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RCA Attenuators - Any Thoughts?

post #1 of 27
11/24/08 at 9:33am
Thread Starter 
My dac is way too hot for my amp and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these things? I know I will get to use more of my amp but will it have any affect on sound quality?

Attenuators
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post #2 of 27
11/24/08 at 11:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by olblueyez View Post
My dac is way too hot for my amp and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these things? I know I will get to use more of my amp but will it have any affect on sound quality?

Attenuators
A friend uses these out of his CD player to DAC. I am not able to hear any degradation.
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post #3 of 27
11/24/08 at 12:32pm
I've tried several, all of them absolutely destroyed the high end. Massive roll off. Also distinct muddying in the mids.
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post #4 of 27
11/24/08 at 12:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggeh View Post
I've tried several, all of them absolutely destroyed the high end. Massive roll off. Also distinct muddying in the mids.
What brand Duggeh?
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post #5 of 27
11/24/08 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by olblueyez View Post
My dac is way too hot for my amp and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these things? I know I will get to use more of my amp but will it have any affect on sound quality?

Attenuators
I have a pair of the Rothwells lying dormat in a drawer. I dont like them. You definitely hear degradation if you have a revealing system.
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post #6 of 27
11/24/08 at 3:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by olblueyez View Post
What brand Duggeh?
DIY, couple of ebay stores and the Rothwells. All had the same detrimental effects in varying degrees and that varience was small. The expensive rothwells were just as irritating as a resistor on a length of wire. It was a solution which I really wanted to work at the time. I would try attenuating at the output of the amp if thats possible, or you could try sticking a pre-amp into the chain. What's the transport for your DAC, is there no way to do any attenuation in the digital domain?
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post #7 of 27
11/24/08 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 
Yes I could use foobar to reduce the volume but everyone says info is lost at anything less than full blast in the digital domain.
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post #8 of 27
11/24/08 at 10:02pm
Everyone says...


Why don't you do it. And if you think you're suddenly missing out, stop. My bet is that you wont notice if what you're bemoaning is a difficulty in being able to listen at low levels.
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post #9 of 27
11/25/08 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
Tried it but is sounds worst, sounds like an low bitrate MP3 instead of FLAC.
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post #10 of 27
11/25/08 at 1:17pm
How about redoing the I/V stage for less gain?
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post #11 of 27
11/25/08 at 1:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pars View Post
How about redoing the I/V stage for less gain?
Tell me more.
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post #12 of 27
11/25/08 at 1:55pm
What DAC? Got schematics?

The attached schematic shows a standard opamp I/V. The 1.5K resistor in this case is the I/V resistor and controls the gain; this stage was for a TDA1541a DAC chip. YMMV.

EDIT: added std. opamp stage schematic
LL
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post #13 of 27
11/25/08 at 8:31pm
If you are looking for attenuators go for Goldenjacks. Much nicer then the Rothwells, less impact on the sound, and they sell for less. Plus you can get them in a variety of attenuations.

This is from someone who has used Rothwell, Goldenjacks, and Harrison Labs in his various systems.
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post #14 of 27
11/25/08 at 11:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pars View Post
What DAC? Got schematics?

The attached schematic shows a standard opamp I/V. The 1.5K resistor in this case is the I/V resistor and controls the gain; this stage was for a TDA1541a DAC chip. YMMV.

EDIT: added std. opamp stage schematic
Stello DA100 Signature feeding a Raptor.
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post #15 of 27
11/26/08 at 12:12am
i use the rothwells and like them very much.
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