Concerns about volume and potentially tuning (JM6 pro and Hexa)

[producing]

Although I produce and know the software side like the back of my hand, I'm not really experienced with IEMs and not 100% on how different DACs, and their power, influence the tonal balance (if at all) of an IEM, so apologies in advance if it's a stupid question.

I've just received the Hexa and Jcally JM6 Pro, which I've connected the two through the PC USB port (used a small adapter on the JM6), but I'm quite surprised about the high volume, having to keep it around 10/100 in Win audio settings/taskbar.
Is this surprising, as I've seen this combo (particularly the DAC) mentioned numerous times online, and does it have a negative effect or skew the end frequency response in any way?

 

[NTK]

Welcome to ASR!

The volume taper (how fast or slow loudness changes with the volume setting, see link) for your PC setup may be a bit skewed so that the majority of the changes occur at the low end of the adjustment range. The Hexa is on the sensitive side, and has a rated sensitivity of 120 dBSPL @ 1 V. The max output of the JM6 Pro is 60 mW @ 32 ohms, which is 1.38 V, and will drive the Hexa to about 123 dBSPL at full scale, assuming digital full scale output = max output. (The Hexa has an impedance of 20 ohm, so the actual max dBSPL output is probably lower than my estimate. However, on the other hand, digital full scale may be aiming for exceeding max output which means more attenuation is needed than my estimate.)

Thus, if your max peak listening level is 100 dBSPL, which is loud (especially with low dynamic range music), the volume attenuation you need would be -23 dB. Using the curves in the link below, the corresponding Windows volume setting for -23 dB attenuation is about 20%. So I think what you are seeing is within expectations.

Volume attenuation (by itself if there is no loudness compensation or other shenanigans) should have no effect on frequency response. No need to worry.

Windows 10 Volume Settings

Windows users are familiar with the volume steps at low volumes being too large, and the ones at high volumes being too small. This data was taken from a Gigabyte Motherboard and verified with an HP laptop, so it is not hardware-specific. All of the output ports, and all of the Realtek "amplifier...

linustechtips.com

 

[producing]

Thank you, and I appreciate such a detailed reply.

This clears things up a bit. I was just unsure about whether a source/DAC with much more power than needed for a specific IEM would somehow impact its freq response, regardless of any manual volume attenuation in order to compensate for the difference.
Also, it's interesting to see that the Win volume control is not linear, didn't expect that. Cheers