The Setup:
Little Dot I+ with Burson V6 Vivid op-amp, Hifiman 400i with grill mod, Little bear A-B switch, Asus X570 Pro Motherboard via USB to the Sanskrit S10.

General
I was looking for a replacement for my Ibasso DX120 for my desk at home, since im now working at home more due to COVID-19. The DX120 is a pain to use in DAC mode, mostly because it uses the battery and refuses to charge at the same time. The fit and finish are great even if the flipping LCD screen is a little gimicky. I chose black and this iteration is with the AK4493 chip which adds the 6 filters.

The Filters
The filters provide no inconceivable difference with the 400i's to my ears. If we look at the frequency response for the 400i's there is a slight rolloff past 10K perhaps thats why. These filters effect the frequency response around and past 20K. In my opinion unless you are 10 years old, a bat or a dog you wont hear the difference either. One thing entering into the audiophile world i discovered is that you dont have to spend $1000s of dollars to get great sound. There are a ton of people that claim to hear a difference and i just not convinced, it gets to the point where a DAC is a DAC and a cable is a cable. On paper sure the performance is better, we are limited by our hearing though, which gets worse as we age. Many self proclaimed audiophiles are older...so i just never understand how they are claiming to hear differences.

The Sound
The sound is surprisingly airy and extended yet smooth and lush. When i first plugged the device in i was immediately impressed by its sound regardless of the price. Once i hooked up the A-B switch and compared it to my DX120 i was really blown away by the upgrade in sound despite both DAC's being very similar and technically the AK4495 in the DX120 is superior. The sound was more extended as if there was a fine veil lifted off revealing details, the DX120 sounded muffled and dark in comparison, heavily rolled off even. When i started to listen more i realized that this is not the DX120 i've come to know and love, something was wrong. After some light reading there is a documented issue which Ibasso never fixed for the USB XMOS function on the DX120. Perhaps this is because im using the windows drivers instead of installing the ibasso application. The fix was to run the player on the super slow filter roll off. Once i selected the filter on the DX120, both sounded exactly the same! To my ears i vigorously switched tracks while mashing the A-B button on my little bear and i just couldn't tell the difference. I suppose this is a good thing, after all i was looking for a replacement for my DX120 at the desktop since i loved its sound so much. It actually makes sense since both are very similar DAC's, i could be wrong but it would be easy to assume the AK4495 is better than the AK4493 or perhaps one is meant for portable and the other for desktop. Now in the past i've compared the DX120 to my Fiio X3ii with the CS4398 DAC, and i much preferred the DX120 for its natural and sibilant free sound. The fiio in comparison sounded artificial and overly sparkly/sibilant especially on cymbals. Since the DX120's DAC sounds identical to the Sanskrit S10 is safe to assume it sounds more natural than the CS4398 in the Fiio. I did manage to throw a quick comparison of my onboard audio in my motherboard in for kicks (realtek s1220a Crystal Sound 3). Compared to the motherboard also couldn't tell a difference with my A-B switcher, however i did not spend alot of time comparing the two as i did with the DX120, after all this was not the main purpose of this review.
Is it possible that onboard audio has gotten better over the years? Ill start by saying the biggest reason why onboard audio is not preferred is because of the introduction of noise. Well here are a few reasons as to why i think my onboard sounds really good and does not appear to have any noise

-My motherboard is high end and has implemented EMI audio shielding with high end capacitors in both the audio
-Im used the line out with my little dot plugged directly into the motherboard
-I built a mini isolation transformer to safely eliminate the ground prong from the little dot. Since the little dot uses a class A amp they are notorious for picking up noise and ground loops.
-I was not running any processor intensive applications or games which possibly could introduce noise. Typically i write off onboard audio, but perhaps i shouldn't be.
-i only have a m.2 drive, no traditional hard drives. I would imagine the strong magnets in traditional hard drives are the most likely to introduce noise.


Conclusion
There was an issue with this unit which was apparently solved in the new iteration i have here, the issue was related to jitter and the signal to noise ratio or something to that degree. In any case the issue was that the USB from the computer was not powerful enough to run the DAC. I jumped ahead and decided just to rule out any issues and plugged it directly into the USB from my motherboard and ran a second USB cable to a 5V power supply. If you were running this off a laptop with just the USB, i could see that being an issue especially with an older laptop the power may not be adequate. I never tested this directly off a USB port, plus if i did its likely to work since i have the newest USB ports on my computer as it is. If you have a nice motherboard you might be able to save a few bucks with just a headphone amp provided there is no noise. You may be surprised by the fact that you may not be upgrading your sound at all and just spending money for no reason. Audio can only improve so much and i personally believe we have reached that point already, unless if course we can somehow improve our limited hearing. In any case it just means that you can have a high end DAC for a fraction of the price 10 or 20 years ago. This little DAC sounds natural and transparent and if you are looking for a high end DAC there is no reason why you need to spend large amounts of money when this little guy sounds great. With all the money saved you are far better off dumping it on an amp or better yet a nice pair of headphones than trying to find a better sounding DAC than this one.

