The heading of you post indicates impedance, but your description talks about gain. XLR 2 will be louder at the same volume setting, because the dac has a greater amount of output voltage than the phono preamp. If you used the dac on xlr 1 and the phono preamp on xlr 2, xlr 1 will be louder ( just as an fyi ). Many higher end / sophisticated preamps allow each input to be level matched with each other, so this volume control difference will be minimal / eliminated. I am not sure the Athena allows this, as the reviews I have read do not mention it, but maybe it does. Also, xlr 4 is the cleanest of the inputs, as it bypasses many of the switching / relays etc., within the circuit. Enjoy ! My best, MrD.
Input impedance of my preamp
I got a new Phono Preamp (Soulnote E2) yesterday. It is connected to XLR1 of my Preamp (Denafrips Athena). The phono preamp has an output level of 2.8 Vrms.
My Chord Hugo TT 2 DAC is connected to XLR2 and has an output level of 5 Vrms.
Why is the preamp much louder with the same volume level? Shouldn’t it ne less loud? Or do I misunderstand the effect of the out line level signal to the volume?
1 response Add your response