Tachikoma

I'm following @atomicbob's SOP of passive attenuator and amp pot set at unity gain. Does this count as 2 pots in series? Maybe it's anti-synergy of the source and pot impedances.

@crenca significant loss of detail and immediacy. Having a Sys between the parasound dac2000 and magni/45 tube amp significantly worsened their sound. I first noticed this with the Magni, actually.

Although cable length is a possible confounder, the setup with Sys had 1 m cables, while the setup without has a 2 m cable.

@gixxerwimp Yeah, its possible that lower impedance sources won't be quite as badly affected. The Theta Gen VA (which happens to be available locally...) with its 1 ohm output impedance probably wouldn't care as much.

The setup you described is exactly how I had previously configured my own setup. The dual mono pots on my amp are such a pain in the ass to use.

Just checked out the Taobao listing, they're basically offering copies of the HE-R10P for $400 https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.43.7f5b7d3dABRZNy&id=637295584936&ns=1&abbucket=4#detail

... the need for more open loop LF may have been alleviated by swapping in a pair of Shuguang CV-181Z from my stash. Still rolls at 20 Hz without feedback but wtf is this bass. Anyway, the answer to my question seems to be "nope", much too close to the max rating.

Yes, I was eagerly waiting Kerry's take on the CFA3. I hope they survive.

and the portable electrostatic amp...

I was checking periodically. It's working again.

Also, the MS-Pro scales surprisingly well with amping. Wasn't sure it was a keeper until I had done this.