[BeyerMonster]

Anyone get the premium electronics upgrade for the Little? I've got a Little w/ More Power. Any idea what I should expect in sound difference? Right now I'm using relatively cheap source/interconnects, so I don't think a better amp will really matter, but I figured I'd poll for opinons anyway.

 

[Magic77]

BeyerMonster,

I have the Little with the regulated wall wart. How much improvement do you feel the More Power gives you from the regulated wall wart? Or do you have an older version of the Little?

 

[babykenny]

If you have the older version the module upgrade will get you better highs. I recently did mine and I'm very satisfied with the improvment.

 

[fredpb]

I heard the Little and Premium Little side by side for a few days at my condo.

No comparison. The Premium does sound better. Don't know about the extra power though.

 

[antness]

You could try your hand at DIY and replace the opamp in the Little with a better chip such as OPA627/637. I don't know exactly what the premium module consists of, but I imagine that changing the opamp will give you a large portion of the gains relatively cheaply.

 

[andrzejpw]

antness: actually, I think those are the opamps(at least one of them) in the premium upgrade. I'm not sure how easy it would be to upgrade though. . . aren't most of headroom's parts surface mount?

 

[antness]

Yes, but surface mount can be desoldered

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by antness Yes, but surface mount can be desoldered

I'm not sure this is a good idea for a newbie, though.

I also don't know what opamp the base Little uses or what voltage it's running at and HeadRoom (afaik) doesn't support their stuff if you mod it.

I would take on building an amp project before modding the Little. I really think it would be that difficult for someone just starting.

As far as buying the upgrade, you might want to see how much what you really want costs (Premium Little More Power?) and consider selling your current Little. HeadRoom gives you a discount on the upgrades if you buy them all at once so this might be the cheaper route.

 

[mcgino]

Electronically speaking, what is the difference between a Little More Power with Premium Module and a Supreme with a Base Station One?

They both use the Premium Module and are driven by the same power supply as far as I can tell. The Supreme has the option of running on batteries or wall wart. Is that the only difference?

 

[BeyerMonster]

Quote:

Originally posted by mcgino Electronically speaking, what is the difference between a Little More Power with Premium Module and a Supreme with a Base Station One?

Little & Supreme use the Standard Module (Burr Brown 604).

Premium Module uses the Burr Brown 627.


http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=20

http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?...subTopicID=167

 

[mcgino]

Cosmic then... Electronically speaking, what is the difference between a little more power with premium module and a cosmic (other than that you can upgrade the Cosmic with the reference module and you have the battery/wallwart option).

A lot of people compare the Cosmic to the Maxed Out Home, but it seems like it should compare to a little more power with premium module...

 

[BeyerMonster]

Quote:

Originally posted by Magic77 BeyerMonster, I have the Little with the regulated wall wart. How much improvement do you feel the More Power gives you from the regulated wall wart? Or do you have an older version of the Little?

It's hard to quantify, since it was so long ago, but I feel like it tightened up the bass. I can't remember if it had any effect on the highs. I just remember that I was happy with the results, except for the fact that the thing is huge now.

Put it this way, I'm considering plunking down another couple hundred bucks on the Premium Module, so it couldn't have been that bad. =)

 

[BeyerMonster]

Quote:

Originally posted by mcgino Electronically speaking, what is the difference between a little more power with premium module and a cosmic.

As far as I can tell, very little. I think the adjustable gain is just about it...

Assuming you mean Cosmic w/ a BS1. That's about $1000 compared to $679 for the Fully upgraded Little if you bought it all at once. The piecemeal price for the Little is $259 + $249 (more power) and + $349 (for the electronics upgrade). That's a total of $857. WHOA! I guess that is still less than the $999 for a Maxed Out Home. For $350, I might think about trying to sell my Little and buying the fully upgraded version outright...

Oh yeah, I also forgot that the BS1 works slightly differently. It also has some cable that basically lets you plug in your components directly to the BS1. That way the BS1 is like an amp docking station. If you use the cosmic/supreme portably and as a stationary device and switch very often, you just have to plug/unplug one cable...

 

[andrzejpw]

I've heard that the BS1 cable is actually pretty bad. You're much better off plugging your source directly into the cosmic.

From what I've heard from Tyll, the Maxed Out Little > Cosmic, while the premium little is on the same level as the cosmic, maybe a bit better because of the PSU.

Now, from what headroom's site says, the Maxed Out Little should approach the max in performance. :-/ I'm really not sure how much I believe this. It really seems like the best bang for your buck would be the premium little.