I have always wondered what volume output level I should use when hooking an audio player or computer (MacBook) as source to an amplifier. I have always set the volume at around 2/3rds. My EE friend said that you are better off setting your device at the maximum and changing the volume on the amplifier. Does anyone know what it should be set at? Thanks.
Posted Feb 5, 2012, 9:00 PM UTC
You should set the volume to the highest it will go without causing increased distortion. Sometimes, turning the volume all the way up just adds distortion or leads to clipping, so full volume might not be the best setting.
On my MacBook my general rule is 2 clicks down from max. Max volume tends to clip with my amp, of course depending on the gain of the source material. You'll know if you have the levels set too high.
what other people have said, as high as you can without it distorting/clipping
its been answered before. but i am pretty sure its max volume then set it with amp. infact i double the output with VLC. how i blew out the laptop speakers once!
If you double the output with VLC you risk clipping the audio signal.
If you're doubling with VLC, you are going beyond the headroom of the source material "pre" sound card preamp. In other words, you are not gaining extra volume, but simply clipping off the top before it gets a chance to hit the sound card's preamp. Not a great idea.
In a nutshell (kinda), there is something called "gain structure", this is something that you must optimise on all of your devices that have gain (volume) control to maximize you headroom and gain the best signal to noise ratio possible for the given application. Hope this helps.
Use optical audio out with your MacBook.
With volume at max, you maximize the signal to noise ratio. If the source volume is low and the amp is turned up, the noise will be amplified.
Thanks. That makes sense.
I see some comments below warning about clipping. I should have mentioned that.