Glad the problem appears to have been resolved. It's strange, though, that the HiDiamond power cord apparently had the same effect on the system regardless of whether it was being used with the DAC or with the integrated amp.
Just guessing, but perhaps high frequency noise was being introduced into the DAC as a result of a ground loop between the two components (the power cord would be in that loop regardless of which of the two components it was connected to), which in turn was contributing to jitter at the point of D/A conversion, which in turn could very conceivably manifest itself as dryness and brightness. And that might still be occurring, although to a lesser degree following the power cord substitution.
An interesting experiment might be to temporarily use a cheater plug to defeat the AC safety ground connection on the DAC's power plug, thereby breaking any ground loops involving the DAC, and to try that using both the HiDiamond cord and whatever cord is presently in place. A cheater plug shouldn't be used permanently IMO, for safety reasons, but might shed some light on what is going on, and might reveal the potential for further improvement.
Ground loop issues involving the DAC and the amp would also be sensitive to the characteristics of the interconnects that are connecting them, by the way.
Regards,
-- Al
Just guessing, but perhaps high frequency noise was being introduced into the DAC as a result of a ground loop between the two components (the power cord would be in that loop regardless of which of the two components it was connected to), which in turn was contributing to jitter at the point of D/A conversion, which in turn could very conceivably manifest itself as dryness and brightness. And that might still be occurring, although to a lesser degree following the power cord substitution.
An interesting experiment might be to temporarily use a cheater plug to defeat the AC safety ground connection on the DAC's power plug, thereby breaking any ground loops involving the DAC, and to try that using both the HiDiamond cord and whatever cord is presently in place. A cheater plug shouldn't be used permanently IMO, for safety reasons, but might shed some light on what is going on, and might reveal the potential for further improvement.
Ground loop issues involving the DAC and the amp would also be sensitive to the characteristics of the interconnects that are connecting them, by the way.
Regards,
-- Al