drmatt wrote: > More comments when I have more time, but iirc the digital volume control > is only "bit perfect" when volume is reduced by less than 8 bits. If you > lower it further it truncates even 16 bit sources. (I forget what this > translates to in dB.)
Yes. No. Maybe. But mostly No. Digital volume control, by definition, is never "bit perfect" - any attenuation in the digital domain changes the bits. But likewise any volume change in the analog domain changes the signal voltage, and normally decreases signal-to-noise ratio. Thus what you should look at is SNR, both for analog and for digital. The SNR for typical commercial source material is around 13-14 bits, so if you have a 24-bit volume control, you can attenuate by 10 bits before you start decreasing the real SNR. With a 32-bit volume control (typical of modern DACs) you have 18 bits of attenuation before reducing SNR. A completely different matter is the fact that if you get your gain structure right, the decrease in SNR doesn't matter - if something is too quiet to hear, it is too quiet to hear, no matter what the volume setting. "To try to judge the real from the false will always be hard. In this fast-growing art of 'high fidelity' the quackery will bear a solid gilt edge that will fool many people" - Paul W Klipsch, 1953 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Julf's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=42050 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=106519 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
