Digital vs Analog Volume Control, does it matter? Options

[Stephan37]

Thanks to this forum I am an recovering audiophile. It was a very humbling experience to do some double blind testing of 128kbit mps but a necessary one. The cool thing about this process is that I've come to enjoy the music again, not the sound. Thus I listen more with more enjoyment. Thanks to everybody here who have made this learning possible. I have also learned that most audio equipment is not that much different. But since my amp doesn't have a remote control I am in the market for a receiver or new amp. And I like the new features like Airplay and the like.

Now I have been reading a lot about different models etc.

What sometimes comes up is the way the volume control is made - digital vs analog.

Here are my questions:
Should I be bothered? Is one really better? Will I hear a difference?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Stephen

[pdq]

We seem to be comparing apples and oranges.

We all agree on how old-fachioned analog potentiometers work, and their limitations. When we discuss digital volume control, however, we are talking about two different things: there is the all-digital multiplication of the values by a scale factor before sending them to a DAC; then there is the device that digitally selects one of several analog dividers after the DAC.

So, what exactly are we discussing here?