Main PC volume Vs. studio monitor gain question

[Bruce80]

Hey folks,
I’m running a pair of studio monitors Adam Audio A3X (4.5″ drivers) straight from a balanced DAC (Topping D10 Balanced). Each speaker has a front-panel gain knob that goes from −∞ dB up to +14 dB.
Right now I’ve got the gain set roughly halfway between 0 dB and −∞ dB.(point A in the attached image). Even so, the speakers are already pretty loud when my Windows volume is only ~30 %.
Would I get any audible benefit (lower noise floor, better headroom, etc.) if I set each speaker to the 0 dB detent + keep my PC’s master volume down around 5 – 10 % instead?
Or should I go the other way? and lower even further the monitor's gain to point B in the attached image so music sounds at a decent level when PC’s master volume around 45%?
I’ve heard conflicting advice about where the “sweet spot” is for powered monitors vs. digital volume controls, so I’m hoping someone can clear this up.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

1. Turn Adam volume all the way down.
2. Turn your Windows volume up to the highest setting you will ever use it.
3. Turn the Adam volume up to the loudest you would ever want to play them.
4. Re-adjust your Windows volume setting to where you would normally use it.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Berwhale]

From a purely practical point of view, you might want to try setting the gain so that 100% volume in Windows is just slightly louder than your highest listening volume. It will prevent any nasty surprises...

 

[AnalogSteph]

For a good but not excessive amount of headroom, I would recommend setting speaker level such that normal output volume is reached at around the 20% mark in Windows. That should give you something approaching 30 dB of leeway, generally enough for even the most demanding source material. (The use of normalization features like ReplayGain and matching of levels in various sources is assumed.)

You can, incidentally, switch between percent and dB display in the "old" sound device properties dialogs by right-clicking the number field. I wish the same worked for mixer volume sliders, but oh well.