Volume levels

I always wondered why vinyl seemed quieter than CD's? Great responses from you guys, @cleeds , etc. Back in the day when we had cassette decks in the rig we could just adjust the output to match the CD player or turntable.

Another factor to consider regarding volume is what ohm and sensitivity rating your speakers are. 

It seems that 4 ohm speakers need more volume to sound good than 8 ohm speakers. Lower sensitivity also needs more volume than higher sensitivity.

When I had 8 ohm speakers in my main rig, I was most impressed with the Yamaha A-S3000 integrated amp regarding low volume dynamics. It was absolutely incredible! I was running Infinity RS4b's at the time and the sonics at low volumes really blew me away.

I thought that amp was the last amp I was ever going to buy for my rig. That was three amps ago...

+1 @snilf 

Digital has a wider dynamic range than analog.  This was one of the selling points of the format 40 years ago.

  I suspect that the OP is more signal to noise related.  Even the best analog is going to have some noise in the background, due to the contact of the stylus with the record grooves.  Low level instrumental detail, particularly in Classical Music, is harder to hear because of the competition from background noise, therefore requiring a boost in volume.

If your system is revealing enough, it should not be necessary to boost volume on analog.

As others have noted, sound compression was a concomitant of digitization, for marketing reasons: it was another way to make digital sound “improved” over analog. On the audio systems that 98% of us have, it does “sound better”.  

First, the ability to compress volume but not dynamic contrasts is somewhat dependent on one’s audio system. My Von Schweikert VR9 SE mk2 speakers and my higher end equipment in a superior listening room permit me to achieve great dynamic contrasts at various volume settings.

Second, it’s not true, Digital has the capability of superior dynamic contrasts to LPs. This is generally not implemented in pop, rock and often classical CDs/digital recordings/re-mastering. My EAR 912 pre-amp has meters which indicate dynamic contrasts. So often I’m listening to rock or an orchestra and the meters only move up to -15 or -10 db, mostly at -20db. The majority of my jazz CDs move the meters quickly up and down to near -0db. Same with LPs wherein certain labels have great dynamics and others are bland and move very little.  It's not just a matter of compression but also recording techniques.  

Third, I agree that different types of music and recordings should be heard at least at a particular volume setting. I have the ability to listen to music very loud yet still composed and low in distortion (those speakers-wow)!. I can relax with Mozart piano music at relatively low levels yet don’t want to hear the Fireballs or Takeshi Eerauchi and the Bunnys at less than loud volume.

@rvpiano if you’re using XLR out with your benchmark dac, the gain is adjustable using jumpers inside the dac. I liked mine set to -10db, the 0db was a bit much. And even with 10db attenuation the DAC was louder than my Sutherland 20/20  Hana ML combo. 

As a side nite… sold my analog front end not too long ago. Got tired of constantly comparing analog and digital, listening for differences instead of focusing on the music. Great LPs sounded great though! But it was a constant race between analog and digital with upgrades for both front ends. There was no winning that battle. Decided to focus on digital at least for time being. So far no regrets.