|
Title: How much digital attenuation? Post by: fralippo on June 18, 2016, 06:41:47 pm I use XXhe with a diy non-oversampling multibit dac directly connected to my tube power amps, no preamps. Volume control is only performed via software, my hardware was developed in a way that I hardly need to attenuate any album by more than 10db or so.
Recently I had to attenuate more (for a test in a different system) and SQ was much compromized. I now wonder if I'd better to change strategy and add a "normal" attenuator somewhere... What's maximum digital attenuation level suggested for best possible quality? Title: Re: How much digital attenuation? Post by: PeterSt on June 18, 2016, 06:48:26 pm Hi Fralippo,
I myself would easily go to -27dBFS without being aware of compromises (and it measures good enough as well). In the end this is not easy to judge for me, because I never play at -10dBFS or so. Maximum would be -15dBFS. Technically (for a 24 bits DAC !) it should be OK up to -48dBFS. This is software wise. What your DAC makes of that I can not know ... Are you sure it is not some other source causing the degratation ? Quote I now wonder if I'd better to change strategy and add a "normal" attenuator somewhere... If you think it sounds good after trying. But personally I would not even try. Regards, Peter Title: Re: How much digital attenuation? Post by: fralippo on June 18, 2016, 07:06:20 pm Hi Peter,
thanks for lightning fast reply! DAC ICs are PCM1704K chips bought by a safe source, they're directly connected to the JLsounds I2SoverUSB board that's bit perfect and has LJ24 output (via software). I don't think this "simple" and straight hardware should be connected to SQ issues. Anyway soon I will repeat this test on a new DAC I'm completing - much similar but much more sophisticated and with different boards - and will check if digital attenuation "problems" will still be there. I will let you know. |