[Dave Cook]

On Oct 18, 7:12=A0am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:

your BAT VK-250 power amp due to its high input impedance. Of course, it =
may
have subtly failed in some non-obvious way except that it sounds bad.

Yeah, the 3iX is rolled off in the bass going into a 10K Ohm Bryston,
but is fine with the 100K Ohm BAT amp.

I suspect it's just doing it's job, though: sounding dark and laid
back to compensate for "detailed" audiophile gear in the rest of the
chain.

The BAT VK-42SE, an SS unit, is less dark sounding, but still sounds
smooth and laid back.

One thing, though, the mid-bass going direct does seem a little soft
compared to going thru one of the pre-amps. I've measured output from
the amp with sine tones and a voltmeter, and there doesn't seem to be
any problem in the bass, though. Not sure what the pre-amps are doing
to get a fuller bass sound.

What is wrong with just =A0using the digital attenuator in the DAC?

The most likely fault would be excessive noise when you turn its volume
down. =A0Can you report on this?

The noise from the DAC is much lower than from the 3iX, which is
already pretty low for a tube unit. It's the difference between
having to have my ear right on the tweeter to hear any noise vs.
having to be a few inches away to hear it.

The Squeezebox volume control is also 24-bit, so I'm not worried about
eating into the bottom 16 bits. I never seem to need more than 15-35
dB of attenuation.