oppo's volume control

Just an update on optimising my system. My Rega went back for a minor repair-a known fault on the On switch-it was jammed in-now back and fine.

The combination of the Proac's and the Osiris is quite potent-it can get loud very quickly with the Oppo set at 100 on the volume output. The Osiris has a passive pre.

Using the variable option I found an output of around 75-80 on the Oppo gave me great sound in my set up with a bit of leverage on the amp control too-the fine notches on the Oppo can adjust the volume very nicely.

I asked on the AVS Forum about any negative effect in doing this-one poster suggested that below a 75 output the noise floor is increased but it is not particularly noticeable-from 75-100 he said it has no effect. Not sure how accurate that is.

But going direct from the Oppo into the direct option on the Osiris even with attenuators you can not even get close to 75-so possibly that has had an impact on the noticeably inferior sound I hear.

I don't know how accurate this might be-it would be interesting to hear what output setting those using the Oppo direct in a power amp are using.

06-01-14: Ben_campbell
But going direct from the Oppo into the direct option on the Osiris even with attenuators you can not even get close to 75-so possibly that has had an impact on the noticeably inferior sound I hear.

I don't know how accurate this might be-it would be interesting to hear what output setting those using the Oppo direct in a power amp are using.

Hi Ben, If you prefer the transparent sound of direct connection, but you can't get to 75% or over on the VC of your Oppo, you could use the passive pre, this way you will still get very close to the direct sound, so you can turn the Oppo up to full and set the volume on the passive for the loudest you'd wish to hear and then use the Oppo's remote volume within it's top 25% of full output without running the risk of "bit stripping"

As for the output setting on other users Oppo's on their systems. It will be solely dependent on the gain of their amps and efficiency of their speakers, some will be in the same boat as you, not being able to get to 75% or over. And some will be over over 75%, these are the lucky ones, but a passive pre sorts this out, as I explained above.

Cheers George

George I'm not following you the Osiris is an integrated amp that uses a passive pre-it also has a direct input to allow the Osiris to be used in say a home hi-fi set up. I've maybe not explained it correctly.

As I understand it, there is not bit stripping on the 105 DAC's.

For whatever reason when I go direct into the Osiris with the Oppo the sound is noticeably poorer-it doesn't sound transparent at all quite the opposite.

06-01-14: Ben_campbell
But going direct from the Oppo into the direct option on the Osiris even with attenuators you can not even get close to 75-so possibly that has had an impact on the noticeably inferior sound I hear.

Hi Ben, what I was responding too mainly was more to the quote you made above.
That you couldn't get close to 75% of full output, even with (I take it, plug in attenuators such as the "Rothwell" ones) which can sometimes give bad impedance matching between source and amps, and under this 75% of full volume "bit stripping" can become an issue with many digital domain VC's.

Cheers George

Hi, in my case I am using the Oppo with an integrated amp. My speakers are fairly efficient and my amp is rated at 150wpc.   I found that if I set the Oppo's volume at variable : 85 it allows me to have the volume knob on my amp at 10-11 oclock allowing more headroom as opposed to having the Oppo at a fixed volume 100 where I don't have much manoeuvrability from the volume knob. This brings me to my question.  Does this have an impact sonically on the sound? If I understand correctly , below 75 that is where a loss of sonic quality can be heard?