[antonyfirst]

Hi guys, I read in the Pico thread (I think it was Wakeride's post) that the Pico dac and the 5.5 gen iMod with V-caps are both equally awesome.
I have never given the iMod much credit, since it's a very expensive setup and it takes a lot of space (plus I always have been a supporter of non-iPod players), but this statement caught my interest.
I always read Pico dac is the best part of such an awesome dac/amp combo, and to have such a good quality in an iMod based rig would really make become an iMod user.
So, what do you think? Have you heard both in order to make an extensive comparison?
Also, if Wakeride can read this threadcan you elaborate more about differences and similarities of the two sources?

Thanks everyone,
Tony

 

[SR-71Panorama]

I wont comment on sound quality, since I've not heard the imod. But the pico's dac unit is a much higher end part than that found in any ipod generation.

 

[Icarium]

I've heard a 4th gen imod.. and I mean I know V-caps are great but a capacitor is not going to bring that crappy ipod dac in line with the pico's.

 

[jamato8]

I read that the iPod uses a Wolfson dac also but a lower end one so it would "seem" that with the higher end dac in the Pico and higher end parts in the rest of the unit that the Pico would have the advantage . . . . but I have heard neither.

 

[antonyfirst]

Thanks for your replies. The question could also be changed in: "how much improvement can a capacitor provide by processing the sound?"

 

[pianomav]

I think someone with the pico and imod could shed some light to this. I'm pretty sure there's someone that has both. I have the imod (without the vcaps) and I also have the DAC1 and apogee minidac but the imod is not that far off from those 2 dacs as far as sound quality goes.

 

[Skylab]

Well, gosh, now I wish the Pico I tested HAD included the USB DAC

But I will say that there is no question that my iMod + VCap sounds better than any of the other USB DACs I have tested. I do think this has partly to do with USB, though. The DAC in my Meier Opera, when being fed from a CD player via coax, sounds very similar to the iMod + VCap (which is to say, truly excellent).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/3599275-post417.html
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/3601607-post437.html

 

[manaox2]

Ok.... now I wish I had a PICO plus DAC.... AGAIN. I can't make up my mind on this issue. I may have to make another portable rig.

 

[Assorted]

I haven't tried a V-cap+iMod, but the 4G iMod is just no where near the Pico DAC as far as I remember. How can I tell? Because there are new bass things I've heard with the Pico DAC, which I didn't with my previous iMod.

 

[slwiser]

From my perspective the only limitation to the Pico that I can think of in it being less that those high-end DACs that use the same dac chip is with the power supply potentially not being as robust or isolated. People note that the Hagusb's use of the 5 volts off the USB cable as a liability. I really don't see this myself. But if there is a limitation to the Pico's dac side it is the use of that voltage. Based on my experience with the Hagusb and properly designed isolation those 5 volts are not that much of a liability in my opinion. So in reality this could be considered a high end DAC as far as I am concern. I iPod DAC just can't complete with the Pico's dac. The iPod dac can sound very good but it is in another level from the Pico dac chip.

 

[Capunk]

Now I want Pico soo bad...
Can't imagine if there's V-CAP inside Pico...

 

[bobloblaw]

My Pico w/ DAC should be here in a week or so, and I'll have to test it out against the iMod. I'd say in terms of sound quality, there's no logical way that a capacitor > DAC in terms of sound quality improvement. Maybe if we were talking about two 16-bit DAC's, the iMod might be better, but the 24/96 DAC on the Pico is one of its key strengths.

I'm still waiting for digital out in some kind of portable way from the iPod, but am not holding my breath...

 

[slwiser]

My iMod with it's Auricap Dock is very good and the Pico would have to be very good indeed to beat it but it would not surprise me due to the reasons I provided above. I now have in house both the Auricap and Vcap Dock to compare. To bad I don't have the Pico as well.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now I want Pico soo bad... Can't imagine if there's V-CAP inside Pico...

Note that for clarity that I did not say that the Pico had a V-cap inside but that the basic chips in the Pico vs the iPod are very different and the Pico's being much better.