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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 17:34:14 GMT
Anyone have any experience of this amp? www.laaudiofile.com/little.html I just won one and, as far as I know, it's the standard version I'm getting and not the premium which has OPA627 on board. I have plenty of AD soic chips kicking about so will try a few of them out in this little guy
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Feb 24, 2008 18:19:33 GMT
I might have known it was you who beat me to this Mike!
You seem to be on an amp buying spree at the moment.
I will be interested to see what you do with it.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 20:16:26 GMT
I might have known it was you who beat me to this Mike! My apologies, if I'd known I would have held back..... so you're the bugger who hiked the price up? Older types yes. Just as Joelongwood is the "keeper of the 'phones" I propose becomming the "keeper of the headamps". I'm not driving anymore so saving myself around £60 a week, with that £60 per week I can build up quite a nice little museum of amps..... I once had about 33 in the house and sold most of them off, the worst thing I did (after selling my vinyl collection) as each of those amps had it's own unique character.... nothing quite like going into the cabinet and pulling out the amp of your choice for a particular occasion.... it's not greed, it may be bordering on a illness but I like to think of it as pleasurable pastime ;D Maybe we can do a similar thing to what they used to do on head-Fi.... if a particular member is interested in something they let us all know and we will hold back from bidding on that item.... anyways you have first refusal if I decide to offload it. Yeh....... so will I
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Feb 24, 2008 21:33:10 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 21:56:08 GMT
I was pipped at the post on the K-501, not too worried though as I need another pair like a hole in the head Found out a bit more on the Headroom Little: owners manual hereBasically the standard little retailed @ $249 and came with 2 x OPA604 on board (the single version of the OPA2604) For another $249 you could add the "more" power supply (a regulated job) for another $200 (or so) you could add the "premium" module which I believe is much the same as the standard module except 2 x OPA627 are fitted instead of the OPA604. Maybe Miguel has a better idea of the price of the upgrades? Anyways, the Little I have just won appears to be the standard version.... it will be simple to upgrade it to the "premium module" by whipping out the OPA604 and adding a couple of OPA627 in their place.... I have a few SOIC OPA627 kicking about so the "premium module" upgrade will essentially be free A half decent 15V regulated PSU shouldn't cost more than £20 to knock up so this guy can be bought up to "premium module with Little more power" quite cheaply. The two caps can also be be improved on for not very much money..... looks like a fun little amp eh? May well try AD825 and a few of the other AD chips as well as the 627.
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Feb 24, 2008 23:01:08 GMT
I have listened to this amp Mike though was a while back (in dog years a REALLY long time ago ) so going on memory here bud. I can say the amp has a smooth rather than etched sound,pretty much the HeadRoom "house" sound (even though Tyll would probably like to shoot me for suggesting there even IS a house sound.........) but more so making the amp ideally suited to the consumer who would be the most likely to purchase the Little rather than one of the more expensive amps because they would be again more likely to have a source that has less than "stellar" SQ creating a kinda ying/yang combination that at the end of sounds pleasing with music.Plug 'er into a high resolution front end and the flaws become noticeable. Now these "flaws" are not GLARING nor are they of the "added information" type (noise,transistor grain,etc.) but are more flaws of omission that given a choice is what mine would be. The omissions,and again these are not extreme flaws but more a "fuzzy wuzzy" vintage era tube sound thing that melds notes together rather than pull them out and surround them with air and causes low level detail to be more reticent than part a musical performance with its own dynamic life. Is the "Little" a good amp ? Yes,if used in its "niche" area of mid-fi sources and cans.Can it be improved upon ? Again yes : Lose the 604's (great chip for general line level audio work,just not for headphones where the ear/transducer coupling is so intimate ) and if you want to retain the "house" sound go with the 627,for close to the same smoothness but with more "slam" the AD825 though to be honest the best match may well be the AD843 but that is a dual chip soooo.......... bottom line is HeadRoom knows its market so what you gain as you step up in their line is more and more resolution to meld with better and better systems while retaining a similiarity of sound that sounds more often than not uncanny with Senns that tells me the amps are voiced on the bench using them rickmonster
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 23:08:47 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 23:22:13 GMT
Cheers Miguel but I haven't received it yet and am not contemplating trading it in BTW..... shouldn't be too long before I start on the Millet, I've got quite a few things to finish working on first but once the backlog has cleared the Millet will get built.
