Volume difference

Since I’m using my Bartok and before with other Dacs but no so much, I can hear a big difference in the volume select for the music when I’m hearing files in 192 kHz, 96 or 44. As high is the resolution the lower is the volume reproduction and if you are hearing a Tidal playlist for example with different songs and resolutions you cannot have never a stable level of volume and you need to adjust up and down constantly. Is that OK ?

Yes, that is normal. It depends on the mastering volume of each file.

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In general ( though not always) the higher the file resolution the wider the dynamic range that is available from the recording. The greater that the dynamic range is then the average (i.e. mean) volume level over the entire recording has to be lower to allow for the higher peak levels that occur from time to time and which have been captured. If you can hear this more easily with Bartok than with other DACs it probably suggests that those other DACS were unable to provide a full dynamic range and were effectively compressing the sound.

As well as the above different songs from different albums will have been mastered by different mastering engineers at different levels relative to full output. Therefore it is normal to have to adjust your system’s volume when unrelated tracks are played consecutively such as via a playlist.

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Thank you very much Erno and Pete for your comments and explanations, I can understand better about changes in volume depending on dynamic range/resolution. I will continue adjusting volume ,at least is very easy using my Benchmark HPA4 pre amp remote control. And of course the Bartok is much more better, clear and revealing than my precedents DACs.

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