This looks perfect for me as an all-in-one solution for my HD650s (it has been mentioned to be able to drive the HD650s very well). I currently have nothing to run my HD650s since I sold my Lavry, and was about to get a Zhaolu for a simple route, but I might as well wait for this!
I await with anticipation and look forward to being hopefully one of the first to purchase one.
Originally Posted by akwok /img/forum/go_quote.gif This looks perfect for me as an all-in-one solution for my HD650s (it has been mentioned to be able to drive the HD650s very well). I currently have nothing to run my HD650s since I sold my Lavry, and was about to get a Zhaolu for a simple route, but I might as well wait for this!
I await with anticipation and look forward to being hopefully one of the first to purchase one.
Looking forward to your overly enthusiastic review, followed by the purging
hi,
sorry if this question was answered before but what is the status of having an optical out on this amp/dac combo? i mean sizewise with an usb/optical/amp, this would have to be the bestest thing out their in terms of portability. a must for h1** users! is the dac better than the D1, move, headroom? if so, i would'nt see how much of a difference adding in a optical out would be...
Originally Posted by lmfboy01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hi,
sorry if this question was answered before but what is the status of having an optical out on this amp/dac combo? i mean sizewise with an usb/optical/amp, this would have to be the bestest thing out their in terms of portability. a must for h1** users! is the dac better than the D1, move, headroom? if so, i would'nt see how much of a difference adding in a optical out would be...
Not going to happen in this size. Justin said he may look into it in a year or so but it would be in a bigger enclosure than the Pico.
Originally Posted by lmfboy01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hi,
sorry if this question was answered before but what is the status of having an optical out on this amp/dac combo? i mean sizewise with an usb/optical/amp, this would have to be the bestest thing out their in terms of portability. a must for h1** users! is the dac better than the D1, move, headroom? if so, i would'nt see how much of a difference adding in a optical out would be...
I'm going to make some assumptions here, I'm guessing the overall design goal was to offer an ultra-portable DAC/Amp combo with unheard of quality at its size and price point, I mean we're talking a DAC/Amp combo here that's the approximate size of a Tomahawk with quality approaching and even possibly surpassing the likes of an Apogee Mini-DAC. It's meant to play in a different league than the other USB DAC/Amp combo's that we've seen thus far.
In order to achieve these goals I assume Justin had to make some design decisions, the DAC itself is powered via USB not battery so in order to add in an optical or coax output a bigger battery would have to be employed to achieve acceptable battery life. A bigger battery as well as more input and output options means a larger enclosure.
As has been mentioned a larger version with more versatile input/output options may be on the horizon but it will take some time to see the light of day. I would think whether or not this happens will be partially determined by demand as well as the success of the Pico. For myself, the larger more versatile version would be the ultimate but the Pico will do in the meantime.
Another thing to remember about adding Optical input. Only iRiver H1X0 has an optical out. These are old players that are slowly dying (still love mine) and there is nothing else that has optical out. So if Justin released a version with optical out, very limited amount of people would be able to use it. Yes Mac products and optical out, but they also have USB so its not a big deal IMHO.
You guys gotta think about work that goes into making these things... sometimes it is just not worth it. However, a nice home DAC with all kinds of inputs and outputs would be sweet so may be Justin will release something like that instead of portable DAC with optical in.
Originally Posted by MrSlacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another thing to remember about adding Optical input. Only iRiver H1X0 has an optical out. These are old players that are slowly dying (still love mine) and there is nothing else that has optical out. So if Justin released a version with optical out, very limited amount of people would be able to use it. Yes Mac products and optical out, but they also have USB so its not a big deal IMHO.
You guys gotta think about work that goes into making these things... sometimes it is just not worth it. However, a nice home DAC with all kinds of inputs and outputs would be sweet so may be Justin will release something like that instead of portable DAC with optical in.
I wouldn't say there is nothing else beyond the iRiver's with optical, plenty of PCDP's have had optical outputs and there are various other portable or semi-portable solutions such as the Roland R-09 with optical out. I'm also hoping to see a resurgence of digital outputs offered on portable gear but that may just be a dream.
Also consider though that if the quality of the Pico is even close to what has been reported so far there will be people like myself who would use a larger, more versatile version as not only a portable DAC/Amp but as a home DAC/Amp in a speaker setup as well. My computer is in the same room so at this point it wouldn't be a big deal to use the Pico with my computer for headphone use but I'd definately pay a bit more and sacrifice a bit on size to have something that, in addition to portable use, I could use in my speaker rig as well.
In the end I think people generally have different uses, requirements and budgets. As an example, where you might look at a larger version as unnecessary it excites the heck out of me because I really can't afford multiple setups. Don't get me wrong though I definitely think the ultra-portable Pico is the right product for Justin to introduce at this point in time but complementing it with a larger, more versatile version and maybe even a standalone portable DAC with multiple input/output options as well would round out the offerings for a nice line of portable gear that would suit just about any headphone geeks needs. Like you I do think a home DAC would be a nice addition to his lineup as well, in fact I mentioned this to him back when I had my GS-1. I'm not a designer but I suspect that the Pico would lay much of the ground work for the other portables suggested whereas I suspect if Justin were to do a home DAC it would be much more of a from the ground up design.
Alas this thread was not meant to talk about those possibilities though, we're here to talk about and drool over the Pico.
Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I loved that little guy. How much HD space in there? Considering the batter and size of the Mini-DAC, the P1610+Pico seems like a better solution than iHP-120+DAC (unless there is another, smaller DAC than the Mini-DAC, which sounds better, has better battery life, and accepts optical; I doubt it.)
I have a 60GB 1.8" HDD in there. So not a huge drive. I guess you could fit the 80GB Toshiba in the iHP-140. So if you were ever tempted to do so, you should get that drive ASAP, as it has been discontinued, and it's replacement is a ZIF connection only.
If I didn't already have the P1610, I'd look into getting a cheaper UMPC, one with a 2.5" HDD possibly to be able to shoehorn the largest capacity possible in a small form factor.
I purchased HippoHifi Bloat with full upgrades, I'd like to get this and compare the two(the dac/amp version). Before I ask to be on the pre-order list, is it powered by the battery or the usb? I've read the thread, but I'm a little bit confused on what the power source is.
Originally Posted by mistahan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I purchased HippoHifi Bloat with full upgrades, I'd like to get this and compare the two(the dac/amp version). Before I ask to be on the pre-order list, is it powered by the battery or the usb? I've read the thread, but I'm a little bit confused on what the power source is.
From my understanding the amp is powered by the battery while the DAC is powered via USB.
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