Controling DAC-V1 volume with USB Playback...

Posted by: VinBob on 14 April 2017

Hello All,

Have been listening to some music on my Mac-Mini using the latest Audirvana software and have noticed that things are playing REALLY LOUD via the DAC-V1 in comparison to some other sources, and am looking to get things to an even level between the different sources as best as possible. The DAC is on the latest firmware 1.16 and has passed the bit perfect tests and generally working great.

I am Just trying to understand how to best adjust the volume whether I do this on the DAC itself which is connected to my preamp (using RCA cables and in Fixed volume mode) or whether I need to attack this at the software level which I believe when playing with the software setting can affect the overall audio quality. I am hoping that someone has some good experience with this using the same software/hardware combo to kindly advise.

As always, I appreciate the help in advance!

Cheers,
Vin.

Posted on: 14 April 2017 by Kevin Richardson

You should be able to adjust the volume through the software DSP settings in a lossless manner. 

Posted on: 15 April 2017 by VinBob

Thanks. Yes, it looks like I can adjust via the volume level setting in Audirvana but wasn't sure if thats the best way to go about it or whether doing it via the DAC-V1 volume control would be best. This also means I need to take the DAC out of Fixed Output mode which I was under the impression that this is the best setting to have the DAC and also what is suggested in the Audirvana setup guide - hence my confusion here... 

Posted on: 15 April 2017 by Kevin Richardson

Hmm... Well the DSP should be lossless so you should be able to leave it in fixed output mode. End of day either way is the same result. My Berkeley Alpha DAC has volume control and I just set it to 57.0. If you use the V1 volume control please make sure you set the "max volume" to something reasonable to avoid accidents.

Posted on: 15 April 2017 by Kevin Richardson

BTW I haven't used your software since 2013 when I started using JRiver. JRiver has an excellent DSP adjustment section that does everything in a lossless manner. Maybe your software is different...