No, I haven't yet tried the penny/nickel/quarter/dime suggestion yet, myself, but that's what I would have suggested. But now that you mention it, I can see why they might be a problem.
Personally, I buy marble and/or granite samples from the local hardware store (Home Depot/Lowe's).
Another thought -- sow two pieces of leather together big enough to hold the Nano and stick your finger in to control it -- is that even remotely a possibility?
Those Sonus Fabers are supposed to be pretty good, too. Don't know anything about the amps, but if they are anywhere near on par with Sonus Faber and dCS, then that's a pretty high-falutin' system.
I have the M-Audio Sonica -- the Transit's predecessor, and it's surprisingly good. Certainly a step up from your typical OEM soundcard. I've actually traveled with a laptop, M-Audio Sonica, and Sony MDR-7506/-V6, and've been perfectly happy with that setup.
Rush and Yes are in my top 10 favourite acts of all time.
See, there's another one. And how anyone can perceive Rush as any more wankfestive than Yes is purely beyond me.
Stax SR-001 Mk II (amp and headphones)
M-Audio Transit
And that's only US$320 new so far, I could spend a fair amount on an interconnect...
And that's pretty much the niche I was thinking of when I mentioned it in that other thread. It's a pretty good all-rounder like that.
I guarantee you there was something wrong. Not necessarily a tube -- perhaps a cap burnt out, a diode gone bad...something. Admittedly, I never spent a lot of time with Hirsch's R10s, but I never heard clipping. And Hirsch has spent a lot of time with his R10s, and he would not tolerate it. I'm sure of it.
I think that's really her voice there singing, but I don't think she pretends to play the guitar or sit at a keyboard, so who cares? I think we stopped caring about that in 1990. L, even Depeche Mode got outside producers to help when Alan Wilder left them.