I have a DAC (Stello) that sounds too rich/loud, to the point of distraction, i have very little flexibility with the volume control of my preamp. If I turned it down, the music sounds uninvolving and dull. What's the best way to tackle this problem? The ARC LS26 preamp has 3 different attenuation settings BUT I do loose sound quality if I attenuate the signal, my amp has a built-in attenuator (6dB). Should I try to match the attenuation levels between preamp and amp? I'm lost, also why do manufacturers do this, what's there to gain by having such a hot output?

I will try to list as much as information as possible so you can recommend your favorite speaker to me!

I am on my second cartridge from this company and have been very happy so far. I got an Airy 3Xsb first. All the alphabet soup there stands for copper coils, with a silver base. The Airy 3 replaced a Benz Glider, and did it very well. No knock on the Benz, but I was never very excited about it, but for the money it is not a bad cartridge. The ZYX was IMO much better.

Anyone have any opinions on these? Can I assume since it has been remastered that it it better? Just wondering what everyone thought.

Today is April 7th which happens to be the immortal Bille Holiday's birthday and that means there is a day long birthday broadcast on WKCR-FM in NYC. But not to worry you can listen online at WKCR , either in Real audio or as an MP3 stream. So tune in and enjoy. (And find out why Madeleine Peyroux is no Billie Holiday, not now, not ever - period. And I'm not willing to discuss the issue since there is absolutely nothing to discuss.)