Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I assume he’s talking turntable… and if so, probably not crazy loud. I have to cut the whole system back by half if I’m streaming or spinning coasters.
The Zu DWX Thread
- Thread starter Ghost
- Start date
Ghost
Original Resident Ghost
I'm excited for that day to come! I'm planning on listening to some KEF R3 Meta's and MoFi Sourcepoint 8's at a dealer space in the next 60 days, curious to see how I'll feel after that. Also need to make sure I'm not making any judgements on those two while they're hooked up to like a $10,000 pre-amp and amp hahaha. Hopefully I can system match to a degree.
Ghost
Original Resident Ghost
That's a good question @displayname I never measured, but yeah 60-70% would be when I'm using the TT. Also fwiw, I have my Sutherland set to a lower gain setting than usual. Prior to setting my gain lower I was around 50-60% for any given listening session. For streaming I'm usually at 45-55%.
I actually just downloaded a DB measuring app on my iPhone, going to see what I'm typically at.
displayname
Well-Known Member
I was going to say, if there's that big of difference there is likely a low gain situation going on with the phono. My streaming and phono come in almost dead even. I don't adjust the volume when switching between sources.
Over time you might find that not only do you know your preferred volume, but you also can get pretty good at "feeling" or guessing db level. Similar to the way golfers and hunters are pretty good at guessing distances.
It's very helpful to protect your hearing when you can quickly recognize when you're getting over 90db.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Mine are a long way off but I’ve always preferred adding gain with a preamp as opposed to upping it on a phono stage, it’s always sounded better to my ears that way.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
Whether it was the Pluto, the Darlington I auditioned or the nad’s built in, I’ve always had a very big difference between the TT and everything else.
Currently:
The NAD has “gain” settings, but they are more about leveling off peaks:
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
Can't speak for the Darlington's default gain, but I'm guessing the Pluto and the built-in on the NAD are running at pretty baseline MM gain settings, between 38-40db, which means you're probably coming in at half (500mV) or less the signal strength of your other line inputs.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I wasn’t opening up the Darlington, wasn’t mine.
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
The Darlington is from as low as 35dB to a max of 40dB gain, so the same thing applies.
mindhead1
Active Member
Good to hear these are a good match with the Kinki. I was wondering if they Amp would be too much for high sensitivity speakers.Haven’t been able to listen as much as I’d like as I’ve had a fever the last three days and could barely focus on anything else but misery. But what is standing out recently is:
so much more detail coming through than my Lintons, I’m constantly like “woah I’ve never heard that before” and in particular, these are able to pull out a lot more detail at lower volumes.
On my Lintons I was always listening around 60-70% of my Kinki’s capacity as I felt that’s where I would get the amount of information I was looking for.
With the DWX I’ve found myself listening more consistently around 45-60%. I was on the couch yesterday with a fever listening to Tidal and was SHOCKED at how much fun I was having listening to HiFi streams at 35%.
mindhead1
Active Member
I’m in the home stretch with Decware if all goes well I’ll have my Rachel amp by the end of 2025. Ordered it in October of 2022.
These Zu DWX are in my shortlist for high sensitivity speakers.
Slimwhit33
Well-Known Member
I ordered in late December 2022…. I’m still on page 4 of the waiting list, figuring early 2026.
Satchmo2go
Active Member
what else is on your shortlist for high sensitivity speakers?