SPL it has comfortable headroom on 520 of the 567 dynamic and planar headphones catalogued here, enough but not generous on 37, only marginal on 3 and not enough power for 7. An OTL whose published power rises with impedance — the clearest illustration in this database of what that topology does.

The shop listings these figures stand on quote 100 mW into 32Ω, 200 mW into 120Ω, 300 mW into 300Ω. The rest of the table is worked out from those.

Derived rows hold output voltage steady, as an amplifier does (method).

One caveat about the source. None of the addresses below is a Little Dot document. The figures here stand on Apos Audio, a retailer and ShenzhenAudio, a retailer, which are transcriptions of the factory table rather than the table itself. A transcription is usually faithful and may well be exact here — but it can carry an old revision, and nothing on this site would notice if it did. Find these numbers on Little Dot's own site and send the link; this paragraph comes off.

Source: apos.audio, shenzhenaudio.com.

Easiest to hardest to drive, with headroom at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The manufacturer does not publish an output noise figure for this source, so there is no hiss estimate here. If you have a measured figure, the hiss calculator takes it.

The manufacturer does not publish an output impedance for this source. Without it, nothing here can say how this source will behave with a multi-driver in-ear.

With a measured figure, the checker works out the consequence.

Of the 280 sources here, 42 do everything the Little Dot MK II does as a headphone output: reach 100 dB on every headphone it reaches. The cheapest of them is the FiiO KA11 at $29, against this one’s $176 — $147 less, and a USB dongle rather than a desktop amplifier.

The cheaper one also publishes an output impedance and a noise figure, which the Little Dot MK II does not — so on the paperwork it is ahead, not merely level.

This counts the headphone output only; inputs, converters, the volume control and the build are outside it.

Compared with its closest rivals: vs Geshelli Archel Pro · vs iFi Zen CAN · vs JDS Labs Atom Amp 2 · vs Little Dot MK III SE · vs Schiit Magni Piety · vs SMSL HO100 · vs Topping L50 · vs xDuoo MT-604.

Compare any two or match your own headphones. Every Little Dot source here.