Putting a Ferrari engine into a Toyota Prius might be an interesting experiment. The Toyota has build quality,
Now years ago, FIAT put a Ferrari engine into a car, and it became rather collectible. Build quality was less than stellar.
https:// en.wikipedia.org /wiki/ Fiat_Dino
In our shop class in highschool, one of our fun projects was putting a small block V8 into a VW Beetle…we ran straight pipes angled up and out of the back window…needless to say, it was not street legal but it flew like a bat out of hell…
Also my step-mom had a drag race VW beetle with a Porsche engine in it when I was a kid… she somehow had it street legal…she had to have a wheelie bar on the back though… I remember her popping the clutch and doing wheelies for me…pretty fun lol
That. Is. All.
why no one raise up to my low hanging bait??
Just in case you have “one too many” of those delicious varieties of Bourbon you keep around and accidentally click on “buy” …
A couple of three days of running the SR1a with no pre-amp in the chain has shown that they’re even more resolving and transparent than I previously thought.
While I can discern no difference in transparency or resolution between the direct headphone output from DAVE and via my Phonitor X using the Focal Utopia or HD800S*, I cannot say the same with the SR1a using the Phonitor X as a pre-amp vs. DAVE’s pre-outs into my speaker amps.
Ergo, DAVE will remain directly driving the speaker amps for the SR1a in its “digital pre” mode and I will no longer have a dedicated pre-amp in that chain. The bummer about that is no more bouncing VU meters, nor the lovely-feeling Phonitor X volume control, when listening to the SR1a.
Would the following chain work RME ADI-2DAC -> Vidar-> SR1a? Or would I need something else in there (besides the SR1a adapter of course)? Also I will be patient as I need to figure out my next big spends lol…plus I can wait on a particular Vidar as it will help curb my want of the SR1a… maybe…
It must work without any problem, as rme adi2 dac’s line level output impedance is low enough (100 ohm for unbalance) and vidar’s input impedance (20k ohm) is sufficiently high.
Possible issue is the quality of attenuation, because some (myself included) may find no digital attenuation could benefit the signal and experience of rme adi2. Mileage varies.
After days of struggles with my fun musics (and SR1a), I finally came back to a parametric equalizer (not used roughly for 2+ years). At this level of transparency (in not only downstream but also upstream), I really didn’t want it.
However, to me, SR1a – as is – is only a specialist for very limited genres and recordings. I found myself opt out 80% of beloved tracks with this headphone. It’s not bearable considering significant amount money spent. 
Specially I tried to equate the two most annoying (to me and with my fairly closed wing position) peaks at about 2k and 8k hz. Temporarily and fortunately I could settle down with relatively simpler filters as shown below.
It seems that many dance pops and treble-heavy tracks become listenable again without serious annoyance or fatigue. While Verite reproduces them in a more tasteful way, SR1a has its unique lovable presentation. Not bad at all.
Additionally, with this setting, I found overall balance much closer to what I perceive neutral. So sad I can’t apply this to Tidal (I am not a roon subscriber).
Now starting to consider an external parametric equalizer with digital ins and outs. Hmm… 
It will work, fine.
Ideally you’ll want to choose a Reference Level setting that gives you the broadest array of tolerable volume adjustment while keeping the software/digital attenuation as small (close to 0 dB) as possible, and avoiding clipping the input on the Vidar (though it’s got good headroom, so that’s not much of a concern).
Though, that said, the RME ADI-2 DAC uses 42-bit math for its software volume control (so it should be audibly transparent over a much larger range than the more common 32-bit schemes), and can automatically optimize the output reference level (Auto Ref Level), which is done via analog attenuation, to keep things in that realm anyway.
I’m not familiar with power amps so bear with me here and please accept my apologies for that…but how do you control the volume when you remove the pre-amp from your chain if you don’t have volume control on your DAC? Say if I wanted to have PC—> Holo Spring DAC in ASIO mode —> Vidar —> SR1a how would I control the volume?
Again, apologies for the potentially dumb question and thanks in advance for the answer.
The answer depends on whether or not the dac has variable outputs.
For example, Dave (that @Torq mentioned) can attenuate output signal very flexibly. Actually many dacs across different price points can do that. However, how they do so VARIES a lot. From a simple way (adjustments done in digital domain) to more complicated one (combination between analog and digital domain tasks), or even rarely done in analog domain.
Technically and functionally, if you can reduce output volume in the dac by 30 db or more, then you can remove preamps from the chain without serious problems. Sound quality could be controversial though. Many ongoing debates there between passive, active, and digital attenuation…
Just adding. My dac can attenuate. But in a very crude way. Also each step only by 1 db. I want finer adjustments.
Thus, I have a separate passive pre in the chain – not necessarily for sound but also for convenience.
If your dac is Holo Spring, then you will likely need a passive or active preamp. 
I use this in my system now with an El DAC -> Nobsound passive preamp -> JBL305s
I assume you would just add the amp to the chain after the DAC…? Speakers are not my thing though…so I know next to nothing about how their amps/speakers work lol that is why I went with the JBL 305s easy and sound good lol
Thank you very much for the explanation. I own the SPL Phonitor X and I’m soooo glad I got it instead of the XE model with 2 headphone outputs. I’ll use the PX as a pre-amp with both the Vidar via RCA SE and the Performer s800 via 3-pin XLR Balanced to A/B test them before I decide which amp to keep.
I’m curious to see which DAC provides the best experience with the SR1a between the ADI-2 DAC and the Holo Spring DAC.
I always wondered who decided the name of the company 
i’m definitely interested…
If you’re running the Holo Audio Spring DAC in NOS mode, then it’s going to be less potent a the top end, which I expect many will find to be a desirable trait. At the same time, the RME unit is going to have more low-end presence, which complements the earlier sub-bass roll-off on the SR1a quite well. As ever, preference and choice of music will factor heavily.
You will definitely NOT want to run software volume attenuation on the Spring DAC. As @VimStory says, that’s a case where you will absolutely want a pre-amp (I haven’t done the math on Vidar to see where you could get away with passive attenuator and still get the power you need, but the 0 dBFS output on the Spring DAC is, as I recall, 2.2V on SE and 4.4V on XLR).
With the RME → Phonitor X → Vidar → SR1a there was no reliably discernible differences vs. RME → Vidar → SR1a. Which means that a) the Phonitor X pre-amp is not a bottleneck for that configuration or b) if it is, it isn’t any more audible than the software attenuation applied by using the RME DAC directly.
In which case, I’d keep the Phonitor X in the chain as it’s more convenient, and run the ADI-2 DAC at 0 dBFS (0 dBr in Auto Ref Mode) as it’s both more fun and more flexible.
Thank you so much for your very balanced and thoughtful comments, both on your perception of enjoying the SR1a‘s reproduction of potential sub-standard recordings, and your listening impressions with the Benchmark AHB2. Amidst all the praise, no one really seems to pick up on both of yourcmments, which I find a bit peculiar.
I am intending to pair the SR1a with both Benchmark AHB2 and the LA4 as a preamp shortly (as my Meitner DAC doesn‘t have volume control), despite this being kind of the reference pairing which Aleks used to develop the product, there seems to be not too much love for this combo with the Benchmarks, so I‘m really curious whether I‘ll love or hate it, or maybe need a learning and re-calibration curve 
Thanks. Now I’m curious about the sound of the Holo Spring —> Phonitor X —> Vidar —> SR1a chain. I enjoy the mellow and sweet nature of the Holo Spring Level 3 sound on my KGSSHV Carbon —> Stax 009S rig and I hope that the sweetness translates well with the SR1a as well.
