Vinyl on NAD M10 lower volume

As @cleeds said, you don't really have any problem to solve, just an inconvenience that you need to turn down the volume when you switch from CD/Digital to your TT input.

The output voltage of your cartridge and the gain in the phono pre-amp will affect the relative position of your volume control. If you want to decrease the volume setting, to better match the volume position of your streamer, when listening to vinyl, you can either replace the cartridge with one that has higher output, or you can replace the phono pre-amp with one that has more gain. Or, you can do nothing (what I would recommend) and just live with it. The relative volume position is likely irrelevant to sound quality and is just an inconvenience.

@remmy 

What I was thinking is connecting the phono preamp to an external ADC converter and then connecting this to the digital input of the M10. Do you guys think this is worth looking into?

Absolutely not. Don't stick anything unnecessary between your analog setup and your pre-amp/integrated.

I did not have a good feeling on messing around with an ADC converter, so happy with your clear answers in this regard! 

As for just living with the inconvenience of turning up the volume, I sure can. I just wondered if also the sound quality of vinyl playback can be improved. Because of the change in volume, it first appeared that the sound quality of streaming was better than vinyl playback. Now I am not so sure anymore. It might be just the volume. 

However, I will do a lot more listening first as you pointed out clearly that I might not have a problem at all! :-)

Many thanks all for your input.  

If it still bothers you, you can get a McIntosh integrated. You have the ability to adjust the individual levels on all your inputs, phono included, so all the levels match.

just underlining what has already been said: its normal. The phono stage has to guess as to the cartridge’s output level. hey will pretty much NEVER match. But why do you really care? turn up (and down) the volume - unless it is so dramatic as to be dangerous to your ears or speakers or ????

There might be a gain adjustment for your phono stage. Mine all did (although it required unplugging the module and sending it back -- or having a good tech change 4 resistors).

Finally you could likely have a voltage divider placed on the DAC/line level signal to bring it down to the phono level.

Seems much ado about nothing. All the other options (adding components) have real, measurable, audible, costs / distortions asociated.  A level off my 6 dB has essentially none.

G

This must be a record, no condescending, rude responses from the usual suspects!  Yet.