acbarn wrote:I'm trying to understand how the "Auto Ref Level" interacts with the Loudness "Low Vol Ref" on the Phones output. With Auto Ref Level turned off, I have the Loudness Low Vol Ref set to -30db. When I switch on Auto Ref Level, the volume readout drops by -15db to make headroom for the potential 15db boost when Hi-Power mode kicks in, which makes sense. What I don't understand is how this affects the Loudness Low Vol Ref. Do I need to adjust the Low Vol Ref by -15db (to -45db) with Auto Ref Level on, or does the DAC make this adjustment to the Low Vol Ref automatically?
Thanks...
As I understand, "automatically" means -30 dB "Low Vol Ref" maps to -30 dBr with "Auto Ref Level" or -30 dB without "Auto Ref Level". However, if you need to reduce your maximum reference listening level by 15 dB because the amp is louder in dBr, you should indeed reduce "Low Vol Ref" by 15 dB.
You can verify this. Set "Auto Ref Level" to Off, "Low Vol Ref" to -30 dB, and volume to -10 dB. Toggle Loudness off & on. The sound should not change as you are at the maximum reference level (20 dB above "Low Vol Ref"). Now set "Auto Ref Level" to On. The volume should automatically change to -25 dBr from -10 dB. Toggle Loudness off & on. The sound will change indicating the "Low Ref Level" is indeed -30 dBr (and not -45 dBr).
There seems to be a bug where toggling "Auto Ref Level" does not activate / deactivate Loudness immediately. Toggling Loudness once fixes this. Don't let this confuse you in the above test.
