Injecting one sub to Benchmark system…

Hi Jon…that’s a new one for me - running from headphone out!

im still in the very early stages and want to work with what I have right now.

I have been reading a lot of good things regarding these Schiit products. Funny, the DAC 3 has a great reputation but when I plugged my headphones in i was surprised that I much prefer my Ifi Gryphon portable amp/DAC. I think the Benchmark might sound a bit too clinical for me but I’ve yet to try this with a pair of HD800s headphones I have coming. So far I’m much preferring what I hear from my headphones and Gryphon over the Benchmark audio set-up. Still, I have work to do dialing this system in.

@thomastrouble I also didn’t like the headphone amp sound of DAC 3 HGC. It was too clinical for me as well. 
As far as sub connection, what @m-db said. 

Benchmark runs both XLR and RCA outputs at the same time. You can use one of those to the subs and the other to your amp. You can also go in and adjust the voltage of the XLR with the pads to match the RCA voltage if you need to use an XLR to RCA adapter. It is clear in the manual how to adjust them 

@james633 is absolutely correct, and I’ve been using this exact configuration for quite some time with dual passive TV-12 Ultra drivers.

Those darn XLR Attenuator pads / jumpers I have moved around more then I’d care to admit. It has been a while though, but by golly, it’s fun to play.

:-)

The idea behind running the headphone out for the sub is that having the pre-outs running two sets of wires at the same time and into 2 amplifiers at the same time is harder for the dac to power than a single set of wires and amp.  Running from the headphone amp to the sub would, I think, reduce that because the headphone amp is its own separate amplification from the preouts.  And it's something you can try for the cost of a $5 headphone jack to rca adapter.  

IMO it's a mistake to not try a regular preamp with the Benchmarks.  While there may be a tiny loss of transparency I found a preamp was overall a pretty big improvement.