Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › Headphone Amp Questions.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Headphone Amp Questions.

post #1 of 4
11/7/09 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,

I've been thinking about adding a portable amp to my gear until money and space is available for a full home rig and I have a few questions that I hope will help me decide.
1. My first question is should I get an amp with a built in dac. If I'm using a Pico(Amp+Dac) and have it connected via a LOD to my ipod will I notice a remarked improvement in sq compared to the amp connected to my pc via usb.
2. Can a battery powered amp such as the Pico and the RSA Predator drive high impedance cans say up to 600ohms.
The next questions are regarding the Lisa III.
1. With the added power supply is the Lisa III able to drive high impedance cans.
2.The default gain setting is 5 is this adequate for low and high impedance cans. I was thinking of a setting of 10.
3. Can a standalone dac be added to the Lisa(I would like to keep all options open)

I hope my questions make sense.

Cheers

Peter
Reply
post #2 of 4
11/7/09 at 10:45pm
1) No, the iPod will not output digitally to the DAC, so the signal is still subject to the iPod DAC. (Your comparison is odd, but i'm saying that a DAC will be great for your PC, but be useless with your iPod)
2) A portable amp will not be capable of driving high-impedance headphones, but there will still be improvement, a desktop model is needed to really make them sing.
3) Dunno
4) Dunno
5) Yes, the signal chain will be Source --> DAC --> Amp --> Headphones.
Reply
post #3 of 4
11/8/09 at 12:09am
Thread Starter 
Thanks logwed for taking the time to answer my questions. So now I have to decide which will give me the best SQ when listening via ipod and PC. The contenders are the Pico(Amp+Dac),RSA Predator and the Lisa III with outboard DAC for PC listening. This of course is the most expensive configuration and the top of my budget.
I'm still hoping to hear if the Lisa with the added Power Supply will be sufficient to drive high impedance cans as the amp is now powered via a mains line and what would be a middle ground for the gain setting.

Cheers

Peter
Reply
post #4 of 4
11/9/09 at 3:37pm
Maybe look into the ALO Rx.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Portable Headphone Amps
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › Headphone Amp Questions.