@gdhal
It is always best to have your line level equipment run close to maximum when the sound is as loud as you can stand. Just like analog tape should always be recording close to the red on peaks. The idea is you want to use the full dynamic range of your equipment. If you never exceed 1/100 of the volume on an amp then you have lost a lot of dynamic range and sone important details may be close to the noise floor.
The best electronic equipment I know of has a S/N in excess of -130 dB which is amazing and will never give you the slightest hint of hiss. Most conventional gear is around -100 dB. Also some Class AB power amps are quite noisy at 1 watt whereas their specifications are impressive at full power where they perform better (these amps can hiss a lot on a 103 dB sensitivity speaker) . All line level gear should be Class A so Performance is often good through the range except at low levels.
Integrated amps are the same - if you never get past 9 AM then the amp is too powerful for your needs/speakers and you are losing dynamic range and S/N performance.
Another reason to keep levels as high as possible without clipping or saturation is to minimize ground loops and RF/EM interference on line level interconnects...
It is always best to have your line level equipment run close to maximum when the sound is as loud as you can stand. Just like analog tape should always be recording close to the red on peaks. The idea is you want to use the full dynamic range of your equipment. If you never exceed 1/100 of the volume on an amp then you have lost a lot of dynamic range and sone important details may be close to the noise floor.
The best electronic equipment I know of has a S/N in excess of -130 dB which is amazing and will never give you the slightest hint of hiss. Most conventional gear is around -100 dB. Also some Class AB power amps are quite noisy at 1 watt whereas their specifications are impressive at full power where they perform better (these amps can hiss a lot on a 103 dB sensitivity speaker) . All line level gear should be Class A so Performance is often good through the range except at low levels.
Integrated amps are the same - if you never get past 9 AM then the amp is too powerful for your needs/speakers and you are losing dynamic range and S/N performance.
Another reason to keep levels as high as possible without clipping or saturation is to minimize ground loops and RF/EM interference on line level interconnects...