I have a fairly square listening room of about 50 m². My Revel F208 speakers (sensitivity 88.5 dB, nominal impedance 8 Ω, dipping to ~3 Ω) are spaced about 3 m apart, and my main listening position is also about 3 m from the speakers.
I’m running a dCS Rossini DAC directly into a CH Precision A1.5 stereo amplifier (input sensitivity 2.2 V balanced), with the DAC output set to 2 V to match the amp. The amp is set to 70% global feedback and a gain of +8 dB.
At a normal, slightly loud listening level, the Rossini volume shows around –30 dB. If I lower it to –40 dB, the music is a bit quiet, and at –20 dB it becomes a bit loud. At normal listening levels, the watt-meter on the amp reads roughly 2–10 W.
I’m curious if anyone has comments, observations, or suggestions for optimizing these settings. Are there any specific recommendations for what the volume control should be set to?
Hi , I used to run my Rossini apex directly into my ch precision a1.5 using audience front row xlr with 2v DAC output , 10% global feedback and no gain in the amp . The speakers are stenheim Alumine 3. My listening was near field and I was very happy with the sound and the volume increase was linear . However when I tried different xlr cables ( vertere ) the music sounded quieter . I have never changed the amp feedback so can’t comment but I will run an experiment this week and report back to you . I now run the DAC through a pre amp (benchmark hpa4) and prefer the sound rather than the direct DAC to power amp connection.
Interestingly, if I input my settings into ChatGPT, it suggests increasing the global feedback to 70% and the gain to at least +8 dB, especially if you mainly listen to bass-heavy music like rock, metal, or blues. I think 10% feedback and no gain are some kind of factory settings? I think the changes in my amp increased total sound quality very much, in my room, with my speakers. But I don’t know how I should approach the volume issue; isn’t -30 dB a bit much for normal listening levels or is it within the recommended range according to dCS? Buy the way, I use Nordost Tyr 2 cables all the way.