Introduction
I was contacted by Burson Audio to conduct a review on the V5i, after completing this review I was offered the chance to listen to the V6 Vivid. Tube rolling aside as mentioned in my other review I found that the GE JAN-5654W which are the military variant are my favourite tubes for ”ME” at the moment. They have excellent clarity without sounding overly digital while simultaneously not being sloppy in the bass department, as a result these were the tubes I chose to use for this review. I am in no way affiliated with Burson Audio, all results are my own findings and personal opinions.

I started to get into great sounding audio when I 8 years old playing around with mixing tapes and than burning cd’s. I also played classical guitar and was enrolled in the royal conservatory of music. I had such a great appreciation for the guitar so much so that I broadened my musical tastes and bought my fist electric guitar to jam to the solos of pink floyd and van halen. Since than music has always been a big part of my life. When I was 13 I got an iPod mini which is when I started playing with compression only to learn the hard way that it ruined the audio files. When the world moved on to iPods and high compression in favour of convenience I was left behind with my CD’s and portable disc player knowing that this was the best way to listen to music.

I don’t call myself an audiophile but rather a music and gear enthusiast. I have other hobbies and love getting new equipment, tools and gear for each hobby or task, than putting it to good use in my day to day life. If I cant justify a purchase, I wont buy it…simple as that. I’m not interested in high end cables and typically try and find the best value for my money wherever possible. That said, I do like to have certain high end items if I know I will use it daily or often so the definition of ”value” is very subjective. Usually my internal justification entails reading hours of reviews and educating myself on certain products. Specifically how they work and how the engineering principals would apply, aswell as reading between the snake oil marketing gimmicks. In most cases this has served me well over the years.

The V6 Vivid Dual Op Amp
Burson introduces the op amp as a product that a audio enthusiast should never have to compromise on. They mention that like a surgeon doesn’t use a swiss army knife and in the same way an audio enthusiast should not be using a one size fits all generic op amp in their equipment. According to Burson Audio the V6 Classic is ahead of the V6 Vivid with its color and texture, while the V6 vivid is the more dynamic with better detail retrieval and transparency. When I first opened the neat little package upon arrival I was greeted by a huge impressive piece of technology, its amazing how large this is compared to a standard generic OP-AMP. It really makes you think what sort of audio goodness is going through this little device. I purchased a little extender on ebay to reroute the op-amp to the side which fits very well inside the little dot chassis.

Test Setup.
The testing setup I’m using is the little dot i+ (V6 Vivid Dual op Amp and GE JAN-5654 Tubes) mated to my Hifiman 400i planar magnetic headphones, and my Ibasso DX120 in DAC mode. I’m most familiar with my DX120 since I use it almost daily. I would love to do an A-B comparison however having only one Little dot makes this impossible, so for now as difficult it may be the review will have to be based solely on swapping the op amp. Im currently waiting for the S.M.S.L SK10 DAC from AliExpress to arrive, sporting the AK4493 Chip. I will be doing further testing and reviews on this new DAC and the V6 Vivid/Little Dot Combination. Most of the testing I had with the V6 Vivid has been compared to the Muse 02 knockoff which is what I had settled on prior to OP-AMP rolling again.

Lows
The subtle but deep digging lows of the 400i's draw you in. The V6 Vivid is very tight and keeps things together, slightly quicker than the Muse 02 knockoff. The heavy emotions in Jesse Cook's Beneath your Skin digs deep with a weighty presence. The bass is more organic and less digital with more soul compared to the Muse02 knockoff currently installed in my little dot, the bass also seems to be better controlled throughout the spectrum.


Mids
The mids are where I detect the least notable of difference such as the vocals in Jacob Gurevitsch's Tiden der Forstar, the soundstage seems about the same. Like the V5i reviewed before the energy and dynamic has improved, its hard to describe in words how it draws you in. The closest visual representation I can think of is on an HDR TV where the upgrade allows the colors to pop out a bit more akin to the V6 allowing music to Pop a bit more, the former being more obvious or contrasting which is exactly the same way I described the V5i… hmm that’s interesting.

