marktomaras
Is there any insight or advice on these two setting options?
Always best to use the volume level that’s highest, as that way your using more/most of the signal that’s coming in, and not throwing it away back into the ground plane, which on the test bench equals to better signal to noise ratio. (and you may hear it as a blacker background) Nelson Pass is basically saying the same below.
Quote from Nelson Pass
"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."
Cheers George