I am having trouble finding a pre-amp that has more than one set of balanced XLR outputs. I want to use two amps with the same DAC without having to switch the wires each time. Like many DACs, it only has one pair of balanced XLR outputs and neither of the amps have balanced XLR pre-amp outputs. Any suggestions? I know the Schiit Freya pre-amps have two balanced XLR outputs, but I want to check out my other options before I buy something. Hoping to stay below 2k, but will go up if necessary. I appreciate all suggestions! Thanks!
a fancy XRL splitter – like this one (pricey and you’ll need 2 two boxes L/R);
Buy other DACs and make them as DAC/Amp combos (it can be pricey, depending on the DAC).
The more I think on this, the more I keep finding the last option as the ideal. But this is me. I’m not a big fan of splitters myself – I try to avoid connections in general as they always introduce signal degradation of some sort.
Option 2 is what studios do (PRO world). But I wouldn’t know how those isolating transformers affect the signal. They promise clean pass but there’s always the benefit of doubt.
Right. This device promises a clean signal, tone-wise. But there’s no guarantee what will do to dynamic range, for instance.
Going back to the two scenarios, my two cents:
A) One signal at one amp at a time
or
…, etc.
B) One signal at multiple amps
I’d get a USB DAC (or digital interface) that exports as many digital outputs as possible. I use FiiO K3 here (1 coax and 1 Toslink) and hook a DAC up with the amp in a dedicated fashion. E.g.:
In my setup, If I put my Scarlett 6i6 into the game, scenario above expands to – possibility-wise:
USB (FiiO K3)
– FiiO K3 → Headphone Jack (Balanced/SE)
USB (FiiO K3) → Toslink out
– Toslink out → Modius → AmpA
– Toslink out → Modius → AmpB
USB (FiiO K3) → Coax out → Scarlett 6i6 Coax in
– Scarlett 6i6 → Headphone Jack1
– Scarlett 6i6 → Headphone Jack2
– Scarlett 6i6 → Line out → Liquid Spark
– Scarlett 6i6 → Line out → Liquid Platinum
– Scarlett 6i6 → Coax out → Bifrost 2 → AmpC
– Scarlett 6i6 → Coax out → Bifrost 2 → AmpD
Note I don’t have the Modius or B2 nor AmpsA-D. I’m just stating that in my small system today I have a potential of running as much as 9 headphones – all playing at the same time. And by using 4 DACs (namely FiiO K3, Modius, Scarlett 6i6 and a B2).
Will I ever do this? Probably not.
Clearly, limitation on this approach is that there’s no DAC to rule them all.
But above is just my view. This dilemma is actually something that holds me to keep purchasing more gear.
Thanks for all the ideas guys! It’s looking like pro audio is the way to go about this. The switches look like the easiest way to go so I will research the ones listed here and any others I come across. Hopefully this will just be temporary until I can afford another DAC. Hopefully a Denafrips maybe…
It is not inexpensive, but good quality with a remote to control both input selection as well as volume, 2 x balanced (XLR) inputs, 3 x single-ended (SE) inputs, 1 x balanced output, and 2 x single-ended outputs.
While it does not have more than one balanced output, you could likely split it.
I was interested in finding something with more outputs than this, and don’t need 5 inputs, but this may turn out to be my best option for what I am looking for. I really wanted something with a built-in high-end phono pre-amp, but I suppose I can get that as a separate device and then run it into one of the SE inputs of this (or continue to use the built-in preamp in my turntable).
I have need for one SE speaker amp connection, but I have MANY (5) different headphone amps I would like to have connected at all times and be able to simply turn on the one I want to use at any given point.
I don’t like the idea of different DACs per amp, as different DACs have different characteristics. I suppose this could work if there were specific DAC/Amp pairings that were desireable, but I was planning on mainly using my Schiit Yggdrasil OG as my main/only DAC.
All of this is at my desk, and I really only have two inputs to speak of: The Yggdrasil DAC from my computer (balanced XLR, but also has 2 x SE outputs), and my turntable (SE).
Not sure if anyone has other ideas of what could be used to allow multiple outputs from minimal input preamp? In my case, I’m less worried about balanced/XLR at the moment.
FWIW, I actually bought and am using the Schiit Freya+ with their LISST “tubes”. I went with this for a few reasons:
You can run it in passive mode, so no gain or coloration of the signal, but still provides input selection and 128-stepped ladder volume control (meaning, balanced at all volume levels).
You can run it in solid-state gain, so no toobiness added, but still some flavor (I guess like the Freya S)
You can run it with various tubes, including the solid-state LISST tubes that, in theory, will never degrade, yet still provide a tube-like sound to anything that comes after it in the path. While tubes are getting harder to source, I can still find cool sounding tubes to play with.
As far as my “need” for more outputs, I couldn’t find anything with more (not saying something doesn’t exist, but I never found it). So, my plan is to split the outputs and hope it doesn’t introduce noise or issues. I am able to turn the 2 x SE RCA outputs into 4 using these splitters that seem to be high quality. Each “pack” comes with two splitters, and one of the features I really like is they are color coded (e.g., one set is red, the other is white).
That (Nobsound) seems like a good option, I think a switch would always be preferable to a splitter.
My only experience using a switch (vs splitter) was for single ended, where I used a Schiit SYS in reverse as a switch to output a Bifrost 2 to a Lyr 3 and a Valhalla 2. It seemed to work fine with no detrimental effect on sound that I could tell.