Highs
Here is where I can detect a small difference compared to the knockoff muse 02 OP-AMP. The former has its highs slightly rolled off and there is not as much air around the instruments here. The V6 Vivid is more energetic and dynamic which complements the 400i's very well. Guitars and symbols dance around the higher octaves as they piece together the track and complete the atmosphere that which the music creates. Simply beautiful, a great finish to the complete musical spectrum.

Performance Closing thoughts:
I talked a lot about the 400i's in the previous review of the v5i and how well the pairing was, that was a great review to check out so I wont go into more detail on that. While its no surprise that the V6 series is the cream of the crop, just look at its size. Its likely no surprise at this point that the V5i was a small leap from a basic OP amp upon reading my previous review on the v5i and not a night and day difference. Jumping to the V6 Vivid from the V5i left me feeling like I'm unable to detect much if any differences from its lower tier sibling, this just means that the v5i is such a great little performing OP-AMP and its also a lot smaller and should be easy to fit without modifications. If anything there may have been a slight bump to the soundstage height but I cant reliably tell the difference. What really surprised me is how well this pairing with the OP-AMP and the rest of the equipment sounded with Metalcore and Death metal and Basic Metal, it was able to keep up with the complex sounds in these genres and extend the highs without sounding fatiguing. The 400i's are very revealing but unforgiving, the listener can get fatigue when paired incorrectly.

Value closing thoughts
Its hard for me to recommend the V6 Vivid, when I cant tell the difference between it and the V5i. This could be from a variety of different factors such as the little dot itself, or the DAC. Perhaps in my future review with my new AK4493 DAC I might detect a difference. Its also extremely difficult to compare OP-AMPS without an AB splitter and a second identical amp which I imagine most people do not generally have. Bottom line, if you are looking for the best bang for your buck go with the V5i, if you want the pinnacle of the audio proverbial cream than go with the V6. Still though for a few extra bucks you might consider the V6 since there is only one required in the little dot to have the "best", however I can imagine as you start needing a few more in your amp that it can start to add up really quickly.




Test Tracks
Jesse Cook-Bombay Slam
Jesse Cook-Beneath your Skin
Jacob Gurevitsch-Lovers in Paradise
Jacob Gurevitsch-Tiden der Forstar
Andrea Bocelli-Italia (Live. Feat Chris Botti)
Andrea Bocelli-Love in Portofino
Andrea Bocelli-Las Hojas Muertas (Feat. Veronica Berti)
Lawson Rollins-Ghost of Alcazar
____________________________________

Novelists-Somebody else
Novelist-Voyager
Avenged Sevenfold-The Stage
Parkway Drive-Vice Grip
Oceans Apart-Divide
Polaris-Vegabond

Introduction

I was contacted by Burson Audio to conduct a review on the V5i, as such I was provided with two Op amps to test them in my Little Dot I+ and My Objective 2 on the output side. Tube rolling aside I found that the GE JAN-5654W which are the military variant are my favourite tubes for ”ME” at the moment. They have excellent clarity without sounding overly digital while simultaneously not being sloppy in the bass department, as a result these were the tubes I chose to use for this review. I am in no way affiliated with Burson Audio, all results are my own findings and personal opinions. For the time being my review is based on the Little Dot I+ since I use it the most, in the near future I will review these in the objective 2 amp. Right now my Little dot has been paired with an AliExpress knockoff of the Muse02 op amp which by itself was decent for what it was.

I started to get into great sounding audio when I 8 years old playing around with mixing tapes and than burning cd’s. When I was 13 I got an iPod mini which is when I started playing with compression only to learn the hard way that it ruined the audio files. When the world moved on to iPods and high compression in favour of convenience I was left behind with my CD’s and portable disc player knowing that this was the best way to listen to music.


I don’t call myself an audiophile but rather a music and gear enthusiast. I have other hobbies and love getting new equipment, tools and gear for each hobby or task, than putting it to good use in my day to day life. If I cant justify a purchase, I wont buy it…simple as that. I’m not interested in high end cables and typically try and find the best value for my money wherever possible. That said, I do like to have certain high end items if I know I will use it daily or often so the definition of ”value” is very subjective. Usually my internal justification entails reading hours of reviews and educating myself on certain products. Specifically how they work and how the engineering principals would apply, aswell as reading between the snake oil marketing gimmicks. In most cases
this has served me well over the years.

The V5i Dual Op Amp
For the sake of this review I will skip the physical, fit and finish of these OP Amps since this is the least important aspect when the equipment is closed up. They are much larger than a standard amp and I would encourage those that have clearance issues in smaller equipment to check the data sheet and measure with a micrometer. These amps do have a nice quality feel to them and a nice laser etching of the manufacture and model on the face. After removing a few screws on the bottom of my Little Dot i+ and popping the little op amp into the slot, I was ready to roll.


