23-Feb-2016, 10:38
(22-Feb-2016, 20:45)McChicken Wrote: Hi Guys,
Volume adjustment in Sonos vs Spark ?
Done a forum search but did not find what i was looking for and I do know I have seen it in some of the threads here regarding Bit rates and that that if you lowered the volume Sample / Bit rates were reduced.
Seen that some of you that use an external source like sonos have put the volume in Spark at 70-80 and then adjusted at the source.
What is your take on this ?
Depends on the source very simply. Some sources have volume controls that compromise the sound quality the more you lower the volume. Remember the volume adjustment is happening in the digital domain. You have a certain number of "bits" that MUST be modified if your volume is anything except max (unchanged). As the data must be changed, and you only have a certain number of bits to do this, the lower the volume the less bits you effectively use. However, the reason I say it depends on the source, is that Sonos I believe, has "extra" bits that are used for for the data bus ( I believe 24 bits). This means that volume can be adjusted over a wider range without impact to the sound. I think someone figured out that Spark at 70-80 was close to "0 dB" on a reference scale of volume. And then because of Sonos using a 24-bit data bus it was safe to adjust volume via Sonos. There is ZERO advantage to adjusting volume from Sonos or Spark other than the convenience of being able to adjust everything in one place rather than two. However some sources will suffer detrimentally if the volume is lowered a lot.....Sonos should be fine.
