Passive Volume Control for DACs/Sources

I can see that. The best digital attenuation I’ve heard has been in the box DAWs. The better sounding ones like Reaper and Logic. The outboard stuff with better done digital only volume control beyond awful VCA chips I’ve heard (Prism Lyra and Grace Design boxes) has been too colored really for whatever loss their could be to matter much anyway. RME does their own thing and Lavry uses their own custom digitally controlled analog attenuator but the switches in the reasonably priced Lavry Black boxes lack knob feel

SBAF members: Controlling output levels in the box to bypass pot ocd is a really bad idea. Should the program, OS, or drivers crash, you can easily overload stuff at full volume. Frying tweeters and clipping amp inputs.

 

I hadn't considered this!

 

Darn! Nobsound is paying a million bucks a month, you guys caught me.

Another friend is sending me his Saga and I have two more passives coming in this week. Maybe I can find another to send me an Axiom?

Actually the best by far was when I ran a CD player direct into a David Berning amp. The speakers were low efficient so nothing blew up. No passive will ever beat that performance.

 

You’re limited by the real specs of your DAC too. My Dangerous Source has only “good enough” noise and distortion specs as do the Converts with the digital calibration enabled. You could quickly hit the noise floor of even better measuring gear if you have to use a ton of digital in the box gain reduction like many people with super sensitive speakers and and low powered amps would be forced to. Let’s not even get into the increased imd and the sound that it brings when gear is forced to output way colder signals than it is designed to

I’ve had ASIO USB drivers crash on for every box I’ve tried far too often, outputting a noise burst. Wasabi is even less stable. Without using an external box for volume control (or the pot in my source) that’s at least a +26 dbu noise burst from my line level outputs. Stuff would fry stuff if I was using a plugin over the built in pot. You’d have to use a rock solid AES card from Lynx or RME to even consider it. Let’s not even get into program crashes. Woe to you using ANY media player or DAW should that happen.

 

I was wondering about TVC passives. Tube amps with big transformers also sound dark in general. Low powered SET amps with small transormers sounds the most transparent. OTL tube amps also sound very transparent.

 

^
What????? Did I just read? OTLs transparent? No.............
SET amps aiming for high fidelity sound with good current production tubes and high quality output transformers are not dark!!!!! Even with lower quality, more exciting transformers, they will not be dark.

 

Have you ever owned any OTL's. David Berning quit making transformer amps about 30 years ago.

 

For what it's worth, I don't have any special sensitivity to main hum or RF with my autoformer volume control. It sat on top of my dac before I reorganized my rig, without ever giving me any hum, unlike my former tube amp.

 

Dude, just stop. You sound like a dumbass with every further post.

 

On-board digital attenuation

Stereoknight Silverstone-Balanced

crappy webpage here: https://www.stereoknight.com/
(pics don't work on half the pages)

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/det...ight-silverstone-balanced-tvc-passive-preamp/
(not my ad, just looking for something with pictures)

Prism makes the dScope, so I'd certainly hope it sounds better than an old Yammie... *shrug*

 

That is a very nice looking preamp. It’s no Nobsound of course, but nothing’s perfect.

What does it sound like?

 

As a general rule, if you're gonna be doing most of your volume control early on in the chain then you set your last gain stage/pot/whatever to your max threshold that won't blast your brains out. Actually, regardless of where you are canoodling your chain you should still hard-set your max levels.

 

Like butterfly kisses on the morning dew.

No but seriously, I felt like it detracted the least from overall sound quality in that fuzzy-imperceptible-placebo way. Maybe a touch more relaxed in the high end. Or maybe I imagined it all.

I used it as a tool to compare dacs, and apparently it was transparent enough for me to hear differences that way.

 

He's got a fever - and the only prescription is more Nobsound.

Curious to see what @atomicbob digs up on their box as well, though I've happy with the Mackie Big Knob Passive. Channel imbalance is only present for the first few degrees of rotation, then disappears altogether by the 7:30-8 o'clock position. 2x2 balanced I/O. Its knob is big. It sounds like whatever I plug into it.

Only potential downside is its use of 1/4in TRS jacks as opposed to XLR, which is a less common connection method in hifi world. Or the feeling of inadequacy that comes with not owning a preamp with wood trim or that spells messages with its heatsinks.

 

I once bought a Nobsound [edit: passive volume control]. It was the biggest piece of shit. Definitely the worst piece of audio gear I’ve ever laid my hands on. Pot was all scratchy and very uneven. Case lets in noise. Sounded like ass.

 

I've randomly come across Nobsound whilst wandering around Hong Kong. It's usually in computer or electronic malls, and connected to cheap gear pumping out the kind of syrupy, smoothed-over sound that seems big out here. Maybe they've got a really diverse product line that includes some high quality stuff, but from my wanderings, it has struck me as exactly the kind of gear I would never buy myself.

 

This looks like a bargain. I may try one of these next.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9997h-idiom-sspp-1-solid-state