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DAC's with volume control question

it's been a while since i researched/purchased DAC's. grabbed a new PS Audio PWDII w/Bridge about 10 years ago and it has kept me happy for a long time. need a short term replacement (meaning inexpensive) and am looking for info regarding current DAC's that can be used stand alone without a preamp for volume control.  the PWDII had a shortcoming that would do "something bad" when operated below 50% volume. losing bits or something like that??. 

my question is .... has this issue been resolved in general? 10 years is alot of time in the digital realm and would like to know if modern technology has eliminated this problem with volume control/loss of sound quality.

have three on the list but see nothing disclosed regarding volume control short comings. is it safe to assume no such issues exist anymore? thus not even mentioned?

this is a temporary replacement. probably only 1-1.5 years. don't want to add a preamp so my list is limited to inexpensive options with preamp/volume control so far 

Peach Tree Decco125 SKY
Cambridge CNX V2
Cambridge 851N

seems the 851N might be more of what i need but am concerned about mid-fi integrated preamp hardware making things sound worse. the CNX V2 seems to be more like my PWDII and is preamp-ish with volume control. no real dedicated/integrated preamp hardware. the CXN V2 has me concerned about the volume control having shortcomings like my PWDII.

thanks in advance for any help/input

levy03
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,496 posts
 
The Soekris and the new Mytek II are great but you can hardly get your hands on one.


https://reverb.com/p/rme-adi-2-dac-fs?hfid=37472133&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm...
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,601 posts
 
in the digital realm volume levels can be attenuated but there will be a loss of bit-detail resolution if the attenuation is significant from full volume -- whether you can hear this clearly as compromising sound quality is another matter entirely, but there can indeed be a loss of info in the last few bits of the datastream at low volume levels

this having been said, there are dacs that do the attenuation post d/a conversion (metrum jade, ayre codex, sonnet morpheus are three outstanding dacs that do this) ... i.e. at the analog output stage... this is hard and expensive to do (the same reason why good preamps are often expensive, there is real skill, technical savvy and often expensive parts involved in implementing analog domain volume attentuation without hurting the purity of sound)
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I did a trial of the Cambridge V2 I sent it back because I didn't like the volume control. It jumped in 1db increments instead of .5db it was either to loud or to low and felt clunky. For more money Benchmark DAC3 is good so is the RME ADI 2. 
levy03 OP
442 posts
 
jjss49: that was exactly it..." loss of bit-detail resolution if the attenuation is significant from full volume"

so the top tier guys can minimize it at great expense. what about  lower level gear? never really noticed it with the PWDII but that was well above the price range i'm looking at now. i vaguely remember PSA saying they did something to make it "near perfect" above 50% volume....but that was also 10 years ago. 

are these modern, mid-fi DAC's anywhere near what older/higher end DAC's could do regarding the bit loss issue?. i understand that 10 years hasn't eliminated the issue ( agree theoretical/practical?) but has it gotten "better" across the board or just with higher end gear?.

if lower end modern gear can do what 10 year expensive gear did, i'll be one happy camper 

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