CAT JL-3 Sig Mk2s direct from Wadia 781i?

If you are not playing vinyl, you can fine-tune most Wadias to work directly with your amp. The issue is that most DACs and CD players make **way** too much output voltage, causing the user to run low volume control settings. On a lot of DACs, this is a problem because the built-in volume control will cause a loss of resolution at the lower settings.

With most Wadias there are jumper switches (refer to the owner's manual) that allow you to reduce the output of the unit so you can get around this issue to a certain extent. With Wadias there is a noticable reduction in resolution when you run the volume below '85'; so in most cases you want to set the jumper switches for the lowest output that the unit can make. This will allow you to run higher volume control settings, and the results can be quite good.

BTW this issue with DACs is an argument for a quality preamp as most preamps have better volume controls than any digital unit with a digital volume control. In such a case you would run the DAC at full volume and the preamp would then be controlling the gain.

I have no idea why DAC/CD manufacturers insist on higher than standard outputs (the standard for AUX level inputs is one Volt); even if you run a passive volume control such high DAC outputs is completely misguided and interferes with your ability to get the best performance out of the setup- that's more than you need to clip almost any amplifier made!

Gnsc, 4.5V is the absolute **maximum** that a DAC should produce for 0VU on the CD. We've seen players that make as much as 15 Volts; even 7 Volts is -no other way to put it- retarded.

Amps that need over 3 volts are unusual to say the least, consequently going over 3 volts means that there will be significant reduction in resolution if the internal digital volume control is used. If you are running direct, there is simply no need to be able to do anything more than barely clip the amp at full volume- if maximum resolution is your goal (which I hope is the case with any serious digital system) then this should be regarded as a cast-in-concrete rule.

If this rule is not followed, then it will be easy to get better performance by using a good quality preamp as others have observed, because the volume control in *almost* any preamp made is better than *any* digital volume control made.

For a digital manufacturer to put the time and development into a high quality control just to get it shot down by this rather simple issue makes absolutely no sense to me, but things play out this way more often than not!