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[Efjay]

I orginally asked for info on this topic last year (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=41251.msg281549#msg281549 In response to my question, Matt said:

To restate what Alex said, MC's internal volume operates on the 32-bit playback chain.

That means you haven't lost any signal information by turning the volume down.  You could turn it back up and it'd be bit-perfect. *

However, if you output that 32-bit signal as 16-bit, you're throwing bits away because fractions have to be rounded off.  So it's best if you can use a 24-bit or 32-bit output mode so this isn't an issue.

* Assuming your input is some reasonable bit-depth less than around 30-bits (a CD is 16).  Also, remember that it's about impossible to hear past 14-bits of precision (especially at low volumes -- i.e. when it's turned down) so this is mostly academic.

Therefore, I now wonder: I am using asio4all to output a bit perfect signal to my dac. That signal is 16/44.1. (In case it matter, I am using a Chaintech av710 and signal is sent via spdif). I would like to use the MC volume slider as my pre-amp does not have a remote. Should I be using dsp to output a 24 bit signal instead of setting it for source bitdepth? Would that even have any effect if I am sending out a bit perfect signal? Any thoughts on the topic are appreciated.

[Matt]

I orginally asked for info on this topic last year (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=41251.msg281549#msg281549 In response to my question, Matt said:

Therefore, I now wonder: I am using asio4all to output a bit perfect signal to my dac. That signal is 16/44.1. (In case it matter, I am using a Chaintech av710 and signal is sent via spdif). I would like to use the MC volume slider as my pre-amp does not have a remote. Should I be using dsp to output a 24 bit signal instead of setting it for source bitdepth? Would that even have any effect if I am sending out a bit perfect signal? Any thoughts on the topic are appreciated.

Normally ASIO talks to the card in the card's native format, which is not configurable.  A lot of the cards I've seen are 24-bit integers, but MC supports (and scales as necessary) for any ASIO buffer format.

Since ASIO4All is ASIO emulation, it probably accepts any input and simply scales as necessary.  In this case, it couldn't hurt to pick 32-bit in DSP studio inside Media Center.  Let ASIO4All scale it down if necessary instead of having Media Center do it.