General Question about DAC/AMP PC setup

[Xelaux]

Hello fellow audiophiles!

I recently bought a Topping E30 II/L30 II Stack and need some advice/help. I am trying to use it for my PC/Mac and need some help with the setup and settings. I plan on using it for music, movies, videos, and games.
I plan on using Apple Music/Spotify Premium ( and foobar2000 if that is much superior to the other two) > Topping E30 II DAC > Topping L30 II Amp > Headphones (HD 6XX/ ATH-m50x/IEMS).
My question is, from my understanding of various forums, it is better to not touch the audio source until as downstream as you can so in this case for the volume I 100% PC/Mac, 100% Apple/Spotify, 100% DAC, and use the Amp as volume control. Is that correct, if not could someone explain what I should do? In addition, there are many settings on the DAC, should I change any of them or just use it straight out of the box? Any recommended settings for the PC/Mac?
Thank you for your time.

Best,
Alex

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes exactly that, you can always experiment but imho ( and with my hearing) the Dacs filters make very little if any difference.
Keith

 

[Xelaux]

Yes exactly that, you can always experiment but imho ( and with my hearing) the Dacs filters make very little if any difference.
Keith

Thank you very much for the quick reply. I also read that it is better to match the audio source to 96kHz/24bit compared to just putting the max of 384kHz/32bit. Is there any downside to setting it to max? It won't distort the audio, will it?
Alex

 

[boxerfan88]

So many combinations.

If you’re outputting at 24bit or 32bit, then there is sufficient bits to use foobar’s digital volume control (if you so wish)

If you’re going to resample everything to 384ksps, then choose a resampler that sounds good to your ears. (I use the foobar SRC resampler to resample everything to 176ksps.)

 

[JSmith]

In addition, there are many settings on the DAC, should I change any of them or just use it straight out of the box?

The default filter is F2, which appears almost identical to F6. Don't use or bother with F1, F3 or F4;

JSmith

 

[Xelaux]

So many combinations.

If you’re outputting at 24bit or 32bit, then there is sufficient bits to use foobar’s digital volume control (if you so wish)

If you’re going to resample everything to 384ksps, then choose a resampler that sounds good to your ears. (I use the foobar SRC resampler to resample everything to 176ksps.)

Okay, thanks for the input. I think I will play with it and see how it goes. Most likely will see if I like 32-bit at 352.

The default filter is F2, which appears almost identical to F6. Don't use or bother with F1, F3 or F4;

JSmith

ahh gotcha so either F2 or F6. so just don't bother changing.

Alex