[hughwi]

Hi all,

I have just got a pico, and am rather impressed to say the least. Because of the good first impressions (and the cost) I want to explore the possibility of using the DAC in the pico to feed my speaker system from my laptop (as a pre-amp?) is this a viable solution? or will i be introducing a fair amount of distortion due to the double amping?

I currently have a beresford dac, which i am feeding a coaxial signal, and was wondering if the pico may be a viable alternative. If i was to do this, I guess i will be needing a mini to RCA cable.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. (I was not quite sure where to put this, as it also applies to using my laptop as a source).

Thanks

Hugh

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

many good DAC use opamps in the output stage, like the pico. I find I like the PICO better as just a DAC between my Mac and DarkVoice tube amp than as a headphone amp. The distortion numbers for PICO are also quote low, as some members have tested and published here.

 

[hughwi]

Thanks for the reply headphone addict, so effectively you are saying that it is a possibility? In which case i guess i will have to get a mini to rca cable and start experimenting!

 

[Shore]

Is there any concern with headphone amps that the voltage might be more than the amp wants to see?

If there's already a page or post that answers that, a link if fine.

 

[hughwi]

I was thinking along similar lines shore, but i am assuming from headphone addict's post that he has used the pico as a pre amp without any problems... i cannot see any possible way of using the dac of the pico without utilising its headphone stage...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Yes, I am using as a pre-amp to feed my tube amp with no problems.

 

[DoubleEs]

Just out of interest, at what position is your volume control when used as a pre amp?

 

[MaloS]

Low gain, max volume. Thats basically a line-out when using Pico.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

For me, since the DV336i is 5-6 feet away I set the volume on the 336i for about 50-60% of the way to max, and then use the pico as a pre-amp volume control, since Pico is only 12" from the keyboard, or velcro'd to the lid of the laptop. The loudest I will ever play is with pico at max in low gain, depending on the headphones or program material, but it is usually set for less than max.

I use a 4 foot CablePro Panorama mini-male to mini-female extension from the pico, and connect that to a 3 foot Headphile silver mini-male to RCAx2, for up to 7 feet total between Pico and the 336i (which sits on the shelves behind my lounge chair).

I have 10 feet of APS V3 headphone cable total between me and the home amp, so there is plenty of wiggle room - 4 feet of that is an APS V3 cable with 1/4" plug on pne end and 1/8" jack on the other. So, most of my headphones are re-cabled in 6 feet of APS v3 cable with 1/8" plug. This way I can disconnect the 4 foot section from the home amp, and just connect the 6 foot section's 1/8" plug to my laptop or USB DAC/Amp if I want to.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif Low gain, max volume. Thats basically a line-out when using Pico.

Max volume was a little hot for me, I use 3 o'clock setting which is about equal to line out level of DA100 and MicroDAC, wondering if that harms SQ in any way.

 

[hughwi]

Thanks for the responses guys, i will now start having a play around with the pico, i am guessing it is a better dac than the beresford, and for my uses, the usb connection is brilliant!

 

[tfarney]

I can't say I understand this one. I know many dacs use opamps in the gain stages, but is there not a difference between that and a headphone amp? It's just contradictory information. We hear that amping an amp is a bad thing if, for example, we're talking about putting an amp inline between the headphone out of a portable or computer and headphones. What makes the Pico different?

Tim

 

[Sieg9198]

I think it's because many agree that the PICO's output is clean and neutral, without much coloration and distortion. So it should work fine as a pre-amp.

 

[hughwi]

I will give it a go and report back if it would help, but if headphone addict reckons it works acceptably, i am guessing i will be fine with it. i think the improvements gained from using the superior dac probably outweigh the negatives from double amping...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Iron_Dreamer does it too. He sold me his Apogee Mini-DAC after he replaced it with a Pico. I use the Apogee for optical and coax from CD and DVD, but he only needed a USB DAC and felt the Pico did a better job (they both doth USB well, both up-convert and re-clock to reduce jitter like the Headroom Ultra Micro DAC).

Later, when a used Pico became available, I bought it out of curiosity, and found some use for it as just a DAC in another headphone rig.