Standard output voltage for RCA line-outs DAC/CD/Streamers, etc?

Dear all,
Thanks for your input.

almarg,
I do remember and do value your input.  I am in the process of getting antennuators for line ins.  However, my question was on how much I actually need to antennuate the signal.  Now I know.

Also, all kinds of adaptors seem to be deteriorating the signal due to additional connections...  On top of that the amps I am planning to use are all unbalanced, so I don't have an option of converting unbalanced into balanced signal.

But thanks again.

Also, all kinds of adaptors seem to be deteriorating the signal due to additional connections...  On top of that the amps I am planning to use are all unbalanced, so I don't have an option of converting unbalanced into balanced signal.

If by any chance any of those adapters are adapting XLR outputs to RCA inputs, adverse effects (and very possibly SEVERE adverse effects) would certainly be understandable.  Most such adapters connect one of the two signals in the balanced signal pair (usually XLR pin 3) to ground (XLR pin 1).  The output circuits of some (although certainly not all) components will not be able to tolerate that.  See this thread for example.

On the other hand, in most circumstances which involve adapting an RCA output to an XLR input those two pins should be and usually are connected together by the adapter.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al
 

Almarg, 
Thanks again for your valuable comments.  Makes perfect sense. 

I don't think it's always 2v! 
Is it maximum? minimum? RMS?

Czarivey, yes it is certainly not always 2 volts, even in the case of a player or DAC which exactly conforms to the 2 volt standard.

As I indicated, the 2 volts (or about 3.1 volts in the case of the OP’s DAC) refers to the "full scale" (maximum) output voltage, which would be the analog voltage that is produced in response to the maximum possible value of the digital data for each sample. The voltage will of course be lower than that most of the time, and often vastly lower, in proportion to the volume of the music at the instant of time each data sample was taken (44,100 samples per second having been taken for each channel for redbook CD).

Also, I’m pretty certain that the 2 volts (or 3.1 volts in the case of the OP’s DAC) corresponds to the RMS value of a presumed sine wave, rather than the peak value (which would be 1.414 times that amount for a sine wave) or the peak-to-peak value (which would be 2.828 times that amount for a sine wave).

Regards,
-- Al