[Dr`Ken]

Hey there guys,

I plan on making a purchase of a portable headphone amp/dac, and was looking for some more opinions. I've narrowed my choices down to 2 amps: the (drum-roll) HeadAmp Pico or the RSA Predator. I've heard many great things about both amps, but I'm having a little bit of a hard time choosing (sadly I can only afford one.) So instead of asking which one is "the best/better than the other" I'd just like to ask which is the amp with better synergy given my preferences and current gear.

Current Gear:
Shure SE530, (I plan on acquiring a pair of those drop-dead gorgeous JH13Pros as my next IEM, just something to keep in mind when thinking of synergy)
Cowon D2, My Laptop (for sources, and I've encoded my entire library in FLAC format)

Musical Preferences:
They're all over the board but...
Lots of Indie music (Belle & Sebastian, Of Montreal, Voxtrot, the Album Leaf to name a few)
Electronic (I Am Robot and Proud, Ratatat, etc.)
Classical (Dvorak, Gershwin, Schubert, etc)
All the way to progressive rock (Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You...)

I'd say that overall my musical preference can be defined as laid back, but I do enjoy it when my music is loud, boomy, and engaging (not too neutral if you will) and just "get's you going."
Well now that all that is over, have at it! (Any Headphoneus Supremus' in the house?

)

Edit: I apologize in advance if this thread is redundant, I recognize that there are many threads comparing these two amps, and I truly do appreciate your input

 

[qusp]

well having spent a good deal of time with a pico, its a great dac/amp, but I prefer my iBasso D10. I own both SE530 and JH13 and both play very nicely with the D10. it costs considerably less; even with upgraded (topkit) opamps. and if you have a source with optical output (perhaps your laptop or home PC??) IMO it kills the predator and betters the pico on soiund quality and certainly it is much more flexible. it can be used via analogue line in as amp only, and via USB (about on par with pico via USB), coax and optical digital input, with true lineout functionality, rather than emulated line-out functionality.

the Pico has slightly better build quality and is smaller, which are about the only advantages as I see it. the predator has a weak quality DAC IMO and shouldnt really be considered, the warmer sound of the predator can be emulated with the right opamp combination anyway. the predator also takes a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG time of burn-in to sound its best, some say over 1000hrs

at which point the amp sounds quite nice, but too bass heavy for my tastes and the Dac is still under the performance of the others. IMO the D10 and pico sound pretty good out of the box, while generally taking about 150-200hrs for D10 and only a very short time with pico; I only really noticed improvements in the amp section over the first 50hrs or so.

hope that helps

good luck its a difficult road, but having spent a great deal of time and not a small amount of money on finding the 'best' sounding portable rig, I have happily ended up with the D10 (also using it as dac only feeding my Lisa III amp, but it is more than good without it, i'm just sick

ibasso's support is also IMO second to none as far as service is concerned.

oh also we have pretty similar and eclectic music tastes as well

massive attack, tool, Hybrid, Daft Punk, Trentmoller, ben harper, Bach, Chopin etc etc

 

[chesterqw]

i won't choose the predator( some how :/ it doesn't attract me)
i will choose the pico or D10
pico for it's beautiful build and quality and also because you won't need to tune anything to get the best sound out of it.

D10 for the price factor!(amazing price) and you can tweak it to your likings.

both will get you smiling

 

[milford302009]

another 1 for D10, save the money from pico and grab yourself a ihp1xx with D10.. with the optical output it'll b quiet a bit better then D2 headphone out > (some similar level amp)... no need for electronic cables... i doubt there's any difference in optical cables (tho shorter is prob better)...
and for an extra $45-60 grab a great topkit (i suggest hiflight's latest 1 2141/8201) it will sound great...
they have the quickest delivery service i've seen took about 3 days...

 

[Dr`Ken]

Wow, I just checked out the D10 and am a little blown away by the price (and the DAC chip) And am now seriously considering this. But I'm not really an expert on tweaking with the internals (changing the opamps, although I'm sure I can figure it out.) So it perks my curiosity to also ask what kind of opamps can really make the d10 shine? and where can I get them?

BTW: All the input has helped a lot, and it makes everything so much easier, thank you. Oh and as far as choices go, I'm leaning toward the D10 (very attractive price, and I can afford it right now as opposed to saving for the pico)

 

[chesterqw]

there is a thread on the D10 and opamp combinations for it

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f105/i...1-71-a-399315/

 

[Dr`Ken]

Thank you to all for your input! I've made the decision to get the D10 (honestly can't beat the price and the flexibility.) And I just remembered that my laptop has an optical out port, so I'll be putting this amp to good use. Thanks for bringing the existence of the D10 to my attention, I'm sure I'll get a kick out of this thing.

 

[Mo Killah]

Good Choice