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Digital volume control question...

Hi all,

A little background first. I am planning on getting a Wyred4Sound DAC2 and feeding it directly to my amp, which powers my Magnepan 3.6s. (I also plan on getting the W4S ST/SX 500/1000.) And I listen to 70% 24-96, 25% Redbook and 5% 24-192.

Now I know that the W4S volume control is well-implemented and 32 bit. So I’m not too concerned, although I know that there will be SOME signal loss. My question has to do with which amp I should get, given my normal listening levels, (apartment friendly), and about the levels at which the DAC2 begins to degrade or decimate the bit depth through those different amps and into those inefficient Maggies.

I assume that at my normal sound levels and with the more powerful amp, that the DAC2 would begin to degrade the bit-depth SOONER (or at a lower setting), than it would with the less powerful amp producing the same db level. Am I correct here, or not?

(This question will be posed to W4S too, but I wanted an unbiased opinion, also.)

Thanks!

Michael
mkh1099

Showing 1 response by aplhifi

aplhifi
515 posts
 
Probably will be a good idea choosing an amp that has a low input sensitivity. Given the DAC will output around 2V, you don't need an amp with 0.5V sensitivity, for example.

Furthermore, given you should avoid anything lower than -18dB (max) digital attenuation, maybe a good idea is to build a simple two-resistor attenuator at the power amp input (can be also done inside the interconnect cable), so you can fit in around 0-12db range from the DAC digital attenuator for your normal listing levels. That will give you best sound, IMO.

Alex Peychev
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