Way to increase impedance of output of xda-1?

[garbulky]

I'm not very familair with this term so I may have misttated the title.
I have a xenos 3ha which appears to get overloaded by the DAC signal of the xda-1 (volume 80).
I have corrected this issue to a large extent with attenuators. Unfortunately the attenuators I've used do contribte a sound signature that is somewhat negative past 12db (I need 16-24db of attenuation to get it to not distort with even a moderate signal).
The more attenuation used the more the mid-range is pronounced and the bass and treble suffers from weakness.

So here's the question: is there a simple cheap-ish device that can increase the output impedance of the signal of the xda-1 or whatever. Basically the goal is to give more resistance to the signal without the sound signature change of excessive attenuators.

[mathwizard]

Turn the volume down on the XDA-1. I hear no significant difference in the quality of sound with a volume level between 60 - 80. Give that a try.

[DYohn]

Hmm, the max input level of that headphone amp is listed as 6.7 VRMS, and the output voltage level of the XDA-1 is listed as 2.0 VRMS max, so I am surprised anything is being overloaded. Are you sure you're not just hearing artifacts from bad source material (such as MP3)? But yes, if it is overloading turn down the volume, that's what it's for.

[audiofile]

I've been experimenting with volume levels on my XDA-1 and am finding that the max setting (80) may not create the best results when paired up to my pre-amp/processor. I'm down to 70 now (in increments of 5) and am beginning to hear a difference.

Have you tried reducing DAC volume?

[garbulky]

I have tried reducing the DAC volume and unfortunately I hear a difference in detail at the volume levels I listen to (I have no pre-amp just direct to power amp). It really bugs me and that's why I've been trying the attenuators. No hearing artificats to source material causing it. Now most of my material is lossless and from reasonable sources. I had to get away from the trashy sound mixing of the songs I used to love. More classical, jazz, blues, etc) I've also heard these on a previous DACS and my UPA-2 so it is not that.

I hear the change in music quality from the lossy volume control rather early with my headphones and to a slightly less extent with the speakers (though they sound better). It's most apparent in a loss of high frequency treble information like "air" noises - background breaths, rustling, ventillation, tape hiss etc.
Different from what I described just above, is the input overload happens between 50 to 80 volume depending on what song is being played with 12 db attenuators. With no attenuators the input overload occurs over a widerange of volumes which makes the amp unlisteanable. (It's noticeable thinning of the sound like a transistor radio, sometimes a constant buzz, noticeable clipping). My amp SHOULD be able to take a 6.7V input. So either the XDA-1 is just pushing much higher values on its peaks (earlier magazines said the specs were 12 V swings in output! which was later said to be not correct) or that 6.7V spec on my amp is a bit of a wash. ;D IMO, it's a bit of both.
Using 24db the sound signature is changed and rather poor on the headphone amp (simply too much attenuation). At 12 db it's a whole lot less sound signature change but it's not a perfect fix.

So any simple device that can vary the impedance?
I've been looking at jlafrenz diy build passive pre-amp hoping that would allow me to really reduce the gain down.
It's annoying because that's one of the main reasons I wanted to buy an XDA-2. Unfortunately its headphone amp isn't anything close to the power of my headphone amp.

[solarrdadd]

Apr 15, 2013 16:36:03 GMT -5 audiofile said:

I've been experimenting with volume levels on my XDA-1 and am finding that the max setting (80) may not create the best results when paired up to my pre-amp/processor. I'm down to 70 now (in increments of 5) and am beginning to hear a difference.

Have you tried reducing DAC volume?

what pre-pro are you using and how is your DAC connected? i am using the XDA-1 connected to my onkyo 5507 pre-amp via XLR, pre-amp set to direct 2.0, speakers set to full range and output to an XPA-5 amp and have no audio issues at all as far as sound quality goes from the DAC.

edit: nevermind, i just realized that bulky is talking about using headphones and somehow, i missed that!

[garbulky]

My connection details are listed in my signature. But I have tried direct to headphone amp and then also using 12 db rca attenuators between them. My XDA-1 is direct to the UPA-2 with 12 db attenuators (which helped the sound here as well just to a lesser extent).

[DYohn]

You should be using a preamp... in my opinion.