woofer72,
when i read your input impedance numbers of 10K balanced & 3K unbalanced I was sure you made a typo but i checked at the webpage you gave us a link to in your other post. you stated these numbers correctly.
the 3K unbalanced input impedance sure looks rather low & low enough to create an issue.
A source of 100 ohms output impedance driving a 3K unbalanced input does have the rule-of-thumb 10:1 but still 3K unbal seems to be rather low. I don't think I've seen this low an impedance spec in a long time.
yes, there might be an impedance mismatch here hence the distortion.
you say you hear the distortion on certain CDs & it has nothing to do with the loudness of the recording.
So, when do you hear the distortion on those certain CDs? And, what's happening to the sound when its distorting? (yeah, i know its distorting but a verbal description of what it sounds like might be useful).