I was hoping someone could shed some light...

[DavidMahler]

I am currently in possession of 2 DACs. The Stello DA100 and the Bel Canto DAC3. I bought the Bel Canto used on Audiogon. It puts out a slightly lower volume than the Stello, HOWEVER the specs show that the Output voltage of the Bel Canto is considerably higher (2.25 volts) as opposed to the Stello's (1.2 Volts). Is my Bel Canto DAC3 messed up in someway or can other factors be a source for the lower volume.

PS. When comparing my Stello and Bel Canto I always have the volume of the Bel Canto all the way up to its highest point.

Thanks for the help

 

[sejarzo]

Have you emailed Bel Canto and asked them about this?

It appears from the Bel Canto's user's guide that you can adjust the fixed output down from from the 2.25 Vrms max to a lower level, but if it's in variable mode, it seems as if it should run all the way up to the specified max level in variable output mode--regardless of where the fixed output level is set by the procedure on page 6.

Could it possibly be that your Stello is actually putting out a higher output than specified? There aren't too many DAC's out there with output levels that low--when you posted about this before, that was something that bothered me a bit. Almost everything out there can put out at least 2.0 Vrms for a 0 dBFS digital signal.