[bclark8923]

I'm having an issue where the output from my DAC in balanced mode (Metrum Pavane Leve 3) seems too loud. And I get almost 0 play with my amp (Liquid Carbon X) before it's too loud. Is there a balanced pre-amp like the Schiit Sys I could put in the middle? Or any other ideas other than turning the volume down on my PC?

Thanks!

 

[NA Blur]

Nothing wrong with turning the PC volume down especially if the sound still sounds great.

Going single ended should drop the output up to 6dB.

 

[FumblingFoo]

Going single ended should drop the output up to 6dB.

By my recollection this would be the reason, balanced mode is delivering far more power to be amplified than single ended. I believe the violectric v850 adds an extra 6-9db of gain in balanced mode.

Perhaps there are some (internal) jumpers you can set on the DAC or amp to lower the overall gain. Definitely consult your owners manual.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

By my recollection this would be the reason, balanced mode is delivering far more power to be amplified than single ended. I believe the violectric v850 adds an extra 6-9db of gain in balanced mode.

To be more precise, the DAC isn't "delivering far more power," it's sending a more powerful line signal into the amp, after which the amp uses power from its power supply to amplify that signal applying gain to make it louder while making it powerful enough to drive transducers.

I'm having an issue where the output from my DAC in balanced mode (Metrum Pavane Leve 3) seems too loud. And I get almost 0 play with my amp (Liquid Carbon X) before it's too loud.

Are you on 1X gain on the amp? If you already are, either the DAC has too high output voltage for that amp, or the amp has too high input sensitivity for that kind of source signal voltage; or your headphone has too high sensitivity. Main problem if you're already at 0dB/1X gain setting is that the only amps that have negative gain are desktop amps that have that to get around channel imbalance for IEMs, like older Meiers, which no longer have negative low gain (nor do they have balanced connections) due to digital volume controls.

Is there a balanced pre-amp like the Schiit Sys I could put in the middle?

http://www.schiit.com/products/freya

Or any other ideas other than turning the volume down on my PC?

Use single ended output from the Pavane into the single ended input on the Liquid Carbon X. Or get a new balanced amp with lower input sensitivity on the balanced inputs.