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In Reply to: RE: Digital volume control versa passive pre-amp posted by SashaV on April 19, 2008 at 11:09:26
Wadia says they do digital volume control by adjusting signal levels digitally, preserving 16 bit RBCD resolution because their DAC has higher resolution than 16 bits. You can do the same thing in software with your Lynx or other DAC, provided that your DAC can run in 24 bit mode and doesn't just deliver 24 bit resolution on paper. Your software player will have to output 24 bit data to your DAC.
If you are using source material with 24 bit resolution to start with then you will be still losing some resolution by using a digital volume control. But it seems likely that the loss of a few bits of resolution will be less than the loss caused by the very best active preamplifier. You may do better with a passive analog gain control and very short interconnects, but I doubt you will notice the difference if you have a good 24 bit DAC and don't exceed more than about 15 db of digital attenuation.
One advantage of digital volume controls is that they can be placed ahead of signal processing operations, such as sample rate converters doing upsampling. This enables them to be used to avoid digital clipping, which may occur while playing very hot tracks.
Don't use a digital volume control with a 16 bit DAC or if your software or system is limited to running your DAC in 16 bit mode. Even those flat earth types who believe that RBCD offers perfect sound agree that there are no spare bits hanging around that can be wasted.
Tony Lauck
"Perception, inference and authority are the valid sources of knowledge" - P.R. Sarkar
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