Yes, the clipping mysteriously vanishes with the Flat EQ setting, both on analog and digital outs. Yes, I will send the digital output from the coax S/PDIF to my digital sound card on my Mac and capture the output to hard disk and save as WAV, so it should be a "genuine digital grab."

One thing I must mention about the WAV file I will be sending you is that it may be 1dB quieter than the original MP3 due to something funny with the I2S outputs (the signals feeding my digital out board) on the main board of the Empeg. I have discovered that the volume must be reduced by 1 dB (from 0 dB) to remove some mild clipping during peaks in tracks. I know it's nothing our digital out circuitry is doing, because I've tried I2S (which bypasses everything but the line driver IC) and both optical and coaxial outputs with the same clipping at 0 dB. I've also tried different external DACs, with the same result.

Stu