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Emotiva Big Ego and Little Ego
Jan 4, 2016 at 11:54 AM Post #16 of 45
whiskeyjacks said:
What DAC did you go with from Audio-GD? I happen to use the NFB 28  fully balanced DAC and class A amplifier. And one thing about kingwa is he knows how to put quality into his work for prices that we would not get here perhaps with the exception of Garage 1217, Schiit, and a few others. Kingwa really knows his stuff and putting the possibilty of 5w into 50ohms for my HE-560 really does make them sound very impressive. It took a bit to grow on me when I first got it, it uses the sabre 9018 or the like I believe and is capable of some very clean, detailed audio without the bright highs that can get to me still very detailed and transparent with a hint of smoothness that works well with the HE-560.  Hell my SM64v2 from earsonic sounded sweet from SE jack but cannot find the adapter so I have been using them with my PB2/dx90
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I grabbed a used NFB-2.32, which is basically a DAC-19 using Wolfson chips. I plan to eventually replace that with a DAC-19.
 
Jan 7, 2016 at 11:11 AM Post #18 of 45
tim3320070 said:
Not stirring the pot but Emotiva builds everything in China. I have owned a few different items from them but have found I prefer Audio-gd across the board. Their powered monitors are excellent however.
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Depends on the product. The Ego line is Made in USA. I think production costs have slowly been aligning because many companies are moving production back to the USA.
 
Jun 3, 2016 at 12:23 PM Post #22 of 45
Anyone else get a chance to compare the Big Ego to the Schiit Bifrost? I'm trying to decide between these two, and it's pretty much down to the Big Ego's sound customization versus the Bifrost's modular design (easy upgrades down the road).
 
Would love to hear people's thoughts on the Big Ego's crossfeed feature, and how this DAC compares to other sub-$500 DACs you've heard.
 
Jun 16, 2016 at 5:39 PM Post #23 of 45
I see that the Little ego is on sale for $99 on emotiva right now.  What is the big differences between the big ego vs little ego?  Is it worth it for me to just get the little ego as a basic dac/amp to use on my work laptop?
 
Jun 17, 2016 at 7:27 AM Post #24 of 45
I think it would work well for that, as long as your headphones are relatively easy to drive. I've been testing the Big Ego's headphone amp, and it sounds good with my more sensitive 'phones (like the TH-X00), it left a lot to be desired with my HD 650 though.
 
 
On the differences between Big and Little Egos:
 The Little Ego has a single output - which is the headphone output.
The Big Ego has a headphone output, a separate analog line output, and a Toslink digital output.

Note that you CAN connect the headphone output on the Little Ego to your stereo if you like. 
While the line output on the Big Ego is a tiny bit better, the headphone outputs on both are really good enough to use as a line output.
(The big thing with the separate output is that you can leave the stereo connected while you use the headphones and vice versa.)

The Big Ego and Little Ego actually do use different DAC chips - and the one in the Big Ego is slightly better.
(They use the same headphone amp, which is why those specs are identical).
The DAC we used in the Big Ego is actually a few dB quieter (and that shows up in the specs for its line output).
However, I honestly doubt you'd hear the difference. 
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From http://emotivalounge.proboards.com/post/753472/thread
 
Jun 27, 2016 at 3:45 AM Post #25 of 45
vincedea said:
  I see that the Little ego is on sale for $99 on emotiva right now.  What is the big differences between the big ego vs little ego?  Is it worth it for me to just get the little ego as a basic dac/amp to use on my work laptop?
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I saw the same on Amazon and wondered if this is a better deal than Centrance slim I bought from massdrop(yet to reach me). 
 
Jun 27, 2016 at 1:20 PM Post #26 of 45
rikk009 said:
  I saw the same on Amazon and wondered if this is a better deal than Centrance slim I bought from massdrop(yet to reach me). 
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I bought the Little Ego on Amazon and also have the Centrance Slim.  I'm having a hard time hearing a difference between the two listening to FLAC files on Foobar and also streaming Spotify, with ASG1+ and Oppo PM3.  If anything, the Slim might be a touch more resolving/transparent but I'm splitting hairs here.  They are both about the same MSRP.  I think it really boils down to their features:
 
Little Ego: selectable digital filters, crossfeed, can play higher res files
 
Slim: smaller form factor, has a physical volume dial and gain selector
 
For my uses the Little Ego is winning.  The Slim never worked right on my work PC where it sees the most use.  I have to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable every time I boot the PC.  I don't have that issue with the Little Ego.  Centrance keeps promising a fix but it's been months and I grew tired of waiting so I'm trying out different DAC/Amps.  Next might be the new Dragonfly, although I've read it's not much of an improvement over the previous 1.2 version which is discounted now.
 
Jul 30, 2016 at 12:45 AM Post #28 of 45
Centrance came through with the fix. Their latest firmware solved my issue so now I have to decide which one to keep. I think I'm still leaning towards keeping the Little Ego.
 
Oct 28, 2016 at 12:14 AM Post #30 of 45
I haven't played with the crossfeed on my Little Ego but I'll say this: Modi multibit is amazing for the money. I have that along with the Magni 2 Uber, they're a great combo and a noticeable step up from the Little Ego.
 
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