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HeadAmp Pico has arrived.. (LARGE unpacking pictures) - Page 4

post #46 of 151
12/25/07 at 6:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by IPodPJ View Post
That would be a pretty useless comparison. The Move is no longer in production. Even if someone preferred the Move, what's the point in recommending it since you can no longer buy it (other than used)?
How would that comparison be useless? The move is still considered a "reference" portable amp. Head-fiers compare current production headphones to limited edition/out-out-production headphones all the time including the K1000, R10, HP2, L3000, etc. If what you said was true, these comparisons are all useless

Just because a product is out of production doesnt mean its hard to come by. The move is readily available on the used section of this forum and furtheremore, Jan is working on an amp that will succeed the move.
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post #47 of 151
12/25/07 at 6:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by IPodPJ View Post
That would be a pretty useless comparison. The Move is no longer in production. Even if someone preferred the Move, what's the point in recommending it since you can no longer buy it (other than used)?
Comparing in production products against discontinued ones are quite common on this forum. Especially when we compare headphones, but also when we compae amplifiers...
I don't why this procedure is useless!

If so, then all those K1000, R10, SR-007 (not mk2), L3000, etc. comparisons are useless as well.
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post #48 of 151
12/25/07 at 7:01pm
i posted this in justin's pre-order thread, but i'll post some additional thoughts as well...

- it's dead quiet with both the er6i and livewires IEM. especially with the livewires i am quite amazed by how quiet it is...i think owners of custome IEMs will be very pleased.

- bass impact is fantastic...bass is of the "tight and slamming" variety as opposed to the deep and rumbling type.

- i love how the volume knob tracks...and how it also serves as the power switch. very smooth but with enough resistance.

- one can really hear the difference between poorly-ripped/encoded recordings and good tracks. flaws are revealed very easily...
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post #49 of 151
12/25/07 at 9:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kugino View Post
- one can really hear the difference between poorly-ripped/encoded recordings and good tracks. flaws are revealed very easily...
What bitrate/format are the poorly-ripped ones using?
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post #50 of 151
12/25/07 at 10:11pm
Jesus Christ... so I finally got home from my parents' house for Christmas and plugged the Pico into my Desktop.

Previously my one complaint might have been a slight lack of impact with the amp. (In use with the Cowon D2).

Now listening to this beast I realize now that the fault lies ENTIRELY with the D2. The resolution/clarity and impact are faultless. Alongside the previously reported ridiculously perfect soundstage... god. I am listening to Mouse on the Keys EP's track one (Piano and drums) and I'm hearing things like the piano player breathing and the slight hiss/thump of a person stepping on the piano's pedals.

Honestly I have yet to hear a DAC before this that solidly betters my overall enjoyment factor in my tubed Wavelength Cosine Dac (An older discontinued wavelength products that weighs in at $3,500 new when in production a year ago)... but the Pico definitely tops it in resolution/clarity/soundstage.

Not that I'm in a hurry to toss out the Wavelength. It's served me well and I enjoy it over the DAC1/Lavry/Apogee for its exceedingly wide soundstage (For a tubed dac), its fun tubed sound and its clarity/detail (Again despite being a tubed dac). Excellent piece of hardware... but the Pico definitely is more my flavor over all.

I was intending to use the Pico as an office rig source... but now I'm thinking about moving the wavelength there and using the Pico as an at home computer source...
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post #51 of 151
12/25/07 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drag0n View Post
Someone please compare the Pico, Predator, and Move, so we got an idea of the sound of each amp compared to amp,,and dac compared to dac.

Im sure most people want to know this comparison.

Wheres SKYLAB???!!! lol
The DAC circuit in the Move(~$230)/Predator($500) /Bithead($149) are all essentially the same off the shelf basic USB DAC while the Pico is really the only one that uses a high-end DAC chip & topology that until now has only been found in home units like the Benchmark DAC1/Bel Canto DACs. And while other units do have similar topologies there is nothing at under $900 dollars or really anything combines the extreme portability (Tiny footprint) with a top notch portable headphone amp.

