[Soundbot]

Hello everyone!  I just joined the community hoping to get your expert advice!
 
I've recently started really picking apart the sound quality coming out of my setup and my main complaint right now is that I get some clipping in certain parts of songs.  It happens mostly with very low bass frequencies but sometimes also happens during moments of complex instrumentation such as piano vocal and drums hitting loud together.  A specific example would be listening to the ost Batman Begins - Batman on Fire at the beginning the low rumbles always clip in my cans.
 
My question is, am I expecting too much?  Or is there a bottleneck in my setup that is causing this clipping.  Here is my list of gear:
 
Shielded SPDIF out from Claro Halo Omega (Itunes with max volume and Vista 64bit max volume) to
HeadRoom Micro DAC to
Headroom Micro Amp to
Cardas cabled HD650 (broken in over about two years now)
 
I just purchased a Peach Tree Nova from Magnolia Home Theater with the hope that it will help but I'm just not sure if my headphones or my amp are the cause.
 
Thank you for reading!!
 
 
 

 

[Soundbot]

No one responded to my questions sadly.... but I figured I would just follow up now that I have had the PeachTree Audio Nova connected.
 
Clipping is still occurring in all the same situations in my music so clearly my headroom amp was not the problem.  Additionally I'm in the process of figuring out if my Nova is defective.  When I enable the tube circuit the volume for the left channel lowers significantly more than the right channel and over time static and hiss increase.  I've contacted the manufacturer and have yet to get a response.  I can say that using the solid state amp in it seems to have increased clarity over the headroom desktop amp.
 
If anyone has any experience using the Nova I would love to know what your experience has been with it and specifically enabling the tube circuit and the change in audio characteristics.
 
Thanks for reading.