Is it true that the DUO-R's have cheaper internal components?

[Otaking]

Back when the original Japanese PC-Engine DUO (Black) was released I bought one and to me personally cosmetically it was the most gorgeous looking console I'd ever seen (and still is my favourite to this day) also I loved that it had a headphone socket which I found very useful back in the day as with headphones I was able to crank the volume up to rediculous levels on games like Gate/Winds of Thunder without annoying family in adjacent rooms.
Then later I read in the press just as the DUO-R was going to be released it said although the actual DUO-R console case was larger than the original DUO the DUO-R was a cheaper version of the DUO where the internal components where swapped out for cheaper replacements and the headphone socket was removed so then it was retailed at a lower price alongside the then higher priced original DUO.

So does anyone know if it was true about the cheaper internal DUO-R components?

[termis]

I wouldn't doubt that story.  Usually, revisions are made specifically for those reasons.  This pattern is nothing unusual (NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn, etc, etc,)

But the end result is that Duo-Rs have been more reliable than the original Duo units, so unless you really prefer the aesthetics of the original Duo (I'm actually one of these cases), or you really, really want the headphone jack, Duo-R might be a better bet for most people.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I wanted the headphone jack, but then I realized my stereo system had a headphone jack, so I went "oh, duh"

and plugged the headphones into that.

[SignOfZeta]

I haven't compared the boards, but I'd assume this is true. Maybe not cheaper components, but possibly fewer components (ie: losing the headphone jack). There was a considerable price drop for the Duo R.