if your signal chain looks like
pc -> dac -> monitors
where should you adjust the volume for best quality? in windows or directly at the speakers?
its best to do it at the end of the signal chain, right? in the case above the monitors.
in that case should the windows volume be set at 100%?
thanks
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If your so tone deaf and technologically illiterate that you cant figure it out yourself it doesn't matter.
The last device before output (unless it has its own controller). Source to the max.
excelent input. now try again and answer the question
Have you tried using a search engine? Perhaps someone on the internet came up with this stupid question before you? Perhaps there is even a thread made for stupid people with stupid questions that would have been suitable in case the former method failed.
another excellent advice from a keyboard warrior. of course. and as always, everyone advices something different.
and if you think its a stupid thing to ask, you clearly have no knowledge of audio stuff
Doesn't matter. There would be very little quality decrease
It is a stupid question though and the answer is simple. Go back to your safespace, dumb fuck.
Oof. What's going on with the agressive anons, lol.
windows volume should always be at 100% assuming you have offboard gear that has volume control.
Headphones with a headphone amp? You should be controlling volume at the amp, not on windows.
Same with monitors, for me personally I go
computer > DAC > passive pre-amp w/ potentiometer for volume control > monitors.
At the pre-amp it splits into a headphone amp, and powered monitors, so I can choose the source with just a physical button push instead of having to use windows to select an audio device.
pc volume should be less than 50% at all times
Audiophilia is a serious illness
>Wahhh, spoonfeed me!!
Fuck off to where you came from.
>enjoying software compression
are you mentally challenged or just an idiot?
>software compression
what compression algorithm does the software use below 50%?
elaborate, please
because if it's just zip or 7z or so I wouldn't mind
Ideally, you should output audio from your computer at full volume, so as to get the highest resolution (bit depth) possible, and then have an analogue volume control as one of the last things in front of the speakers.
Reducing volume in software is basically equivalent to reducing the bit depth. In digital audio, the signal is split up into distinct samples (taken thousands of times per second), and bit depth is the number of bits that are used to describe each sample. Attenuating a signal is done by multiplying each sample by a number less than one, with the result being that you're no longer using the full resolution to describe the audio, resulting in reduced dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio. Specifically, every 6 dB of attenuation is equivalent to reducing the bit depth by one. If you started with, say, 16-bit audio (standard for audio CDs) and reduced the volume by 12 dB, you'd effectively be listening to 14-bit audio instead. Turn the volume down too much and quality will start to suffer noticeably.
Another issue is that these calculations will often result in rounding errors, due to the original value of the sample not being a multiple of the factor by which you're dividing the samples. This further degrades the audio quality by introducing what's basically quantisation noise. Again, this mostly happens at lower volume levels. Different programs might use slightly different algorithms for attenuating the signal and resolving those rounding errors, which means there might be some difference in the resulting audible signal between, say, an audio player and the OS, but that doesn't change the fact that in all cases you're still reducing bit depth and essentially wasting a portion of the bandwidth on transmitting zeroes instead of useful information.
with the standard 24 bit processing we have everywhere in all audio components and therefore 140+dB of SNR I can digitally reduce my chinese cartoon ost flacs to below the room's noise floor without even touching the actual snr of the recording
So what? You're still lying to yourself if you think having windows volume at ANYTHING besides 100% isn't retarded.
100% windows volume and then use an analog potentiometer for adjusting listening volume.
so I get the crosstalk and matching problems of a shitty potentiometer? or do you want me to buy an alps pot that's $70 for only the pot already?
all this when I can just control the volume digitally without any audible effects
>making up fake problems
wew lad, do whatever you want, but don't pretend lowering windows volume isn't doing ANYTHING when it is.
Someone asked what is the BEST, the BEST is windows volume at 100% with a decent analog potentiometer being your final control.
The OP specifically says
>where should you adjust the volume for best quality?
>fake problems
I tried a lot of passive attenuators up to the spl volume2 and all of them have at least one problem that's audibly worse than just simple digital volume control.
so your BEST choice is a $3000 dangerous monitor or grace design just so you can leave your windows volume all the way up, great
if you could audibly hear problems with "a lot of passive attenuators" my assumption would first be autism.
you should try a passive volume control one day, maybe you'll see
what are you guys poor?
tortugaaudio.com
I wasn't asking for help like OP dear user. Just wondering what's with all the rage, the thread that probably died for this had a good chance of being as useless as this one. Nothing of value was lost.