TOPIC:

Hi, I've got the SHD Studio. The Studio needs to be connected to a dac. My dac has no volume control. So I use the SHD Studio as volume control.
I presume in a dac with volume control the volume control is done after the dac section. So it feels strange to me to adjust volume upstream of the dac. Can someone explain to me if this makes a difference?

jaaptina wrote:

I presume in a dac with volume control the volume control is done after the dac section.

Actually no it isn't usually. The volume control is usually in the digital domain like it is with the SHD Studio. There are actually potential advantages to doing it this way rather than in the analogue domain.

Ultrasonic wrote:

Actually no it isn't usually. The volume control is usually in the digital domain like it is with the SHD Studio. There are actually potential advantages to doing it this way rather than in the analogue domain.

Thanks, it is indeed logical to adjust the volume in the digital domain. But this leads me to another question. A dac is made to get a digital signal with line out volume "encoded". When the SHD Studio sends a digital signal with reduced volume does the dac receive less information or the same musical information but with different instructions on volume?

jaaptina wrote:

Thanks, it is indeed logical to adjust the volume in the digital domain. But this leads me to another question. A dac is made to get a digital signal with line out volume "encoded". When the SHD Studio sends a digital signal with reduced volume does the dac receive less information or the same musical information but with different instructions on volume?

The dynamic range of the signal is reduced but this also happens if the waveform is attenuated in the analogue domain.

I wonder if this may be helpful: