[Baten]

About DPLL I recommend the middle setting!

 

[DjBobby]

Hi, my name is David, I'm from Chile and this is my first post in this community. I got a Swing v6v a couple of weeks ago and I have a few doubts about how to take the most advantage of it.

One of the reasons why I chose it was because it had volume control, because I was going to use with my active Dynaudio Focus 110A speakers and did not want to add a preamp. I have realized though that it sounds better over the "dac out" output, controlling the volume on my computer. I had tried lowering the dac and speakers' gain so I can listen with the signal as least attenuated as possible and it's better, but not quite the same as the dac out.

Are there any technical reasons behind this (different output impedances, the signal being deteriorated by the Swing's digital attenuator) or is it just my impression cause it sounds louder that way? If there were,what would be the most optimal way to control the volume? I listen mostly to classical through Idagio so my options would be Idagio's volume control, Windows' control or maybe a dedicated software for this you could recommend.

Lastly, what would be your recommendations for filter, emphasis and DPLL settings for my use case?

Thanks in advance!

Dac-out sounds always better because it outputs the full resolution. The Swing uses for the pre-amp the digital attenuation which is in built-in on the Sabre chip itself. Although it claims that the sound deterioration is negligible, many users and manuals claim that when you go lower than 50% of the volume, the soundstage shrinks significantly. Personally I always prefer the dac-out over the pre-amp out.
For the DPLL the best is the medium setting, both for PCM and DSD.

 

[davidisr]

Dac-out sounds always better because it outputs the full resolution. The Swing uses for the pre-amp the digital attenuation which is in built-in on the Sabre chip itself. Although it claims that the sound deterioration is negligible, many users and manuals claim that when you go lower than 50% of the volume, the soundstage shrinks significantly. Personally I always prefer the dac-out over the pre-amp out.
For the DPLL the best is the medium setting, both for PCM and DSD.

Thanks for the answer, so it has nothing to do with the difference in output impedance (2 vs 15 ohm for the dac and pre outs, respectively)? That'd be good news for me, as I can set the speakers and dac gain in low and listen at over 80% volume. In that case my perceived difference in sound quality would be explained just by the higher gain of the dac output. Does the pre out output full resolution at full volume?

 

[DjBobby]

Thanks for the answer, so it has nothing to do with the difference in output impedance (2 vs 15 ohm for the dac and pre outs, respectively)? That'd be good news for me, as I can set the speakers and dac gain in low and listen at over 80% volume. In that case my perceived difference in sound quality would be explained just by the higher gain of the dac output. Does the pre out output full resolution at full volume?

Nothing to do with the difference in output impedance. The output impedance is mainly relevant for the headphones out. Here you can read about the digital volume control: http://www.esstech.com/files/3014/4095/4308/digital-vs-analog-volume-control.pdf

 

[DjBobby]

So, the Composer 3X is a successor of the Swing.

 

[Eiffel]

As we got Playmate 2 , I'm thinking at a Swing 2 soon...