[krisio06]

Hi guys,

I live with that combo for some of the time and I absolutely adore it. I have been wondering which portable amp would much the best with it and upgrade the sound the best. What portable amp can you recomend me? SR71A, P51 Mustang, Pico, Predator? Which is better for h340 and HD 25-1 ?

Cheers,
Charles

 

[qusp]

I very much enjoyed my HD-25 I-II with my pico when I had them; both items have since moved on due to me liking to turn things over a little (and someone 'permanently borrowed' my HD25

) the sweet and extended highs, slightly lush midrange and tight and low, yet accurate bass of the pico compliment the senns nicely; just enough warmth and sparkle to bring the sometimes a little flat senns to life, without going overboard and it has power to burn for these cans. only other one out of your list I have heard is the predator. I would not recommend it for these as its overtly warm sound sig is too much IMO and also takes about 1000hrs burn-in to come into its own

 

[krisio06]

What player did you hear the Pico + HD 25-1 with? From what I've read, Pico is rather analytical that warm sounding. Which one has better soundstage?
I have to say that internal DAC is not needed but can be a useful feature.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krisio06 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What player did you hear the Pico + HD 25-1 with? From what I've read, Pico is rather analytical that warm sounding. Which one has better soundstage? I have to say that internal DAC is not needed but can be a useful feature.

with my iphone 3G, DIYMOD 5.5G and iriver ihp120. perhaps warm isnt right, its more slightly lush, but only in the mids. The bass is very matter of fact and deep and the highs are non-fatiguing and smooth, but very detailed. the pico IMO is one of the rare few that somehow maintains a very transparent and detailed (not analytical IMO) SQ, but also provides a nice touch of warmth where it counts (the mids) I would go so far to say that the pico has the best sounding midrange (not really forward) I have heard apart from my Lisa III. So possibly even natural is suitable to describe it, just enough to give it some character rather than being overtly coloured. The soundstage is very wide, quite deep, and very accurate as its one of the quietest portables i've heard as well, so detail is very apparent. i'm not the best person to talk to about the predator as I dont like it really; if there is any colour, in general I like it to be from my headphones, not the amp. Some people will love it (predator) because of this, but just not my cup of tea I guess. I miss the pico sometimes and would have loved to keep it, I deliberated about the sale for quite some time, but upraditus got the better of me in the end, along with a bad case of impatience., I wanted the optical dac of my D10 to use with my iriver. the build of pico is possibly the best of its type as well tiny, but solid. for me its no contest, but YMMV

 

[krisio06]

Hmm, that's interesting what you are saying. To be honest, mine choices were P51 and Pico. Pico because it looks sweet and has an internal DAC. P51 because it's smaller and more practical.

"The bass is very matter of fact and deep and the highs are non-fatiguing and smooth, but very detailed. the pico IMO is one of the rare few that somehow maintains a very transparent and detailed (not analytical IMO) SQ, but also provides a nice touch of warmth where it counts (the mids) I would go so far to say that the pico has the best sounding midrange (not really forward) I have heard apart from my Lisa III. So possibly even natural is suitable to describe it, just enough to give it some character rather than being overtly coloured."

I am very pleased of that because I like that soundings amps. Detailed but not analitycal.

What can you also recommend?

 

[qusp]

short answer as i'm going to bed; its past 3am here

not unusual for me though. if you are definitely getting a dac/amp; I would recommend the D10 over the pico even. it is a bit larger, but provides more flexibility with optical and coax inputs and line-out. it uses the same dac chip as the pico too. also has op-amp rolling to customize your sound to suit your tastes. with the 'right' op-amps IMO the amp section is a match as well possibly even superior. anyway i'm off to bed. oh BTW they wont have the D10 back in stock for a couple of weeks, but they ship very quickly and i'm in love with mine. pick up an iriver with optical out and you can use the dac on the move without a laptop too. wicked little thang it is

 

[krisio06]

hmm, D10 is very interesting, op-amp rolling sounds great. I've seen recommended op-amp in jamato8's thread. But what about Meier Audio Corda 3Move?
As I calculated, these amps are at exactly the same price ( well, 10$ does not make any differences ). How would you compare 3Move to the D10 ( the amp section is more important for me )?
I've read HeadphoneAddict's portable DAC review and was shocked that D10 contains the sound characterictis of Predator and Pico ( and it costs nearly half of the price ).

 

[krisio06]

Anyone?