[Miklos]

Hello all,

the general recommendation is to set the volume on your player to 50% - 85% of max and then use the amp to adjust to the volume you like.

I understand, that using more than 85% of max on your player can clip / distort etc. so its not a good idea. But what if using less than 50%. Lets say I have my mp3 player at 25% of it max volume and amp from there.

Will I get worse sound then at 50% or 85%?

Thanks for any comments

 

[rederanged]

Your signal to noise ratio will be worse, so you may hear more hiss or interference. From my understanding, you should ideally get the source volume as high as possible without clipping in order to maximize S/N ratio. Really, a reasonable DAP should be able to be set at max volume without clipping.

 

[iriverdude]

How do you know if you're not clipping? ok once it goes above a set point I can recognise distortion, but how to get spot on? Measure voltage with pink noise?

 

[rederanged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif How do you know if you're not clipping? ok once it goes above a set point I can recognise distortion, but how to get spot on? Measure voltage with pink noise?

I guess you could play a full scale sine wave, capture the output with your sound card, and look for clipping in the captured waveform. Not really my area of expertise, sorry. The less scientific method would be to turn it up until you you just barely hear distortion and then back it off a little.

Also, back to the original question, if you can turn it down to 50% or whatever and still get an acceptably quiet background, you can just leave it there and rest easy knowing it won't clip.

 

[VooX]

On a console, ideal gain structure is to set master and channel faders to 0 dBv and adjust the channel preamp so that the input signal peaks at 0 dBv. When using pink noise with this setup, set the output of the amps to be between 85-90 dB of output at one metre from the speaker with a SPL meter. Thus, 0 dBv on the master output will give approx. 90 dB output, which is the standard IIRC.

When dealing with CPU outputs, I keep the master and input faders at 70% max, which is usually unity/0 dBv on non-pro gear. Rarely the master will need to be set to 100% for unity. As mentioned above, some internal sound cards clip at full master output, so I use 70% to be safe. When turning up or down the volume, I use the first gain control possible, which is usually found on the software you are using. In iTunes this would be the volume near the PLAY button.

As also mentioned above, having any volume too low may lead to poor S/N issues. If my iTunes volume is VERY low, I will raise it and slightly lower my master output (never below 50% however).

If I am routing a CPU source into my console using the HP output and not a external DAC (ie. mBox) I set my console gain as described above, and my CPU gain as I described. Solo the input, get it peaking at 0 dBv by adjusting the pre-amp, and my channel/master faders stay at 0 (unless fading in/out then I move the channel faders).

The key when setting up your amp is that unity output from your console/receiver into your amp should give you 90 dB of SPL (slow response curve, A-weighted), IIRC (reference info is at home).

 

[twmrussen]

A bit off topic but does changing the volume on my ipod affect the volume if I use an amp through the line-out jack, or is the ipod's volume ignored?
Thanks.

 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by twmrussen /img/forum/go_quote.gif A bit off topic but does changing the volume on my ipod affect the volume if I use an amp through the line-out jack, or is the ipod's volume ignored? Thanks.

It is ignored. The volume control does not affect the output from your iPod's line out jack.

 

[twmrussen]

Thanks, I was wondering because I can hear some hiss through my earphones and I was wondering if this was the cause.

 

[rederanged]

VooX:

Thanks for the information. It is interesting to hear how things are done in the studio.

From what I understand, the iTunes volume control only attenuates; there is no gain there. So when it is maxed out, you are sending a full-scale signal down the chain. Similarly, the Windows volume control only attenuates the digital signal. So if you are using the analog line out or digital outputs of a sound card, you want those controls to be maxed out in order to get bit perfect output. You would then control the level with your amplifier's volume control.

The situation is different when you are using a headphone output from a sound card, or a DAP. Those devices are introducing gain, so could result in clipping if the volume controls are too high.