The Bartok and other dac,s from dCS have 4 levels off output.q
I read many discussions about what the best.Depending you gear…What i want to know what happend inside de dCS dac,s?
What is the original output?Is there a kind off amplification or a kind off altinator- volume control inside for the other outputs?
Thx for reading…
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I believe there was some discussion that the higher output values sounded better but I have not tried it yet myself.
Short answer is if you use your dCS dac as a dac / pre, choose which ever output matches best with your amp and allows you to run the dac at the top range of the volume. -20 to 0dB. Much longer answer is here
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That’s a nice answer and link to a question about how to set the correct line voltage. However I would be fascinated to learn the answer to the OP’s question:
i don’t know the answer to this so can someone tell me and @Buizesmurf ?
(If I’m not mistaken), the output stage of dCS DACs have a relay for each channel that switches circuits depending on the output voltage selected. So, it’s not exactly just attenuation/ amplification as such (so, both voltage levels are “original”). As far as I recall, that’s how it works for the 2V and 6V output values.
However, I’m not exactly sure how the 0.2V and the 0.6V are accomplished, as those were added by firmware updates at some point if I remember correctly 
Maybe @Phil can help address.
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Yes, that’s correct - separate circuits for 2v and 6v, so both are ‘original’.
0.2v and 0.6v are done with fixed level digital attenuation on either the 2v or 6v outputs respectively - mainly in place for safety, so for example AirPlay doesn’t accidentally go full scale and blow tweeters across the room.
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Some effect in sound quality because this digital attenuation in 0,2 and 0,6 v output or not? Thanks
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really good to know that the .2V and .6V outputs are digitally attenuated. Thanks for sharing.
At one point I tried to compare listening to each output level matched. For example -30dB at 6V vs -20dB at 2V and -10dB at .6v and 0dB at .2V. Each roughly the same loudness. With very dynamic music, I thought the 2V and 6V output sounded better, but for low dynamic range recordings I found it hard to tell them apart.
Right now, I use either the 2V or 6V out direct into a Benchmark AHB2 (with the amp on the lowest gain setting). This usually means -10 to 0dB on the 2v setting and some very dynamic recordings I can use 6V at the top end.
My subjective feeling is that the closer you get to 0dB at 2V or 6V the better it sounds. I can do this because my amp is low powered (compared to most here) 100W at 9.8V and I listen near field.
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I use 6V out because it sounds best to me, more dynamic. I only use 2V in those cases where the amplifier gain is too high that a risk of clipping exists. That happened on some amps, so it’s always good to test in your own system.
The maximum output of the power amp is not really the arbiter of the appropriate line voltage of the DAC to choose. At least not initially ( if at all).
Success will depend upon the input sensitivity of the preamp, its gain and the input sensitivity of the power amp and its gain, at least for starters.
Choice of an input level which exceeds the amplification sensitivity usually leads to increased distortion ( and before clipping is encountered) and I wonder if the “increased dynamics” are actually a subjective interpretation of this?