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DSD Volume Control

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BasMolly:
Hello everyone,
When I send DSD (over DoP) to my outboard DAC, I am unable to adjust the volume. As soon as I change it away from 100% everything goes silent. On FLAC/WAV it works normally.
What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Do I need to put an analogue volume pot between the output of my DAC and my Amp?
Thanks for any insights
Bas

Awesome Donkey:
That's how it is when bitstreaming DSD unfortunately. A lot of DACs require volume (both internal volume and system volume) to be set to 100% otherwise you either won't hear anything or will hear noise.

I would highly recommend putting in an analog volume control/attenuator (AKA potentiometer) somewhere in the chain, yes. There's choices out there with one that comes off the top of my head being the Schiit Sys. It'll probably depend on if you're using unbalanced or balanced for the audio output. Looking on Amazon, Sweetwater, B&H, etc. you'll find some at different price points that support different outputs with differing quality.

dtc:
Because of the structure of DSD it is not possible to easily change the volume like it is with PCM. This is not just a MC limitation, it applies to pretty much all DSD devices.

Schitt makes an inexpensive volume control. It also switches between 2 inputs, but you can just ignore that and use it as a volume control.

https://www.schiit.com/products/sys

kr4:

--- Quote from: dtc on August 22, 2024, 12:26:58 pm ---Schitt makes an inexpensive volume control. It also switches between 2 inputs, but you can just ignore that and use it as a volume control.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys

--- End quote ---
Sadly, only 2 channels.

BasMolly:

--- Quote from: Awesome Donkey on August 22, 2024, 11:35:05 am ---That's how it is when bitstreaming DSD unfortunately. A lot of DACs require volume (both internal volume and system volume) to be set to 100% otherwise you either won't hear anything or will hear noise.

I would highly recommend putting in an analog volume control/attenuator (AKA potentiometer) somewhere in the chain, yes. There's choices out there with one that comes off the top of my head being the Schiit Sys. It'll probably depend on if you're using unbalanced or balanced for the audio output. Looking on Amazon, Sweetwater, B&H, etc. you'll find some at different price points that support different outputs with differing quality.

--- End quote ---
Thank you for this clear answer

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