Control volume with DAC or Preamp?

wolverine1 OP
My DAC (PS Audio Directstream) has a volume control and so does my preamp(Benchmark), of course. What’s the best way to control the volume of my system to get optimum sound

Best quality least distortion and coloration, and best dynamic swing, dac direct to poweramp using the dac as the volume control will be the best. Without any debate. As the PS audio’s dac output stage will as good if not better than the Benchmark preamp and has up to 3volts output at full, which is more than enough. You have 2 output max levels you can preset set, choose the one which gives you the highest volume level enough for the loudest you need to play.

BUT!!! if the dac "bit strips" on the lowest volume setting your using then there is debate. See where your volume is on the dac for normal listening then ask PS if it "bit strips" at that level, then your home and hosed, very simple thing to do.


I was just sent this PS Directstream volume control info, your PS DS does not bit strip with lower volume, so your good to go direct to poweramp/s for the very best SQ

The internal volume control keeps complete precision: every bit in the input affects the output of the DAC for any volume level. Except for the sigma-delta modulation process itself there is no rounding, dither or other trimming, not to 24 bits, not to 32 bits, not to 48 bits, but rather a full 50. The incoming PCM signal is 30 bits from the upsampling fi lter and the volume control is 20 bits wide so all 50 bits of the output are used throughout the sigma-delta conversion, requiring more than 50 bits of precision.

Cheers George

 Are you referring to the Benchmark DAC3 HGC? One volume control and lots of imputs/outputs. Eliminate your preamp. I think solves all your problems. Have one and love it. 

It appears the answers here are all over the place.  If it was me I would contact PS Audio to get an answer directly from the company.  

Connect the DAC directly to the amp and ditch the preamp if your system is purely digital. You should be able to achieve greater transparency because you removed the coloration from the additional interconnects, component, and power cord. 

Quite often the volume control in a preamp is better than one in a DAC. This is usually true if the DAC employs a digital control, since digital controls usually shut off bits to lower the volume, resulting in lower resolution as the volume is reduced. There are a few different techniques that DACs use in this regard, but generally speaking, you set the DAC all the way up and control volume with the preamp. This usually allows you more resolution than you can get by driving the amps directly with the DAC, since the DAC (in order to comply with Redbook specification) makes way too much output for most power amps to be driven past overload.