Ozzy, that's great; you have taken half the step toward demonstrating the Pass preamp to be preferable to the pre function of the DSPeaker. How about trying this combo: DSPeaker acting as preamp to the Bryston BDA-2 DAC (bypassing the SDPeaker's DAC, if you can). That could be interesting, too if you can run it that way and would be closer to an apples to apples comparison as regards preamp.
So, you're concluding the new model has changed your opinion of the efficacy of the DSPeaker for the bass? If so, congratulations on your improvement.
I still think it would be interesting to see what the result would be to use the Pass pre with the DSPeaker for the bass and bypass the QOL, just to see what the result would be. You may not perfer it, but may as well try since you have the gear on hand. Every experiment gains one a bit more experience and can yield surprising result. On the positive side, if you do so and don't care for it, you've reaffirmed that QOL is your gotta have baby.
So, you're concluding the new model has changed your opinion of the efficacy of the DSPeaker for the bass? If so, congratulations on your improvement.
I still think it would be interesting to see what the result would be to use the Pass pre with the DSPeaker for the bass and bypass the QOL, just to see what the result would be. You may not perfer it, but may as well try since you have the gear on hand. Every experiment gains one a bit more experience and can yield surprising result. On the positive side, if you do so and don't care for it, you've reaffirmed that QOL is your gotta have baby.