I know this topic has been discussed in a great detail, so pls hear me out before saying “Not Again” :slight_smile: The context of volume levels is when one has both a DS dac and a BHK pre in their system. I have heard @Paul talk about volume control on the bhk pre in context of the taking your fo…

[image] tedsmith: Lowering the DS’s volume lowers the signal and leaves the ( DS generated) noise alone which lowers the signal to noise ratio. Ted, Is this not worse?

Yes a low signal to noise ratio isn’t ideal :slight_smile: Since the nose is fairly white it’s not too intrusive. It’s also quieter than tape noise or vinyl noise so it’s not a problem if your system (with the DS) lets you use the DS comfortably near the top of it’s range. Still multiple people l…

Ted’s done a great job explaining it. For what it’s worth, I keep my DSJ at 100 and adjust the volume with the BHK pre from there. DSJ never changes unless I accidentally hit its volume button. Not the perfect analogy, but I think may help. Say you’re at a graduation and someone goes up on stage to…

FWIW, I also set my DS DAC at 100% (fixed) and adjust the BHK Pre according to desired volume. This makes a lot of sense to me as well (I think of it as bypassing the DS volume altogether). If I set my DAC to something lower than 100% I would run out of “steam” when really cranking the tunes via vin…

Jamesh in your analogy ( a great one - i now get the concept of gain and noise) what will the bhk pre be ?

Thanks. The BHK pre would be the sound guy playing with the mic’s gain.

But the mic guy while adjusting the gain is also introducing noise (and gain) - no ?

Sure, but with a decent pre, this noise is irrelevant because it’s so little compared to the signal. Like trying to hear a mosquito in a jet engine. Sure, the mosquito is making noise, but compared to the jet engine, it’s irrelevant.

I’m still waiting for my BHK Pre, but I’m excited :hear_no_evil: Is there a volume sweet spot, as some has mentioned in terms of their preference for the best sound? I guess this applies to both the DAC and Pre. I’ve read that the DAC’s volume is not bit-limiting, and therefore should sound the s…

Understanding volume control directstream bhk pre

Audio Components Preamplifiers

Elk August 26, 2021, 5:22pm 30

I’m certain @Interested meant the Sunlight: Sound Impressions thread.

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Understanding volume control directstream bhk pre

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