[Benjamin6264]

When I use my V-Link 192 to convert USB from my laptop to SPDIF, the maximum volume I can obtain is indubitably higher than when I plug USB directly into the Gungir. Both sound great (I might even prefer straight USB), but I definitely have to turn my amplifier's volume knob higher while on direct USB to get the same result.
 
I use Jriver Media Center, and have not managed to find a discordance in the settings that would account for this volume difference.
 
Does anybody have an idea what could be the cause of this issue? It's exactly as if my amplifier had half the power output when the DAC is running in USB. Everything is running balanced, but it feels like I'm getting the power from a single-ended configuration.
 
Thanks for your help.

 

[Benjamin6264]

I think I may have a clue: When playing high-resolution Chesky binaural+ music, I can hear some severe hissing on USB, while SPDIF has always been fine. I don't hear that on other 24/192 files. The album on which this is the most obvious is Wycliffe Gordon's Dreams of New Orleans.
 
All files suffering from hiss are 24/192 and have high bitrate, but not all 24/192 files with high bitrate suffer from hiss. Another album with this problem is Sa Chen's Chopin Piano Concertos. It seems that HDtracks files are more prone to hiss than vinyl rips or such (speaking for this current situation - HDtracks recordings are perfect on SPDIF). I think the phenomenon is only observable on 24/192 files because they're the only ones with a sufficiently high bitrate.