mswlogo;206724 Wrote: > There are two volume controls on the SB3. > > The analog output, I assume (and I could be incorrect) has an analog > attenuator after the DAC. I'd be very surprised if it didn't and used > just digital attentuation before the DAC. > >
Actually there are two digital volume controls in the SB3. One is in the DAC chip itself and is controled by the "Preamp gain" setting. This has no effect on the S/PDIF output. The other is the main "volume control" which is implemented by firmware running on the SB processor. This may or may not effect the S/PDIF output. You can configure the player so the unattenuated data goes to the digital out and the attenuated signal goes to DAC chip. Replay gain uses the main volume control, but there is no indication that it is in effect. The replay gain modifies the user volume setting before its used to change the signal level. There was a subtle bug last year in the volume control implementation for some firmware versions. With one of these firmare versions there was degradation of the signal quality when the volume control was turned down below 40 (max volume was 40 in those days). After the fix to the firmware the sound degradation due to less than max volume is very slight. In some situations going direct to a power amp DOES sound better than using a preamp. It very much depends on the preamp, wiring, amp input impedance etc. There are a LOT of preamps that change the sound considerabbly more than the volume control on the SB3 does. You may like that change that the preamp brings, but then that is a personal choice. I personally have been going back and forth on this issue, currently I'm using a preamp of my own design and think I get better sound using it rather than the DAC out direct. John S. -- JohnSwenson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JohnSwenson's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5974 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35642 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