I suppose design and technical superiority doesn't necessarily translate to sonic superiority... but I have found some correlation ;p DACs especially.

And the Pico doesn't seem to be an exception... its extremely resolving sound is truly first rate.
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post #52 of 151
12/25/07 at 10:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zorander View Post
Is the Pico really worth double the Move?
Yes.
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post #53 of 151
12/25/07 at 11:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icarium View Post
Jesus Christ... so I finally got home from my parents' house for Christmas and plugged the Pico into my Desktop.
.....
...The resolution/clarity and impact are faultless. Alongside the previously reported ridiculously perfect soundstage... god. I am listening to Mouse on the Keys EP's track one (Piano and drums) and I'm hearing things like the piano player breathing and the slight hiss/thump of a person stepping on the piano's pedals.

Honestly I have yet to hear a DAC before this that solidly betters my overall enjoyment factor in my tubed Wavelength Cosine Dac (An older discontinued wavelength products that weighs in at $3,500 new when in production a year ago)... but the Pico definitely tops it in resolution/clarity/soundstage.

Not that I'm in a hurry to toss out the Wavelength. It's served me well and I enjoy it over the DAC1/Lavry/Apogee for its exceedingly wide soundstage (For a tubed dac), its fun tubed sound and its clarity/detail (Again despite being a tubed dac). Excellent piece of hardware... but the Pico definitely is more my flavor over all.

I was intending to use the Pico as an office rig source... but now I'm thinking about moving the wavelength there and using the Pico as an at home computer source...
This is some endorsement....You are talking about the DAC itself but the amp is also a giant in its own right, right?

Maybe you should tame this emotion because this type of reaction is usually taken wrong.

Find something wrong with it so that you can balance your enthuseism and make the other claims more acceptable. Like, the black is not black enough. The surface is too smooth. There should be a second unit that comes with this just to put in into to make it weight 30 pounds and large as a shoe box or two. The Pico is ASRC not SSRC, right?

Since I got my Xin Reference beta and heard the early beta Pico at the July meet I have said quality sound is coming down in price and size. What a perfect example.
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post #54 of 151
12/25/07 at 11:24pm
I have been saying it for some time and I know others have, well a few say they will never match, stated that portables will at some time, and I don't think very far off in the future if not now nestled within our midst, going to sound as good as home amps in every way. It used to take a couple of rooms, large ones at that, to try and do what our mini computers can do now. I also think that current/power delivery to phones will be ample and as can be seen on home amps, not all amps are for all phones.
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post #55 of 151
12/26/07 at 2:05am
^^ i doubt it, as the power supply will always be crippled/limited due to its small size.
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post #56 of 151
12/26/07 at 2:18am
I hear you but I think that will be overcome. I always rely on well done large power supplies for my home equipment. My preamp has dual tube rectified power supplies with transformers of beautiful iron and ultra high quality and it sounds fantastic but I still think it can be done.
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post #57 of 151
12/26/07 at 2:24am
If outputting to external (amplified) speakers should the pico volume be set to the minimum setting that allows it to be on? (with PC use, wave volume set to max)

To make things further complicated these speakers would be connected to the audio out of an HDTV, so essentially I'd be swapping at the HP out on the pico. Would this lead to premature wear on the jack, or should I just keep the TBAAM and have both connected and disable one or the other in windows when not in use.
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post #58 of 151
12/26/07 at 2:24am
If possible, can some of you folks run the Pico out to a dedicated amp and share your impressions of how the Pico performs as a source only?
I'm really curious if the comparisons to the ~$1k dacs still apply when used in this manner.
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post #59 of 151
12/26/07 at 3:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhaedrusX View Post
If possible, can some of you folks run the Pico out to a dedicated amp and share your impressions of how the Pico performs as a source only? I'm really curious if the comparisons to the ~$1k dacs still apply when used in this manner.
but the amp portion still runs though, right? i mean, there is no line out for strict DAC only use.
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post #60 of 151
12/26/07 at 3:14am
You can use it as a usb dac and amp or as a stand alone amp but not as a dac only.
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Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › HeadAmp Pico has arrived.. (LARGE unpacking pictures)