Dsd dac volume control

[Mike Mcsweeney]

I had the dragonfly as my first dac and have tried 2 dsd dacs since then (sony and korg), but neither allow you to control the volume from the pc speaker volume like the dragonfly did. Does anyone know if there is a DSD dac on the market that allows you to control the volume from the pc like the dragonfly without having to adjust volume with a knob on the receiver or the dac?I know I can play music through jriver or other software, but I want to control all programs with the pc speaker control...

[Miska]

At least Resonessence Labs HERUS. Maybe some of their other models too?

 

(btw, works with my Sony Xperia Z2 tablet too, using USB OTG)

[unsleepable]

I started another thread on this same subject because I was also looking for DACs with this particular feature. Except that I don't have the DSD requirement.

 

There are not many DACs that allow the computer to set the volume through USB. The reason seems to be that most DACs implement pre-fabricated parts and chipsets, and for the volume to work this way, the chipset that handles the USB connection would have to control the volume section of the DAC. When you just assemble pre-fabricated stuff, this is not trivial—although the task itself is not out of reach either.

 

The only DACs that came up that support this are the Naim DAC-V1 and the DSpeaker Dual Core 2.0—but these don't support DSD. Also, there is a control panel for the exaSounds that runs in the computer and from which you can set the volume of the DAC—but I'm not sure if this integrates with the volume control of the computer, I haven't tried myself.

 

There are also some DACs that accept USB HID orders to set the volume but will do this independently of their main volume control, if they have it, and digitally in a crude manner—pretty much, chopping bits off as you attenuate the volume. Which may be ok if you don't listen to music at very low volume.

 

I hope other names come up in this thread. I'd very much like to see this feature becoming more common.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike Mcsweeney]

At least Resonessence Labs HERUS. Maybe some of their other models too?

 

(btw, works with my Sony Xperia Z2 tablet too, using USB OTG)

 

thanks, I will research this more, but I thought I read that the applications control the volume.will the PC main speaker control work on it?

[Mike Mcsweeney]

I started another thread on this same subject because I was also looking for DACs with this particular feature. Except that I don't have the DSD requirement.

 

 

if you don't care about dsd, the dragonfly 1.2 is great. I was quite happy with it, but wanted DSD. I now have dsd with my Korg, but miss being able to control the volume from the pc.

[edn4x4]

thanks, I will research this more, but I thought I read that the applications control the volume.will the PC main speaker control work on it? [ATTACH=CONFIG]14842[/ATTACH]

 

Mike when you install the supplied driver for the HERUS, you will have this option available. Just follow their directions to set it up - I set the HERUS to be the default output - and then you can use it in the way you are asking. You can then stream Spotify, ITunes, JRiver etc... It works and sounds great - the HERUS is a terrific product.

 

BTW - with my IPad Air I am able to stream DSD to my HERUS with JRiver 20 and 8player. I am also able to play local DSD files on the IPad to the HERUS using Onkyo Player with HD pack - and it just sounds wonderful.

 

So all in all it is a very flexible, portable DAC that I highly recommend.

[Miska]

thanks, I will research this more, but I thought I read that the applications control the volume.will the PC main speaker control work on it? [ATTACH=CONFIG]14842[/ATTACH]

 

Yes, it works through the normal Windows OS' volume controls.

 

I've been using it that way with headphones and Spotify. Volume control in Spotify is set to max and I adjust volume using the control you show in the screenshot.

[Mike Mcsweeney]

thanks all!

Now i need to sell my korg!