2. digital
  3. 1392223711

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 audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
It has to do with the gain of the amp. Higher gain will allow you to use less of digital volume. The lower this drops, the better. 0 is best of course, but you will need really high gain to get this. The rule of thumb that I use is no more than -10dB or it will impact SQ. If you are using ONLY digital volume, it will likely require at least -20dB.

BTW, the DAC2 sounds best when driven with I2S, either from the PWT or the Off-Ramp 5 HDMI from a computer.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
More to discover