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Feb 24, 2008 23:27:42 GMT
Aha...... this guy says the amp with full monty upgrades would cost $659 (£335 GBP) quite expensive really! hard to justify unless you are one that purchased the amp when you had a mid-fi system then as you upgraded found the amp was the weak link and rather than buy a new amp improved the current one.Not a stretch when you see what some knucklheads pay to have their "low end" DVD players upgraded by a mod service (rather than just spend the GD bucks up front for a good one ) OR they just like the way it looks and so are determined to make it right a very surprising review because not at all what I remember. Two things are possible here : 1-The unit I heard was the upgrade module amp 2-the guy is using GREAT sources with an amp never meant to be used in such a system and because of that the flaws are more exposed. YYou don't use a "budget" amp with a refernce system or you are looking to be dissapointed.There is also the MAX and the Little being "In THe House !" at the same time thus open to being directly compared and THAT just ain't a fair test when you consider the targeted buyer AND the price difference. I mean what idiot manufacturer would make his entry model sound as good as the flagship model ? Expecting the bottom of ther food chain to compete with the top is asking a sheep to become a wolf-not happenin' dude So again the botom line is the amp IS suited to the "niche" it was designed to fill and IS upgradeable but there IS a point of diminishing returns if you are a consumer but not so very much if you know what end of a soldering iron gets hot ;D
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Post by senj on Feb 24, 2008 23:46:48 GMT
Me! For my Ergos. I'm the highest bidder so far.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 24, 2008 23:56:04 GMT
I have listened to this amp Mike though was a while back (in dog years a REALLY long time ago ) so going on memory here bud. I can say the amp has a smooth rather than etched sound,pretty much the HeadRoom "house" sound (even though Tyll would probably like to shoot me for suggesting there even IS a house sound.........) but more so making the amp ideally suited to the consumer who would be the most likely to purchase the Little rather than one of the more expensive amps because they would be again more likely to have a source that has less than "stellar" SQ creating a kinda ying/yang combination that at the end of sounds pleasing with music.Plug 'er into a high resolution front end and the flaws become noticeable. Now these "flaws" are not GLARING nor are they of the "added information" type (noise,transistor grain,etc.) but are more flaws of omission that given a choice is what mine would be. The omissions,and again these are not extreme flaws but more a "fuzzy wuzzy" vintage era tube sound thing that melds notes together rather than pull them out and surround them with air and causes low level detail to be more reticent than part a musical performance with its own dynamic life. Is the "Little" a good amp ? Yes,if used in its "niche" area of mid-fi sources and cans.Can it be improved upon ? Again yes : Lose the 604's (great chip for general line level audio work,just not for headphones where the ear/transducer coupling is so intimate ) and if you want to retain the "house" sound go with the 627,for close to the same smoothness but with more "slam" the AD825 though to be honest the best match may well be the AD843 but that is a dual chip soooo.......... bottom line is HeadRoom knows its market so what you gain as you step up in their line is more and more resolution to meld with better and better systems while retaining a similiarity of sound that sounds more often than not uncanny with Senns that tells me the amps are voiced on the bench using them rickmonster A superb post Rick and you didn't use the "ass" word once! Vintage Rickster that post was. Yup, I already had the AD-825 earmarked for this little puppy..... I checked and have 12 of them sitting there begging to be rolled into something (poor little blighters they've been in that box for years) May just be what the doctor ordered in this amp. This little guys main duty will be as a TV amp, I think it will be perfect for that... watching the occasional film with headphones on. It looks relatively unobtrusive so will slot in just where I want it to go. You know Rick, I think I'm starting to really get into all this again. There was a period there where I totally lost interest but I am definitely feeling the urge to go bonkers with everything headphone / headphone amp related again. The joint is absolutely bursting at the seams with components and it's about time I put them to good use! Have you got anything on the go over your side of the pond?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2008 0:02:37 GMT
Me! For my Ergos. I'm the highest bidder so far. Good luck man! Don't chase it though if it starts going crazy in price... remember these amps were £70 new back in the day..... probably £45 - £55 is a good price to pay. Always a good idea to re cap anything over 10 years old so factor that into the cost too... re capping does make a very big improvement to SQ, both myself and Canjunkie have recently re capped ours and noticed a pretty huge improvement. If you do win it and want advice on fitting new caps do not hesitate to ask. Once again, good luck! It will certainly drive your ERGO's very well.
