Unecpected and not understood tweek - help?

I recently purchased the inexpensive Musical Fidelity V-CAN headphone amp. The V-CAN has an input impedance of 25K, and is connected to the Tape-Out of my Krell KAV-400xi with an impedance of 47K. The interconnect is the Kimber Silver Streak. To my point, with the V-Can connected, it seems to pull down the gain a bit, but, the system sounds smoother, erasing some of the aggressive edge the Krell had. What gives? Is this my imagination or is something really going on here? Thanks!