Quote: +1. My discriminator for optical cables is physical flexibility, since this is usually their weakness.

You are correct. Don't waste your money on a soundcard if you already have the S/PDIF output that you require.

I'd get the one you linked. Good price.   Unless it places enough stress on jack to break the connection in some positions, you won't get any degradation in sound quality.

Most sound cards have a headphone out as well as a line-out. I don't know which you are using, but line-outs are usually meant to drive very high-impedance loads, like the input stage of an amplifier. Headphones are not very high-impedance. See if you can try a headphone-out.

Quote: A "small" interval isn't well-defined, but I get your point. That was what I was trying to convey in my first post - the calculation of dynamic range depends on what intervals you look at.   So it's not equivalent to "eyeing the track," which is what caused the confusion in the...

I don't know all the details of how it's calculated, but the numbers you see are not as simple as "highest signal compared to lowest signal in the recording." Since there is some silence in almost all recordings, this would mean they all have DR approaching 90dB, which we know is not the case...

I think we have a winner:   Quote: Even though you can explain to someone what soundstage is, everyone has their own take. And lets face it, with headphones, you've usually got 2 drivers to work with. Sorry, but you aren't going to be able to give any up/down or in/out cues with just...

I meant it the way I said it. If you have a source with some output impedance, then adding an amp between your source and your headphones may or may not decrease the output impedance, when you're looking at the system of the headphones + whatever is driving them. This distinction is important...

I've found that my head is the most abusive holder for my headphones, and I'm the careful type. I wouldn't worry about any small damage a stand might do.

Yes, the adapter would probably connect the balanced negative terminals to TRS ground (along with the XLR grounds), then the left and right channels would be connected to the left and right channels of the TRS connector. Or vice-versa, it doesn't matter... I am sure it would be safe.   Any...

Quote: Not necessarily. It's dictated by the input stage of the amp, as well as any passive volume controls that are placed on the input stage. It can vary significantly between amps.   You are correct that not all amps will "decrease output impedance." I was saying that in the...

An amp will increase the input impedance that is seen by the source, which will improve the performance of the source. It will also decrease the output impedance that is seen by the headphones, which will improve the response of the headphones. The general rule of thumb is that you want very...

From what I can tell:   The sub-1200 has a 120W amp and a down-firing port. The sub-120 has a 150W amp and two rear-firing ports. The amp also has line-level out.   If they are both the same price, I think you want the sub-120.

Well you won't get a higher resolution signal, if the WDTV's limit is 16/44. I wasn't sure if you knew this, as it's not really relevant to your question.   If the sound is lacking in terms of hiss or other audible artifacts, then yes, an outboard DAC would likely be a noticeable...

You don't need to provide this much data when none of it is sufficient "proof" for a non-believer to be convinced.   What you've done is basically written an essay about how much healthier Big Macs are, compared to Whoppers, and provided a bunch of anecdotal tasting data as evidence of this.