I'm pointing out digital volume control steals purity as it steals information when you lower the volume it is nowhere even close to the same purity as analog at volume levels below 100%
I get where your reasoning comes from. But how would you define the "purity"? Information in a DA-converted signal is still lost even when attenuated by analog volume control, because digitally encoded low-level information is buried into the noise floor, reducing the effective number of bits (ENOB) or signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SINAD). The end result is not fundamentally different from the result of digital attenuation: we still lose bits either way. That is why no separate performance metrics are necessary when testing the performance of analog versus digital attenuation.
That's the one thing I worry about (whether the difference between the two DAC chips will matter to me.) I, too, am using Genelecs. I used to be able to hear much higher frequencies when I was young. (I could hear dog whistles.) Now, in my old age, it fluctuates a lot. (Occassionally, I can still hear dog whistles.) With DACs, and other audio equipment, I have to listen a lot to be able to tell if the differences are due to the gear or my hearing difficulties.
Depends on use. There are uses for recallable levels. Also cheap pots tend to get worse with time and use. If money wasn’t an issue, a resistor based HPA4 would probably be the nicest.
In my opinion, for a good reason. Actually one of the reasons I even looked at this was that it should have digital volume. You referenced apmastering and he seems to think the same. No reason to complicate things in this segment. I wish though that they used 0.5 db steps for full range like my minidsp htx does. You can also use non-attenuated line output and control your volume in other device, and just use this as a DAC.
I cannot recommend SMSL SU-1. Mine broke after a year of using it.I would suggest SMSL SU 1 DAC with Topping L30 II ( SE only no Balanced connections ) I`ve actually used other Topping and SMSL Dac Headphone amps like the DX3 Pro & D12, none of the mid range HPA & Pre amp with built in Dac`s I listened to could touch the mentioned combo as far as purity.
The Topping L70 I have not listened to it`s double the price of the L 30 II, but L70 has balanced connections. The L50 as no pre amp mode only a pass through so it only a HPA.
Worth looking over the spec`s of the L30 II and L70 to compare, you just need to also purchase a DAC but no need for volume control. Heads up the SMSL SU1 is no compatible with cellphones it needs more power and USBC Y splitter will not work with 99% of USB-C cables I own it and even reached out to SMSL to ask for firmware upgrade to solve this issue but later realized it`s a USB-C cable issue...
I was able to get it to work using the Fosi Audio DS1 USBC cable with a Y splitter the catch is I was not able to find any other cable that would work other than the Fosi cable I tried a few out of curiosity even made thread on ASR that nobody was able to explain why the Fosi USB-C cable was the only one that works.
Bonus is you can order the Fosi cable separately from the DS1 BUT you need to email Fosi Audio this request as they don`t yet sell them in there selections. I asked them to use Amazon but nothing so far.
If you ordered one you could use the SMSL SU1 with a cellphone using a USB-C y splitter
worth mentioning the other USB-C cables were similar in length to the Fosi DS1 USB-C cable and none worked.
Yes AP mastering did compare the Fosi ZH3 alone side other more expensive units and praised it for it`s value for the money spent.
He didn't have any Topping or SMSL tests only price comparisons. He also said the A70 pro was very expensive compared to the Fosi he had in his hands as is has a built in Dac but didn't mention the less expensive L70 that is in the same high end league as the A70 Pro it appears they are almost twins.
He did not do in-depth comparison's on Digital volume controls vs Analog volume controls in that video.
Some devices with Digital volume raise the bit count on a 16 bit file to 32 bits but this does absolutely nothing to the files information it`s just sales fluff and miss information causing much frustration for millions of people who would have been willing to spend money.
Ap mastering has videos explaining the bit up conversion in depth.
I can`t say for 100% certainty but I seem to remember him stating that when you take the original 16 bit file and raise it to 32 bit then turn down the volume there is still the same loses.
The DX3 pro is very high quality Audio and it appears the Fosi ZH3 is no slouch ether so it boils down to are you satisfied ? I was but my curiosity and high interest in purity pushed me to search that will only have no doubt cost more money so if your happy, be happy
I didn’t hear him saying anything bad about digital volume control in DACs, which seem to operate 32bit int bit depth in most cases, like for example ZH3, or advocate analog volume control. I think in this forum, there is a consensus that digiral volume have been ”perfected” regards to SQ, but some other resons may still speak for analog.
The turntable needs to have phono preamp (which I think yours had?), or you need to use external preamp or ADC with fitting phono (like minidsp adept, latest rme adi, though adi is riaa/mm only). CD player you can connect to which ever. Shorter signal path (less to go wrong in worst case) if you connect it to ZH3 directly (provided that ZH3 is last link before headphones or main amps of speakers, and provided that it is all analog after ZH3, which it has to as there is no digital outs in that). I would connect CD to which ever provides better ergonomics. Functionalities are other aspects, if you want to do something to signal that say only Eversolo can, then connect to that.
