Does listening fatigue go away???

IMPORTANT FOLLOW-UP to my previous comment about the Minimax DAC:

It appears that the original version of the Minimax DAC had extremely high output impedances of 22K and 10K for its tube and solid state outputs, respectively. Those output impedances would be unsuitable for use with a resistive-based passive attenuator, optically controlled or not. Even more so in this particular situation, where the attenuator is driving the low 10K input impedance of your active speakers. And although the original Minimax DAC included a volume control function, chances are that the high output impedance would also create problems if you were to use it directly into the speaker inputs, without the Warpspeed.

On the other hand, several references indicate that the Minimax DAC Plus, introduced last year, has tube and solid state output impedances of 3K and 200 ohms, respectively. The 200 ohm output would certainly be fine; the 3K output may not be, depending on how much it and the input impedance of the speakers vary as a function of frequency, and on the characteristics of the Warpspeed.

According to John Atkinson's measurements in Stereophile, the Squeezebox Touch has an output impedance of 599 ohms at mid and high frequencies, and 878 ohms at 20 Hz. I suspect that both the magnitude and the frequency variation of those numbers are not affecting sonics in your setup significantly, although it's hard to say for sure without knowing how the input impedance of the speaker varies with frequency. Although of course the Squeezebox's DAC function itself could very conceivably be contributing to the issues, as I previously suggested.

Regards,
-- Al

Yes take two Tylenol or upgrade the problem.

Make sure you are in the proper 'mood' for listening.

Chazro -
There's probably more than one definition, but I define "listener fatigue" as simply any unpleasant listening experience that causes an audiophile to squirm in his/her listening chair. For me, it's exaggerated treble. I have two sets of resistors for my speakers, one is -4db (for analog) and one is -5db (for digital). I can introduce listener fatigue by using the -4db for digital while using my SS amp; the harshness of the highs literally drives me up the walls. I've done it inadvertently by forgetting to swap out resistors after a session of listening to LPs. On the other hand, when I replace my SS amp with my tubed amp, the sound is so gorgeously mellow that I'm lulled to sleep by the middle of the first track. So, to avoid the naps, I have to make sure I'm using the right resistor with the SS amp. I'm wondering if Daimburt's system isn't overly bright. One solution might be to introduce a tubed amp and/or tubed pre into the system.

fascinating question...'had to comment.

many years ago I had owned what should have been a good mid-range system, Krell (KSA) and other pwr amps, Apogee Duetta Signatures, various preamps including some solid state, some tube, various CD/digital front ends... old PS audio ultralink etc.etc.

while the system sounded quite good overall, out of 1000 or so CDs, probably 100 sounded good, 900 sounded like crap and I had a hard time listening more than a couple hours without fatigue. I don't want to say my ears hurt as that would be a vast exaggeration, but the overall harshness on most recordings could loosely be described as causing physically annoying.

Years later, and for the last few, I'm listening to an entirely different system, probably only slightly more expensive, but 10s of thousands of dollars more enjoyable.

Strangely, as my hearing has "evolved" :) I'm now more annoyed by harsh sounding systems.

At this point I never (and I mean never, even after marathon hours of listening) get that that "pain-in-the-ears" of the past. There are times when I feel like listening to music more or less of course.

Strangely enough, many older CDs that were very un-enjoyable are now quite good. (same old CDs now ripped to WAV or FLAC and stored on NAS)

some things never change, there remain good, bad and pitiful recordings just like always.

The only thing really having changed is me finally learning what sound I wanted and not taking no for an answer in thinking I could not get it, that along with 10+ years more of experimenting with components, room treatments, cables, etc.etc.. etc.