I had a few that I use, power physics, Class D Audio, and D-Sonic. The SHD manual states not to go above -10db of attenuation, so i dont.
I asked for the specific amplifier you are using as I am interested in gain / power output (aka input sensitivity) of the amplifier as it would give an idea how much output you are really losing with 10 dB attenuation. If output voltage is quite a bit higher than input sensitivity in the base case you will be able to tolerate more attenuation.
That being said as mentioned by others using the Okto upstream of the SHD makes no sense, especially if you add -10 dB attenuation in the SHD. If for some reason you continue with this setup it would be better to use 0 dB attenuation on the SHD and use the volume control of the Okto or SHD. Remember that whether you actually have digital clipping in the SHD depends on what the input level is, what processing you have applied in the SHD and the volume control position of the SHD.
In general I would never add permanent attenuation in the SHD unless you are running the SHD at a fixed volume level and are doing volume control in a downstream multichannel DAC / preamp. If you decide to go this route it would be a good idea to measure the actual response of the Dirac filters being implemented in the SHD using the bi-directional USB audio. This will give you a better idea of how much boost you actually have and you can apply more exact attenuation rather than a blanket 10 dB.
Michael
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