volume setting?

[tinger]

Hi folks,
How do I go about setting the volume of individual units in the chain?
I have headphone amps/integrated amps/dacs/preamps all with volume control.
Many thanks in advance.

ting

 

[Willem]

It looks like the first thing you can do is ditch the pre amp and use the dac as a pre amp. Beyond that, gain matching of consumer gear is a mess.

 

[BillG]

Hi folks,
How do I go about setting the volume of individual units in the chain?
I have headphone amps/integrated amps/dacs/preamps all with volume control.
Many thanks in advance.

ting

For all my digital units, I set the volume to 100%, and control the final output volume to the transducers (i.e. speakers/headphones) with the amp.

 

[tinger]

Thank you gents!

Schucks.. Just spent funds to refurbish an Adcom GFP750.
Setting the volume of the DAC @ 0dbr is same as to 100?
Any harm if the L/R meter bar hit the far right during loud passages?

 

[BillG]

Setting the volume of the DAC @ 0dbr is same as to 100?
Any harm if the L/R meter bar hit the far right during loud passages

1). Yes
2.) As long as it's not indicating clipping, it's fine.

 

[restorer-john]

I have headphone amps/integrated amps/dacs/preamps all with volume control.

The Pass designed GFP-750 is a work of art. It has full passive option as well as active, and an enormous output swing if you need it. It also has full remote control and balance via motorized Alps blues.

Don't be so fast to remove it from your system as it will allow multiple sources to be buffered and driven infinitely better than the weak-ass output stages of typical consumer D/A converters and other random sources.

Unless you are going to measure the S/N, THD and input overload into preamplifiers and line stages, the best positions will need to be determined by experimentation, particularly with reference to residual noise.

As an example, running a D/A converter wide open with a 4V output into a 150mV sensitivity pre/int amplifier is not remotely clever, and certainly won't give anywhere near the best performance. Consider your Adcom is rated 365mV for 1V output which is a voltage gain 2.73 times. That same 4V D/A converter would be pushing nearly 11V into the following stage wide open and the poor volume pot would be all the way down in the least linear/balanced area. The Adcom could easily swing the 11V, but the amplifier following it won't like that level.

Running a D/A directly into a power amplifier can be OK, but again, watch the sensitivities. Most power amplifiers (single ended inputs) are 1.0-1.5V for full rated power. You'll end up either attenuating in the analog domain passively with all the attendant impedance mismatching issues and FR deviations, or, you'll be relying on software level control of each source independently which is a recipe for disaster.

Again, if you have more than one or two sources, stick to the Adcom, it handles it all with aplomb and elegance.