The difference is hard coded to the file, IMO there's not going to be any more ease in telling it apart using a better dac, so long as you're not using something like onboard or some distorted uDAC or tube amp.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=265-012 ^ much more sane price than Xitel's product.   Ground loop isolators aren't a fix, they're a workaround.

Cutting the ground will help, putting everything on the same surge protector should help. Pick your poison.   As far as non-grounded, back when I hadn't realized the incompetent who wired this house didn't connect the ground wires to the outlets, my pc case had a charge in it that could make...

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CodecPerformanceComparison   Flac does indeed less cpu than mp3. It depends on the implementation, and the sheer size of flac may affect battery life especially on HDD players.

Quote: Changing the EQ is mandatory if you're an audiphile, because headphones have a very colored non-flat response, even the best of them.  

It's a vinyl rip of Dark Passion Play - Last of the Wilds. Not my own rip.   Well, at least someone understands this isn't a serious test isn't to "prove" anything but rather provide some insight on whether or not upgraditis is really worth it to you.

While I loathe audio gd's colored nonsense, the Sparrow actually seems like a decent value.. at least compared to toys like uDAC. too bad it lacks a line out, and too bad nobody has posted an RMAA test of it.   Shipping price is a real downer though.

How on earth does a sound card cause the bios to reset? Terrible..

Make sure it has a volume knob, and any dac worth a hoot will have an amp capable of driving just about anything integrated with it. TPA6120 IC amp's very good for that purpose, but it seems the cheapskate get rich quick producers don't want to give us budget-minded individuals a break.

Quote: My test wasn't serious, it was just a tool for people to see how small the difference is going after 2 conversions from the digital -> analog -> digital. In fact, that test is a perfect example of how not to set up a blind test.   Quote: 1. Most differences between dacs...

That's why I suggest trying a cheap attenuator or resistor of some sort to see if it helps. Most amps have analog attenuation (volume knob) which can essentially do the same function.

No, I highly suspect it's the sensitivity of your cans since as you said the onboard was fine with less sensitive iems.   The output of your phone is typically not going to be much better, if not worse than onboard audio, but it should have less output power which may be why it's fine. Not...

If both headphones are fine on the phone, and one is bad on the onboard, then it's the sensitivity at fault - my suggestion was all he needed. A different dac can solve the problem same as an attenuator, but also costs more.

I personally don't like IEMs, and the 15' cable should be fine.   If he's that deaf you might need something like a cmoy to boost the power, particularly since the rca outs probably aren't meant for driving headphones. I'd expect they're high impedance since they're probably meant to be...

Quote: Hilarious. Wish that post could become a permanent part of his profile.