[Dr Claudio]

Hallo everyone!
 
I,m a new user but I've read Head-Fi for some weeks. I'm looking for perfect for me sounding portable system.
 
"Perfect for me", so some about me:
For over ten years I've been used shady, dusty sounding Technics RP-HT300. It had been sounded great since I try Phonak's Audeo 012 PB. Now I am not able to returno to sound of 300's. Its bass boosted to much, slow and not resoluted. But my bass-like habbits didn,t disapear -- remember I've been used it by over 10 years. Unamped Phonaks sounds much better, addicting.
 
Why I want to amp it? At first I read many quotes Phonaks can do even better with good amp, second is I'm going to get Ultrasone PRO 2500 because of their rather bassy signature and amazing soundstage. Soundstage is what I love, quantity of bass is what I need.
 
Question is wchich amp will do better both with Phonaks and Ultrasones? I've heard Pico is a bit warmer, it sounds good. I'm in Poland and I couldn,t try them out, especialy with configuration I want.
 
Don't understand me wrong, I'm not bass-head, I'm not looking for bass boosted sound but well balanced without lows defficite and with great lows drive.
 
I'm mostly in 60/70's rock (prog, psychedelia, hard-rock).
 
May be a silly question, but I know what sound I want, but I don't know which device this sound has. I'll be convinced of any replys, advices. I hope I precise my preferences as well.
 
Thanx!

 

[Mad Max]

From what I've read, the Pico is slightly warm.  P-51 is warmer, from what I'm told, and more colored.  Both seem to be excellent.  Pick your poison. 

 

[Dr Claudio]

P-51 doesn't come with charger, does it? Pico does. And it's cheaper.
I wonder someone's tryed them both with kind of PRO 2500 headphones...... 

 

[Freeze]

you should choose the p-51.
 
The pico slim does not have a gain switch so it is permanently set on a low gain i think its 1.2xdB. This is a great low gain for iem's and gives you a lot of range in volume for them. But it's not so great for full size headphones. The p-51 mustang has a 3 position gain so you can power a wider range of HP's. Also the p-51 does a real good job boosting the mids more, gives it it's warm sound and since the ultrasones have recessed mids this combo will work out nicely.

 

[Dr Claudio]

The regular Pico has gain switch, but does it enough? I've seen pictures of Pico with both IEM's and full-size headphones in their specific thread. I had heard about Mustang first -- after I had read portable amps roundup more than few times I thought Mustang will be the best for my ears I even talk with Ray about costs of shipping, but unfortunatly we in Poland started to have currency problems and now exchange isn't so beneficial.
 
 
 
Quote:

Also the p-51 does a real good job boosting the mids more, gives it it's warm sound and since the ultrasones have recessed mids this combo will work out nicely.

 
 
Freeze, your post make my dilemma more clear, thanx! What you said looks like 2500's and P-51 get really nice synnergy. But there are Phonaks too and they have great mids, how do you thintk, won't they sound too strong in the mids?
 
I dont know how it works, but shipping from HeadAmp is cheapper, overal Pico is more budget option. I wonder if Mustang is worth of waiting for next payment day;P

 

[Freeze]

the regular pico would work out nicely too. It has twice the power of the pico slim so it would drive them nicely as well.
 
I think you will be happy with either choice. The p-51 is still the best choice probably but the pico would still do nicely if thats all you can afford.

 

[Dr Claudio]

 
Quote:

if thats all you can afford.

 
I'm afraid. I've just check USD/PLN exchange and it's still getting worst.... :/

 
Freeze, thanx so much! I want amp in a couple of weeks so now I start waiting on currency better situation. If it would come, I'll get Mustang

 
Take care and greetings from Poland!

 

[Freeze]

no problem

 

[kiwirugby]

Quote:

P-51 doesn't come with charger, does it?

Mine did.  Re-charged it yesterday.
 

 

[Dr Claudio]

Do I think right, Mustang boosts mids, but Pico do it too but less?
After Freezes advice, I noticed this amp characteristic will meke with 2500's well combo, so I'm asking about it.

 

[Freeze]

mustang is known for having strong warm mid presence  and ultrasone is known for recessed mids. The 2 should compliment each other well

 

[GreatDane]

From my experience using both amps back to back,Pico is more powerful than P-51. At the time I used HD-650 and P-51 clipped while Pico remained clean at full volume.The P-51 did make the HD-650 sound better(at low to mid volume) to my ears because it does have a mid/ upper mid(?) boost...but it fell apart trying to drive them into mid to upper 80's dB( just a guess, I didn't measure but it choked).

 

[Jalo]

Well, the original Pico amp is more natural, more analytic, more clean/transparent, more amp power and larger in size whereas the P-51, is smaller in size, has an extremely musical and warm sound signature.  Has a "to-die-for" mid range.  They are both excellent amps and if you buy them from the FS forum and find them not to your liking, you'll probably loose very little if you resell them on the forum.  Personally I prefer the P-51.  But I do prefer the Pico Slim over the P-51.

 

[justin w.]

 
Quote:

From my experience using both amps back to back,Pico is more powerful than P-51. At the time I used HD-650 and P-51 clipped while Pico remained clean at full volume.The P-51 did make the HD-650 sound better(at low to mid volume) to my ears because it does have a mid/ upper mid(?) boost...but it fell apart trying to drive them into mid to upper 80's dB( just a guess, I didn't measure but it choked).

That's because the Pico has a 2-cell battery so it can output up to 8V, compared to the other amp you mention (as well as the Pico Slim) being limited to 4V output....so it's twice as powerful.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

 


That's because the Pico has a 2-cell battery so it can output up to 8V, compared to the other amp you mention (as well as the Pico Slim) being limited to 4V output....so it's twice as powerful.

I think we've had this exchange before...my experience and your reason for the outcome.I wanted to post those facts but I wasn't sure of the voltage.