Hi Powderfinger,
Good questions!
The Isabella is a battery powered tube preamp has 3 analog inputs, a hi/low gain switch, remote volume control, 2 sets of analog outputs, and has the option to add in the Isabellina dac (USB, coax, and optical) and the headphone output stage. The Isabella headphone output stage is a separate board (as used in the Amphora), but in the Isabella tube preamp, it only acts as a buffer (no gain). The voltage gain comes from the Isabella tube stage.
So for the proposed "Isabellina HPA" (Isabellina dac with built-in headphone amp), we would feed the analog output of the dac to a volume control (I can use the same remote controlled Alps as used in the Isabella preamp), and then to the Isabella headphone board (which would provide both voltage gain and buffering). As mentioned above, there would also be RCA outputs (direct from the dac, and I can make them volume cotrolled as well - for those who would also like to use this product to directly feed a home audio power amp).
But there would NOT be:
- analog inputs
- hi/low gain switch
- tube preamp stage for voltage gain
Regarding the sonics - they are quite close! They use the same Isabellina dac and same Isabella headphone output stage. The tube stage (which would not be present) does add some more spaciousness, mid-range "bloom," and texture... as well as the ability to tube-roll, but you will still find them to have the same overall sound signature!
Best regards,
Vinnie
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