How good is PICO dac?

[hadden]

Read some comments about the dac being especially good in the Pico. The real star of the unit. What's peoples experience trying it with their headamps etc. I thought of hooking it up with a glite for a nice little combo, but maybe the lite would be more sideways than better than the internal amp.

[tyrion]

The Pico dac is excellent, especially considering price and size. I've used it in my home system when my Duet was out on loan with a Cary SLI-80 (speakers and headphones) and while there might have been some drop off in SQ, I could have been very happy with the SQ I was getting. I can't say how it would be with your G'lite or which amp is better. Buy one, try it out and if it's not what you want, return or sell it. Let you own ears decide, if at all possible.

[bjw]

Does the pico charge at all through the USB interface .. or is it powered when plugged into the usb interface (thus eliminating battery drain)?

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere and I missed it or can't find it.

[grawk]

Does the pico charge at all through the USB interface .. or is it powered when plugged into the usb interface (thus eliminating battery drain)?

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere and I missed it or can't find it.

No, and no.

The dac is powered by usb.

The battery is charged by the charger, and the amp powered by it while plugged in.

[bjw]

Ah, bummer. Thanks.

[aardvark baguette]

FWIW I was able to run my HD650 all damn night the first night I opened my PICO from the mail packaging. It came fully charged (I can only assume). I listened to some music and played a bunch of Crysis. I lost track of time, but it was definitely the entire evening after work, and at least some of the next evening before running out of steam. Then I plugged it in. I havent used it again yet, since I got 2 picos, but its pretty nice. You can use it for a great while, then plug it in while you sleep, as you would an ipod or iphone. No big deal.

[bjw]

heh, I go in to work at 6am and usually don't wake up until closer to 10am. If I don't pack my laptop bag and such the night before I will likely forget and leave it on my desk at home when I leave in the morning (or even worse, I often forget the power cord and forced to use my work assigned windows desktop when my macbook loses it's battery).

This may be a dumb question, but does the amp function while it is charging?

[aardvark baguette]

I haven't tried it, but I'd be surprised if it didn't.

[grawk]

heh, I go in to work at 6am and usually don't wake up until closer to 10am. If I don't pack my laptop bag and such the night before I will likely forget and leave it on my desk at home when I leave in the morning (or even worse, I often forget the power cord and forced to use my work assigned windows desktop when my macbook loses it's battery).

This may be a dumb question, but does the amp function while it is charging?

Yup, it does. Leave the pico power cord at work .

If I had a habit of regularly forgetting power cords, I'd probably own multiple . /me checks his laptop bag. Oh! I do own multiples.

[bjw]

I have 3 old mac power cords, from older macbooks and ibooks that either the wife or me used in the past - but then they went and switched to the magnetic one. Apple power cords aren't cheap and all of my spare funds are going to new gear (se530's, sr225's and a pico now). Yeah, I should get one, but I have crossed the budget line enough in the past few weeks that it is getting harder and harder to hide it from the wife.

Why, oh why did I get married in the first place? Damn I miss the days of unlimited toy money! (and that was almost 10 years ago and I still haven't become institutionalized yet .. will the day ever come?)

We are carting the family to the Redneck Riviera in 2 weeks (Gulf Shores) - 12 hours in the minivan - and then off to DisneyLand a month later. I justify all these new toys in my head as being for my own sanity. Bleh.