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In Reply to: Software volume controls.. are risky posted by Audio Bling on November 4, 2009 at 16:38:20:
"I think your warning doesn’t go far enough!"I won't disagree. All of my previous posts on this subject were more guarded. Over the years, I've blown my share of speaker drivers, some even while "protected" by fuses. Not yet, thankfully, with my computer audio setup, but that's perhaps because I am presently running only 25 watts and listening near field in a small room.
I have my analog gain set so that the loudest possible digital track won't clip my amplifier, and this corresponds roughly to 103 db SPL at my listening position on peaks. Most material plays at about -8 dB digital gain except when playing background music. Audiophile recordings with no compression get the benefit of no digital volume reduction. The other recordings have to make do with 22 or 23 bits of resolution going to the DAC. I have enough gain for all of my CD rips and downloads. I used to run at a lower analog gain, but some recordings weren't quite loud enough to sound natural. Two examples that get played at 0 dB digital attenuation: Temirnakov Mahler 5 on Water Lilly (88/24 download) and "West of Oz" on Sheffield (CD rip).
I can easily pass the "you've got mail" test, but I have some test files that have huge ultrasonic energy that would probably smoke my tweeters in a few seconds. It is also possible for heavy low bass to bottom my woofers but I've been able to stop this the few times I've had this happen before doing damage.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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Follow Ups
- RE: Software volume controls.. are risky - Tony Lauck 11/4/0917:40:58 11/4/09 (0)
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