[gmounce611]

Hi, all! It doesn't seem that my Ares II and DarkVoice want to get along. Music is clipping majorly, and the sound pressure level (forgive me if I'm using the wrong term here) is INTENSE. I'm getting listening fatigue quickly. Everything sounds slammy as hell, even the ever-chill 6xx. Has anyone else had this issue? Is the input impedance of the DarkVoice just way too low for the Ares II?

I'm happy to provide more details and the troubleshooting I've done so far. But before I do, I wanted to see if anyone else has been down this road and has a simple explanation.

 

[gmounce611]

Just gonna go ahead and add something to this...

I've essentially troubleshot every component in the chain: cables, interconnects, headphones, amps, USB cable. I even got a TIDAL trial to see if something was wrong with Apple Music (what I normally use). I found that the The DarkVoice sounds great with my TOPPING E30, and the Denafrips sounds great with my 789. With either of these combinations, I can set the volume on Apple Music to 100% without any clipping. It's only when I pair the Denafrips with the DV that things clip, and I've got to drop the volume in Apple Music down to 50% or so, which fixes the clipping issue but not the sound pressure issue. Hope that helps! Thanks again.

 

[gmounce611]

Update: I reached out to Denafrips support. They confirmed my suspicions. The Ares’ RCA output is 2Vrms, which is likely too much for the DarkVoice. By the way, I’ve searched everywhere online for the DV’s input impedance number and can’t find it. If anyone has that number, I’d like to know it. Denafrips support recommended that I try an attenuator. I just ordered this from amazon, and I’ll provide an update once I try it out: Harrison Labs 12 dB RCA Line Level Audio Attenuator Pair https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006N41B0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_PJJ0856QE3RV0T7AQ10S

If that doesn’t work, I’ll be looking into replacing the DV for a different OTL amp with an input impedance of at least 50kohms (same as the 789).

 

[gmounce611]

Additional update: the line level attenuators work super well. They give me an extra three hours or so of movement on the Darkvoice’s volume knob.

I also want to add that the sound pressure level issue WAS NOT being caused by the equipment but by a double ear infection + congestion. Two of the best components you can add to your audio chain in this case are amoxicillin and prednisone.

I’m happy to say that I won’t be returning the DarkVoice.