60dB if your lucky, channel matching is totally conditional on how well the parts are hand-matched

not really luck, just buy 500 of them..

also, most system problems are easily alleviated with a simple buffer, if you have to be able to support every possible equipment chain out there...

hey no fair, you edited your post and it changed my quoted portion of your post

Edited May 12, 200917 yr by luvdunhill

60dB if your lucky, channel matching is totally conditional on how well the parts are hand-matched.

LDR's sound great, but they are fiddly as hell and probably require better system matching than most people will do. Melos used hand-selected parts for their success. The photentiometer used a full-on automotive dome-light bulb for light source: it could be replaced with an LED sure, but it would still be drawing tons of current to get a high attenuation.

i'll stick with my 110dB attenuation. 60dB, 70dB attenuation, those are listening levels with some IEMs and some source output levels.

LDR's suck when it comes to stability WRT temperature.

Anyone that has ever had to fix a marantz 10B would know this.

Bad idea for portables.

LDR's suck when it comes to stability WRT temperature.

Anyone that has ever had to fix a marantz 10B would know this.

Bad idea for portables.

Thank god there are other devices available now that weren't produced 45 years ago.

The things in the melos drifted more than 1db just by waving paper over them.

The temp curves of the photodiode and led would have to match extremely

well to make this work. Since the two are completely different semiconductor

processes, this is almost impossible.

shit, I'm making a portable amp with NO volume control. gunna be thin son.

This makes me laugh each time I read it.

This makes me laugh each time I read it.

Me as well.

Me as well.

It almost makes sense to make a portable amp without a volume control because they are going to be used with a portable device that already has a volume control.

unless they use a line out.

True. But how many people actually use iphones/ipods:rolleyes:

unless they use a line out.

It would still make sense if one wanted to BLOW FOOL HEAD OFF.

My Sony player has a line out too! Not that I'd use an amp with it. Hell, that's the reason I went with this player.

Edwood came through with another fantastic rendering, this time of the Pico Slim

Oh man that is sexy.

That really is spectacular...... a portable amp that is genuinely small enough to carry around with you.

holy mother Mary Jesus....that is alluring.

I'm IN !!!!

Looking forward to something the size of my iBasso T4 but with better sound. My Xin Super Mini may never show up...

What he didn't say was that it's like 8" deep

Seriously cool Justin, if it comes out like that it'll be one sexy amp.

Damn, that is sweet. I might buy one just to look at it, since I prefer using my IEMs directly from my DAP. Which kinda leads me to ask, is the market for IEM-oriented amps really that big? Not sure I get why so many people bother amping their IEMs.

Damn, that is sweet. I might buy one just to look at it, since I prefer using my IEMs directly from my DAP. Which kinda leads me to ask, is the market for IEM-oriented amps really that big? Not sure I get why so many people bother amping their IEMs.

It has as much power as most other lithium powered amps. The 'regular' Pico runs on a 2-cell, 8.4V battery, but that's unusual. So, its not specifically for IEMs, but if it can be the first choice of anyone with IEMs, I think I can live with that. A lot of the idea of this amp is to make a portable for people who aren't interested in portables because they are too bulky and offer little or no improvement. This solves those problems by being thin and offering a range of volume adjustment and precision left/right matching that you can't get from a DAP. Also, some IEMs like the Livewires and Westone ES3X are unusable from many DAPs/phones due to the amount of hiss from their headphone jacks.

Very very slick indeed.

...now we just need an electrostatic version.

And I thought the Pico couldn't get any slicker.

If as Wikipedia says, a US quarter coin is 24.26mm in diameter, then using the mathematical exactitude of guesswork in shrink % and holding a ruler up to my monitor this is the actual size of the unit:

Which is

It needs an optional money clip.