How to connect a headphone amp

[CageyH]

And I think I made a mistake - It is a Novo that you bought?

[Lawrence001]

The Solo does not have a RCA output.
.

Yes it does, a pass through rather than a pre out. I suspect I know what's happened here...

[CageyH]

The Solo and the Solo UL do not. They have two inputs.
The Novo has a pass through, but the stereo input has to be connected on the LH pair.

Trust me. I have all three of these headphone amps in front of me.

[Phil Lawton]

Yep…I’m a knobhead - and a prize one at that.

As you were, good people.

[RockAddict]

The snag with having a headphone amp hooked up to a.n.other amp (i.e. the PM6005) is that the output to the headphone amp is, by definition, affected by some of the circuitry in the PM6005. The only way you can know for sure whether the headphone amp produces "better" SQ (aka audio character that you prefer) is to leave the PM6005 out of the chain entirely. Of course that will mean the relative inconvenience of disconnecting the source cables from the PM6005 and connecting them to the headphone amp instead.

The only way to safely hook up both amps is to have a switching unit but more hardware / cabling there is in the system means more * potential * effects on the audio character. A couple of examples of (cheap) switching units can be seen on the USA Amazon site (note the 2 outs - one to Amp1, the other to Amp2 & you'll need more cables).

https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Bi-Dir.../dp/B0B2P4FC7L
https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Audi.../dp/B07CKK7J2L

Just to be clear, these aren't recommendations (I've no experience with this) but they should help to illustrate the type of unit that will do the job. Good luck!

[walpurgis]

I think I’ve discovered my error…and if correct, proves I’m a knobhead.

Tell us how you got it working Phil. What was wrong?

[Lawrence001]

He used to wrong inputs (ie output)

[Phil Lawton]

Wrong cables plugged into the Slee’s input.

Like I said…world-class, feeble-minded knobhead.

On the upside, the unit is wildly impressive. I did a bit of A/B with the headphone outputs on both the amp and CD player (also a Marantz). Far more open and more detail with lush mids and a great bottom end.

I’m seriously considering getting another PSU1 (I have one already on my Reflex M) to ramp it up even further.

[CageyH]

It will be worth checking to see if you could run both off the single PSU1.
I have read that people have done this.

[Lawrence001]

I think you should look at upgrading to the Solo rather than get a PSU1 for a Novo. I had a Ultra Linear Diamond with PSU1, didn't suit me in the end but I could see why some would like it.