Nuforce STA200

Just do what i did. I have a tube pre amp and the high gain causes the hiss to become louder thAn normal. I have zu 101 db speakers. Order the Schiit $49 passive preamp and place between pre and nuforce. Adjust the schiit volume to an accepttable level where hum is not heard at sitting position. Very transparent and better than attenuators. I tried attenuators and the sound was slightly smeared. No noticable sound quality reduction with the Schiit. 

@aberyclark Thanks for the recommendation. I will try the attenuators when they arrive, and allow them break in time. Hopefully, they do not smear the sound much. If they do not work out, I will see what to do next. Thx. 

Has anyone tried a passive unit with the STA 200 ? ( @aberyclark , did you happen to listen to your Schiit sys direct, w/o preamp ? ). Thanks

I picked up the NuForce a couple weeks ago and was planning to have my CEntrance dacmini modded to variable outs.  When that was a no go, I ordered a Luminous Audio Axiom ii passive preamp.  Luminous Audio takes the specs on your amp and speakers (as well as the dac) and designs the preamp accordingly.  Put it all together today, and even tho it’s just a few hours out of the box I’m pretty blown away.  Excellent soundstage and imaging, bass is tight, excellent midrange and the background is dead quiet.  I highly recommend the Axiom—about $220.00 with the upgraded Caddock Resistor.

Looks like the Nuforce has finally been discontinued. Too bad....I really love mine