From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: James Courtier-Dutton Subject: Re: Verifying mixer dB data/Invalid dB data from USB cards, especially Aureon 5.1 MkII Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:17:24 +0000 Message-ID: References: <20100216154015.GA612@tango.0pointer.de> <20100216210703.GA18109@tango.0pointer.de> <20100216223938.GA23623@sirena.org.uk> <20100216224212.GA1486@tango.0pointer.de> <4B7B2E9F.3080809@audioscience.com> <20100217001047.GB6766@tango.0pointer.de> <20100217130612.GD24165@tango.0pointer.de> <20100217143540.GA404@tango.0pointer.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from gv-out-0910.google.com (gv-out-0910.google.com [216.239.58.188]) by alsa0.perex.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id B99041038BF for ; Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:17:25 +0100 (CET) Received: by gv-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id n40so40523gve.24 for ; Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:17:25 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <20100217143540.GA404@tango.0pointer.de> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: alsa-devel-bounces@alsa-project.org Errors-To: alsa-devel-bounces@alsa-project.org To: alsa-devel@alsa-project.org List-Id: alsa-devel@alsa-project.org On 17 February 2010 14:35, Lennart Poettering wrote: > >> This is a good aim, but I still think getting the correct 0dB points >> is more important to ensure the best audio quality. >> I personally think that PA should just set the hardware ALSA controls >> to 0dB and do all the volume control in software within PA. >> The 0dB points in hardware should result in the best sound quality. > > I don't think this would be a good idea. In a lot of hardware you > definitely want to make as much use of the built-in volume adjustment > capabilities as you can. For example, on my integrated USB speakers > you may control the built-in amplifier with the alsa mixer, and that's > definitely much better than attenuating the 16bit PCM stream and > having the USB speakers amplifier constantly configured to a very high > volume level. > I was thinking more specifically of the line-out and line-in where knowing the 0dB gain points is very useful and what most people need, with maybe a new dBv or dBu Mic and Speaker amp levels is a whole other kettle of fish.