audiobomber

I can't help with your skipping issue, but I wanted to point out that the default vales all fall within the specified ranges: 160 is greater than 10 and less than 1000 16 is greater than 4 and less than 256 32768 is greater than 1000 and less than 50000

I heard Stax (007 and 009 I believe) through very expensive SS and tube amps at the 2019 Toronto Audiofest. I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying them, but the sound is definitely not for me. PRaT was very poor, and that is my main criterion. They made the music sound boring.

No problem, my lips are sealed. 😉 I'm still interested in hearing your opinion of the sound, or lack thereof, with the passive preamp ahead of your headphone amp.

I don't understand the problem. Your DAC has two pairs of balanced and one pair of unbalanced outputs. - RCA outs to your speaker amp - RCA outs to your best headphone amp - XLR out to the Nobsound, then RCA from the Nobsound to the second headphone amp.

I have a Dell Inspiron 7000 17" laptop. It sounds fine in my headphone system, as long as I don't use the laptop's USB bus (I use a iFi Audio iDefender and 5V iPower). I tried the Dell in my main system and found it too compromised. An iPurifier2 made it tolerable, but not something I would want to live with for long. An IsoRegen or something might make it better but maybe not the best solution. I suggest you connect a streamer/renderer to your DAC, and use the Dell as a remote controller and server. There are plenty of small board computers geared specifically to audio, from Allo, Sonore, SOtM, etc. They will all sound significantly better than the laptop. I use an SOtM sMs-200 Neo with Oyaide neo d+ Class A USB cable and I am very happy with that combo.

I listened to all the tunes and culled the music I never want to hear again. There are 10 songs remaining. In general I'm not having trouble finding the ones I prefer, which I assume are HD. There's a solo piano piece that's not as clear. I haven't done an in-depth listen yet or submitted my choices.

As mentioned in the technical review, it is important to reduce the level of the Nobsound by at least 20dB, and use a short, low capacitance interconnect between it and the headphone amp. Will be interested to hear your impressions.

I understand the skeptical responses from others in this thread, but I think what you want to do is reasonable and feasible, as long as it's done well. I was unwilling to compromise the single pair of RCA outputs feeding my monoblocks from my DAC/Pre, which left a single pair of XLR outputs for both my sub crossover and headphone amp. After considerable research, I bought a Nobsound NS-05P (also available on Amazon): https://www.doukaudio.com/douk-audio-fully-balanced-passive-preamplifier-pre-amp-xlr-rca-volume-controller-p0077.html I connected the XLR outs from my DAC to the Nobsound. I set the Nobsound pot at top dead center and never touch it. I set my dual sub level controls for proper balance and never touch them. The Nobsound switches between my sub crossover on RCA and headphone amp on XLR. Although there must be some sort of sonic effect from using the Nobsound, I don't notice it, and have not bothered to try and suss it out. My headphone amp is a Hafler HA15, connected to the Nobsound via 2' XLR cable, driving Grado GH4 headphones. In your case, the NS-05P would convert the DAC's XLR outs to RCA to feed a headphone amp. This allows the other headphone amp to have a dedicated RCA feed directly from the Yiggy. Here's a subjective review of the NS-05P: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/review-nobsound-mini-fully-balanced-single-ended-passive-pre-amplifi Here's a technical review, comparing it to a 10X more expensive Goldpoint passive unit: https://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/goldpoint-sa2x-nobsound-ns-05p-passive-attenuator-comparison-technical-measurements.7324/ Conclusion When used with at least 20 dB attenuation and very short, low capacitance cables the Nobsound NS-05P will come close to the performance of Goldpoint SA1X.

They were unbalanced RCA interconnects and t did not surprise me. I was writing in response to another post, which has since been edited or deleted, stating that RFI/EMI was not a concern.

I've heard hum through my system when using unshielded interconnects.

"Most studies focused on the sample rate, so the ability to discriminate high bit depth, e.g., 24 bit versus 16 bit, remains an open question." Bit depth is more significant than sample rate, IME. I am highly distrustful of ABX testing. Evaluation in my own system, with no time pressure, is much more revealing.

90% of this thread is off topic. Go away!

Dual post

I've successfully downloaded the files. No instructions though.

I signed up for HD Challenge notifications, but didn't get this email. I'm tiring of the admin issues, I registered three times and got nowhere, won't make any more effort to pursue this.