I thought we had established that we are not "losing detail" until you've shifted over 4 bits but raising the noise floor out of the DAC (so the quietest sounds get closer to it or even in extreme cases, below it - although you can still hear them). Personally I reckon you can lose 4 more bits than that before you can detect anything in a DBT - we obviously don't agree on this but there have been many tests over the years that indicate people have difficulty telling 16-bit from 16-bit reduced (properly) to 12 or even 10 bits.
Anyway, yes I am using an analogue pre-amp, and I have the Vol on 100... BUT I use Replaygain (which is the same as using the volume control, with one important exception - it can also boost). Across my collection the AlbumReplaygain range is -12dB /+5dB average. So on the loudest albums (which are all heavily compressed "loudness wars" victims) I'm using 12dB of digital attenuation. On the quietest, I'm boosting the level (pre-dac) by 5dB. I don't believe this has any audible effect other than changing the level. I don't believe that may people on this forum advocate using the full range of the digital attenuation with just a power amp, preferring instead to set the gain-staging correctly via analogue attenuators between dac and amp and using the SB attenuation between 70-100 (and/or replaygain) Your situation is different, since you have a fully digital chain into your amps - so nowhere to insert the analogue attenuation?. -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/XP) - TACT 2.2X (Linear PSU) + Good Vibrations S/W - MF Triplethreat(Audiocom full mods) - Linn 5103 - Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Townsend Supertweeters, Blue Jeans Digital,Kimber Speaker & Chord Interconnect cables Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=77725 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