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Feb 25, 2008 1:02:16 GMT
forgot to do my "angry white boy" act and let my normally well hidden normal side out by accident but I thought the topic deserved a real response.Vintage because I have been pretty much pissed at the world this last year or so leaving very little room for any thoughtful posting (tunnel vision thingy) or for any joy in the topic which at one time was close to me Seems like an ideal match.The amp really is quitre attractive if a bit "stunted" in the front to back depth area which if deeper would have provided the additional room for a more serious power supply regulator.As for TV with Headphones look to a pair slightly fat and bright rather than nuetral.The requirements for musical accuracy really don't sit well with movie viewing which needs the slight "assist" to be truly enjoyable I'm still a bit caught out having no "bench" to speak of,no room to work that truly suits the sprawl I need since I am for the first time living in an apartment instead of an entire house but for the first time in a DAMN long time there is an interest again and when that happens things have a way of moving towards creation. My main problem is my projects are very expensive to imlement being mostly tube gear or pure Class-A solid state that is all heat sinks and power supply. Even my passive audio projects use "iron" in all aspects of the deign from coupling to passive networks,again costly ,so must be well planned in advance before any parts are actually ordered but still,the itch is back after a long spell of AWOL so we'll see what shakes out of this tree after I bang on it a bit.Could be fun
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Post by dc on Feb 25, 2008 2:05:45 GMT
rick pretty sure the AD843 is a single opamp
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2008 2:17:55 GMT
rick pretty sure the AD843 is a single opamp Yes, it is. Rick was probably referring to the AD823 which is a dual.
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Feb 25, 2008 2:38:50 GMT
mind is slipping a bit is all......no biggy
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 25, 2008 2:46:02 GMT
mind is slipping a bit is all......no biggy Join the club mate
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Feb 25, 2008 9:22:26 GMT
Me! For my Ergos. I'm the highest bidder so far. OK I will refrain from bidding this time! Good luck
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Post by senj on Feb 25, 2008 9:47:26 GMT
^^^Thanks! Good luck man! Don't chase it though if it starts goig crazy in price... remember these amps were £70 new back in the day..... probably £45 - £55 is a good price to pay. Always a good idea to re cap anything over 10 years old so factor that into the cost too... re capping does make a very big improvement to SQ, both myself and Canjunkie have recently re capped ours and noticed a pretty huge improvement. If you do win it and want advice on fitting new caps do not hesitate to ask. Once again, good luck! It will certainly drive your ERGO's very well. Cheers! I was wondering what price to head for. How much would all those tweaks cost?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 27, 2008 11:28:57 GMT
^^^Thanks! Good luck man! Don't chase it though if it starts goig crazy in price... remember these amps were £70 new back in the day..... probably £45 - £55 is a good price to pay. Always a good idea to re cap anything over 10 years old so factor that into the cost too... re capping does make a very big improvement to SQ, both myself and Canjunkie have recently re capped ours and noticed a pretty huge improvement. If you do win it and want advice on fitting new caps do not hesitate to ask. Once again, good luck! It will certainly drive your ERGO's very well. Cheers! I was wondering what price to head for. How much would all those tweaks cost? Around £10 tops.
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Post by canjunkie on Feb 27, 2008 11:45:34 GMT
Looks like the MB45 just hit £48 - do you think the word's out Mike.
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Feb 27, 2008 12:06:49 GMT
Looks like the MB45 just hit £48 - do you think the word's out Mike. Not me as agreed!!
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Post by canjunkie on Feb 27, 2008 12:27:04 GMT
Didn't mean to cast any aspersions bullpup I'd somehow rather it did go to a grotto member (grottie?)though , it'd seem a waste for someone to buy it and never know what it was capable of.
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bullpup
Been here a while!
How much is that doggy in the window?
Posts: 517
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Post by bullpup on Feb 27, 2008 13:26:24 GMT
Didn't mean to cast any aspersions bullpup I'd somehow rather it did go to a grotto member (grottie?)though , it'd seem a waste for someone to buy it and never know what it was capable of. Sorry I didn't mean to imply that you were - My fault I should have added a smiley or something to show that I was trying to be funny!!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Feb 27, 2008 16:36:51 GMT
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