[mckeelma]

I'm a new member. I've got a Nuprime DAC-10h which has been a great piece of kit. After owning for about a year, I just purchased my first high end headphone-ENIGMAcoustics Dharma1000. Sounds pretty darn good though the DAC-10h.

I want to maximize the Headfi possibilities with the DAC-10h. I'm going to upgrade the Dharmas cable with a balanced HP cable.

Also, Curious about using other headphone amps with the DAC-10h simply as a DAC feeding into an external HP amp. If I wanted to use an additional headphone amp for a different sound signature, say a tube amp, could I use the XRL outputs? I think it would be fun to play around with different HP amps in my system. The DAC in the DAC-10h is really strong IMO.

[rustydoglim]

Two of the reviewers of DAC-10H commented that the headphone amp is the stand out part of the product. So unless you are looking for a different sound signature, don't upgrade the amp.
Sure, you can use the output from the DAC to another amp.  Take a look at the description of HPA-9 on the product page.  You can get tube sound without the draw back of tube components. 

[mckeelma]

Thanks for that. The HP amp is really good, but I do think part of the fun w/ HPs is playing around with different amps. My Dharma might benefit from a warmer sound signature all things considered. Are you familiar with the differences between the DAC-10h amp stage and the HPA-9?

[rustydoglim]

Yes, but it is too long to repeat HPA-9 design here. It is all described in a fair amount of details on the HPA-9 product page.