KMorgan;400541 Wrote: > Sean/Phil > > To take the discussion of digital level contol into an "argument" about > SNR is slightly missing the point, I think. >
No, it is entirely the point as far as sound quality is concerned. And there are still a LOT of a people who completely do not get it, and think they do not need gain staging because "less is more", as if NOT doing it is better for the sound. It's BS and it really gets my goat that people think they've managed to defy basic arithmetic just because they don't notice the effect. For the record SNR is not really why I tell people they need to set gains correctly. In reality the dynamic range that is lost would probably only have been audible at the higher volume levels anyway, because of the ear's sensitivy, resolution of the rest of the system, etc. The reason it's really important is because you can blow your speakers or your eardrums. If you like the sound of a higher noise floor that's your business, I just want to make sure you realize what is happening. By all means use the volume control to adjust within your listening range. Do not use it to lop 20db off the top in lieu of proper gain settings, because effectively what you've done is turned your $2000 120db DAC into a $2000 100db DAC! > When I first asked Phil to check this using his setup I was curious to > know if there was a fundamental deterioration in signal quality with > DLC. Would it be like turning FLAC into 64kbps mp3? The answer seems > to be, no. Not even a little bit. How on earth do you arrive at that conclusion? Like an MP3? No, it's not going to add anything that sounds like compression artifacts or distortion. But it is EXACTLY like reducing the PCM bit depth. It is *exactly* like adding a layer of noise. White noise is what you'll hear in the difference track. That people do this in pursuit of higher sound quality is just absurd. -- seanadams ------------------------------------------------------------------------ seanadams's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60041 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
