Cars-N-Cans
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I was thinking the same thing in that it’s DC offset protection which makes the amp even better in my opinion. Lots of the other inexpensive headphone amps such as those from Schiit just pass the DC on to the output. Not so good if you don’t know to check for it first from a source before hooking up the headphones.This suggests there is a rather 'quick acting' DC protection in the amp.
A potential benefit of the Pentaconn (aside from convenience) is that with low impedance headphones with long cables there is a chance stereo separation is technically better when a Pentaconn connector is used compared to a TRS jack (when it has a 3-wire connection).
Seems like a technically competent and affordable amp with both balanced and SE inputs. Balanced in could prevent ground loops as the safety ground may well be connected to the signal ground (needs confirmation of close to 0ohm between RCA shield and safety ground pin).
Now the real question is does it have DC servoing? Or does it just monitor the residual DC offset from the source and go into protection? Either would work, but I had an old Soundblaster Z card that had both offsets on the amplifier section, and even more in the DAC once it became active. So much for using nice headphones for video games with that PC.
This is one area that would be nice to see more clarity from the manufacturers. Might even be a nice item to check in testing as well.