Test Setup.
The testing setup I’m using is the little dot i+ (V5i Dual op Amp and GE JAN-5654 Tubes) mated to my Hifiman 400i planar magnetic headphones, and my Ibasso DX120 in DAC mode. I’m most familiar with my DX120 since I use it almost daily. I would love to do an A-B comparison however having only one Little dot makes this impossible, so for now as difficult it may be the review will have to be based solely on swapping the op amp.

Music

• Guillaume Perret- Sirenes
• The Haggis Horns - Stand up for Love
• Jesse Cook - I Put a Spell on You
• Quadro Nuevo - Tango Del Mare

Lows
Those luscious lows are addicting on the 400i's, there is no question about the planar magnetic bass. This is not a night and day difference and unsubstantiated without an A-B switcher, however there is something different that seems to push the lows to dig further. The Melancholy mood in Guillaume Perret's Sirenes paints an eerie atmosphere which is reinforced by the now deeper digging bass. In the haggis Horns - Stand Up for Love, The bass seems more organic and less digital with more soul compared to the Muse02 knockoff, the bass also seems to be better controlled throughout the spectrum.

Mids
The mids are probably where I detect the least amount of difference especially in the french horn in Quadro Nuevo - Tango Del Mare, however the total package seems to come together nicely with a sense that the music is live in an intimate studio, yet somehow it sounds more engaging, more alive with the V5i. The closest visual representation I can think of is on an HDR TV where the upgrade allows the colors to pop out a bit more akin to the V5i allowing music to Pop a bit more, the former being more obvious or contrasting. The air around the instruments once again allows the separation to stand out in an impressive way since this track also carries a lot of depth and layers.

Highs
Im a huge fan of Jesse Cook, and unfortunately due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak the live concert I had booked is now cancelled, as a result listening to his recordings will have to do for now. When I play "I Put a Spell on you" I can hear a slight amount more air between the instruments. The twang in the background guitar takes an interesting seat on the stage, while Jesse guitar takes a slight backseat to the lush intimate vocals. I chose this song as its fairly busy with multiple layers without being overwhelming which would otherwise make it difficult to detect discernible differences, it also has vocals which if you may have guessed by now is the least of what I listen to. One would have to spend substantially more money on a better sounding setup for this genre of music (400i, LD i+ with V5i Op Amp). I do feel though however that the highs are somewhat discernibly different not by overall clarity but rather soundstage width and instrument separation or air around the instruments. I would love to at this point do A-B comparison on a stock OP AMP little dot but as mentioned this is unfortunately not in the cards at the moment as I don’t own two LD i+ amps.


Performance Closing thoughts:
The 400i's are a bit of chameleon when it comes to some recordings, they are very transparent and can be picky which makes them a great review candidate for showcasing the V5i. They scale very well with source quality and one thing I've noticed is that there is this invisible wall to the width of the soundstage, where height was never an issue but width can . At times, depending on the source cause the 400i's to sound out of balance or "Off" when the recording hits the "invisible" sound wall for width. This is more depending on the recording than anything else, strange though that I noly hear with the 400i's. That being said I do believe that the V5i has improved the overall width of the soundstage which I believe is the reason why there is a bit more air around the instruments, however this will not fix a sloppy recorded track that has no attention to detail. The V5i does seem to help a smidge with this virtual sound width wall phenomenon in the 400i's as well. Regarding the V5i there is no question though that its arguable one of the best performing op-amps available in its price class. As mentioned these are my findings and im trying to find differences and improvements, if someone was to swap the OP amp without one knowing, I highly doubt anyone would wake up one day and say "Hey! This thing sounds great…What happened?!". The improvements im noting could also be the placebo affect which unless I have a second identical amp that very few do, I cant perform an A-B switch to rule this out. Im still claiming that I notice an increase in air and soundstage in the highs, the lows dig a touch deeper and have more "soul". The music as a whole seems to sound a smidge more lifelike and engaging, more realistic and less digital.

Value
In The quest for value I think the V5i is a great opportunity to step up your game into some high end OP-amps. The price for admission is high compared to some other op amps but low in a world where people spend hundreds of dollars on cables. Once you justify how much you will use the equipment and whether or not its worth it to spend the money, the rest is easy. Since I’m not one to spend unnecessary amounts of money on speciality cables trying to convince myself I hear a difference, I’m far better off spending money on an OP AMP or two to maximize the equipment I already have. There are a lot of pieces of well designed equipment that were produced in china with generic but swappable parts, the little dot having come with a cheap op amp and basic tubes is a fine example. Op amp rolling is also cheaper than rolling the entire amp. Paired with the little dot i+ I think the V5i is a no brainer upgrade since you only need one, pair that with some nice tubes and you will have a winner. Given the opportunity if I got another amp I would likely be looking at installing these OP amps.

