Hello!
I lent my friend my SGD for a week and he already has a preamp so we put the SGD into DAC only mode.
Trouble is that this seemed to mute the output as the volume control was out of action then.
Is this normal and did we do something wrong?
I couldn’t seem to get it out mute in dac only mode. I didn’t have the remote with me.
Thanks
Dave
Welcome, Dave
As I understand it, in DAC only mode the volume control will not work and the outputs are set at line level. That is, the unit outputs at full volume and one cannot turn it down using the volume control.
That’s what I thought I would do, but it displayed mute on the screen and we couldn’t unmute it (didnt have the remote).
In the end we turned dac mode off and rotated the volume to about 75.
Puzzling! 
What @Elk describes sounds sensible. The behavior you are observing sounds odd.
I have a Stellar GCD and just put it into DAC only mode. I could not test the output because I do not have a preamp to insert before my power amps. But the mute light did NOT come on. I could then turn the mute on and off with the remote.
Unfortunately, Dave does not have a remote.
I know. My point was my mute light never came on when I switched to DAC mode. So, presumably, his GCD is not working correctly.
Thanks for replies. I’ll try it again in his system when I get home and this time I’ll take the remote with me 
If it was put into mute by mistake before you disconnected it and took it to the friends you would not have been unable to un-mute it without the remote. If you pulled the power and waited a few minutes it might have reset to standard mode.
Maybe it has to do with the HT Level setting, that is default at 0, maybe the DAC only mode defaults to that setting.
Also double check that it isn’t muted when you put it in DAC only mode. I think it stays muted if you turn DAC only mode on while muted.
Ok so its years after this post and I just bought a SGCD and I have Mute issues so far i am only using it in DAC only mode and it needs complete power off to get it out of mute mode. remote will not do it and it happens after use and being put in standby mode.then when taken out of standby for use it is stuck on mute. I assume this is a firmware bug have there been any updates to address this or what can be done to correct this issue
Hmm, not really something I hear about. I’m wondering if it is a older unit and there was update a while ago. Can you replicate it every time you put it into standby?
SN is 2019 SGC-AI-9C0086 and it happens often can’t say even time. But will check this. I did buy used from TMR and it is otherwise a really nice piece. I was not able to discern a resolution from the original post so I though you if anyone jamesh would know. I do not see any updated firmware so i guess i need to work through this awhile.