Line Level Gain through the Duet

[Escott1013]

Does anyone know at what point the amplification thru the Duet simply becomes unitary or line level?
The amplification thru the Duet sounds atrocious on my stereo - really bad on the high end.
I would like to find this point (if it is even available) and then allow my pre-amp to control the amplification sent to my speakers.
Thank you.

[aubuti]

Your best bet is to set the Duet Receiver volume to 100, then do all the volume control via your pre-amp. Even at 100, the Duet Receiver's output is lower than a lot of CD players, or even other SB models. So 100 is the way to go. You can even lock it there if you wish.

[kappclark]

Your best bet is to set the Duet Receiver volume to 100, then do all the volume control via your pre-amp. Even at 100, the Duet Receiver's output is lower than a lot of CD players, or even other SB models. So 100 is the way to go. You can even lock it there if you wish.

I used to drive a power amp with the duet receiver -- sounded great, and I was able to control the vol with remote..

Interested in how you can lock the output at 100

[Soulkeeper]

Interested in how you can lock the output at 100

Squeezebox Server -> Settings -> Player -> Audio

[Mnyb]

make sure your not using the "phono" input .

I wished that consumer audio actually followed any standards regarding output voltage and gain.
It can vary a lot betwen different brands of gear.

[Swiftie]

make sure your not using the "phono" input

Or any other high-sensitivity inputs.
Many amplifiers allow you to set the sensitivity of some, if not all inputs. This used to be necessary as things like CD players, Tuners, etc. had widely differing output.

[Escott1013]

Not using the phono pre amp as I have a phono gain stage connected to my turntable.

I am using the CD input on the pre amp. These are the only 2 inputs I am using on the pre amp.

My idea was just to store all of my CD's on the PC and no have to mess with them any longer.

The setup is Duet > Music Fidelity DAC > Manley Shrimp > Manley Snappers > Von Schweikert VR4 jr's.

It may be the tubes in my set up, but I've found setting the Duet around 30 - 35 and then bumping the pre amp sounds much smoother than using the Duet remote.

Customer support would not give me a schematic of the gain stage as I was told it was "proprietary".

Are all of the responses below based on solid state amplifiers or pre amp / amp combos?

Thanks.

[Mnyb]

The volume control is purely digital implemented in 24bits .

If you are using the DAC you are not using the analog stages in the squeezebox so it is of no consequence how it is designed . You should focus on the MF DAC .

Are you connecting the squeezebox to your DAC ?

However I would recommend you to get analog attenuators.

These will go from the analog outs on DAC or Squeezbox (whatever you use)

for example these .

http://www.rothwellelectronics.co.uk...tenuators.html

They damp 10dB

Or if you care to solder a simple lpad with 2 resistors on each input or output. This will save money

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.ph...ve_attenuation

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.ph...ower_amplifier

Then you can use much more of the squeezebox digital volume and also regains better SN ratio ,if you damp 10dB you basically reclaim 10dB of s/n too .
Why is this, simple the squeezebox or DAC's output noise stays roughly the same even if you lower the volume s/n ratio is distance from signal to noise.

This MF DAC ? is the output voltage specified somewhere ? compare to what manley recomends for their preamp ?

I have used attenuators between preamps and power amps to, some power amps that I owned had no gain adjustment and to sensitive inputs, it is also possible to have preamps with to much gain. In general not even high end brands seems to understand the concept of correct "gain staging" .
Consumer absolutely not, they usually thinks something is broken if one have to turn up the volume knob more

[TheLastMan]

The setup is Duet > Music Fidelity DAC > Manley Shrimp > Manley Snappers > Von Schweikert VR4 jr's.

But if you are using an external DAC you are not using the Duet's pre-amp (line level) circuitry at all!
Presumably you are taking the optical digital out signal from the Duet to the MF DAC.

Why not try bypassing the DAC and just use the RCA analogue line level jacks from the Duet directly into the pre-amp CD circuit and see how it sounds?

It should sound fine, maybe not the best "high-end" quality but very good and at worst inoffensive and certainly not "very bad".

I would reckon there is something up with the MF DAC setup, either it is not well suited to the optical output from the Duet, or the analogue input into the pre-amp or it is faulty.

Try it out without the DAC and report back.

[Escott1013]

But if you are using an external DAC you are not using the Duet's pre-amp (line level) circuitry at all!
Presumably you are taking the optical digital out signal from the Duet to the MF DAC.

I don't understand how this could be true since the DAC is just a converter stage, it does not add or take away any gain. What goes in is what comes out. I am using the coax on the Duet.

The DAC upsamples to 96 kHz and if 16 bit, would ADD the additional 8 for 24 bits.

It has worked tremendously well for me in the past with just a CD player and DAT deck.

Also, when passing through a 24 / 96 recording it sounded smooth as butter.

How can a device amplify a digital signal that is simply binary, or 1's and 0's? That's another feature I do not understand on the Duet.

Regardless, I've got to think there is some point on the device where it's gain is equal to 0 and it is essentially just passing a signal directly through - as a CD player would do.

I'll try connecting the device directly to the pre amp and test it as well. That's as easy as rerouting the RCA's from the DAC to the Duet.