A little about my myself: I’ve always been interested in music and stereo equipment. Within the last few years I’ve appreciated audio quality over quantity, along with my changing taste in music. I still enjoy some of the same genres I did when I was younger, but now I can enjoy more genres has I keep an open mind and im not influenced by others opinions or music taste’s as I would have been when I was younger. I listen to a lot of heavy metal mike machine head, parkway drive, killswitch engage (mostly at the gym) all other times I prefer modern classical (mostly guitar and violins), to flamenco style guitar, jazz like some Michael Buble or even Sade, Some new age like Yanni, electronic music like Armin Van Buuron aswell as some traditional Spanish music such as cumbia and tango. I can appreciate other genres but I specifically do not care for Rap or top 40 Pop very much, there is not much in those genres and they don’t do anything for me. 
 
Test Setup: Most of the use has been out of my Fiio X1 (at the gym) or the Fiio X3ii for other times at work or while in bed.
 
I purchased the 1MORE EO323’s close to a year ago, and they have been my go to IEM most of the time. I have been using them at the gym to lift weights almost everyday in excess of an hour so they have been used heavily and have a few scratches and dents in the aluminum. They still sound the same as they always have.   
 
Low: Good texture, extends pretty deep and they sound LARGE for IEMS, sometimes you forget you are wearing IEMS rather than over ears. There is a somewhat lean to midbass which may or may not be appreciated on the genres. They sound best out of the X3ii as the X1 tends to overcolor the sound. The bass can be overpowering at times. Again depending on the song. On good recordings, they add the right amount of bass at the right time.
Mids: The mids are really where these shine, combine this with a notch above neutral in the bass department and it creates a warm listen. The mids are very fluid and somewhat forward but yet not in your face, they are slightly further back in the soundstage than some of my closed single BA iems.
Highs: These are defiantly suitable for extended listening sessions or treble sensitive (myself included), there is a nice sparkle at the top but sometimes it leaves you wanting more. Overall the highs are well done and rolled off but with good enough detail to consider these “high resolution”. They are not analytical and designed for entirely and purely music and relaxed listen.
Comfort: These are by far the most comfortable IEM’s I own, the provided tips fit from day one perfectly. They are not the best for using if laying down in bed on the side as they don’t fully go inside the ear, so for some this might be a con.
Soundstage and isolation: These have almost a 3d sound to them which I rather enjoy, not near the level of my sennheiser 598’s but its present. The soundstage actually stood out though, which is above average putting a slight amount of an airy texture on guitars and percussion instruments in some of the songs by Young and Rollins. The main thing to keep in mind with these is they contain a dynamic driver so that means they have a small vent and they don’t isolate aswell as a sealed BA IEM. That said isolation is about average, and could be better for use on an airplane. Im sure if I used comply foam tips it would improve though.
Pros:
-Durable
-Excellent sound quality
-great bass quality and texture
-above average soundstage with a slight 3d effect.
-very comfortable
 
Cons:
-Microphonic’s on the cable can be annoying at times, but the shirt clip helps with that if you are willing to use it
-Elevated bass for some tracks, although not bleeding into other frequencies can be overbearing for some. Nothing a little EQ cant fix though…again also depending on the source.
- Only half the controls work on the x3ii/x1
-Fabric type cable collects dust and dirt while being used from the gym, nothing a little dish soap cant clean up though.
-No detachable cable
 
Conclusion: These can be described as somewhat of a dark signature with light, airy rolled off treble, slightly forward midrange and a notch above slightly enhanced bass which may be too much for some depending on the source. They are incredibly buttery smooth which pair well with jazz and instrumental. They are ok for metal but seem to have to have too much bass for this genre, they still sound good but im sure there are better sounding in the price range for this genre. They also work great for Vocal trance with a very engaging bass. For those looking for neutral detail monsters, these are not it they are designed to sound smooth and airy and are far from harsh. So smooth In fact I bet if Sennheiser produced a bassier 598 in the form of an IEM, these would be it. I would love to try out the triple drivers to compare these, and perhaps I will when they go on sale. I have since retired these from gym use as the price went up since I bought them and im enjoying them too much to have them wear out from constant abuse, I have a set of KZ ZST’s on the way so hopefully this will work in place at the