Long time lurker, sometimes poster has a question regarding audio levels. I recently installed an Xfi Platinum which has a headphone volume knob on the front panel. this is it connected to a headphone amp which obviously also has a volume knob. now my volume "chain" looks like so:

foobar/winamp>windows master and wave>xfi headphone out>headphone amp.

my question is this: for lowest distortion for audio playback (foobar, winamp) what is recommended for EACH of the volume setttings?

any help appreciated, thanks.

There is the general process, used in all professional recording, of setting each element in the signal chain for its optimum output, consistent with the overall goal of getting a proper signal level at the end of the chain (e.g. into the soundcard).

In general, every component has varying amounts of noise and distortion. Empirically, you determine where the output is the best for each element in the chain and set accordingly.

You must also take into account its effect on the input of the next element (a very good device maybe able to put out a higher signal level, with very good quality, than the next device can accept without undue distortion or clipping). Sometimes it may be necessary to accept a less than optimum re noise and distortion setting if you need more signal from a particular device than its low point in that regard.

Just as an example, I have a tape deck with variable output level (unlike most, which are fixed). Anywhere below about 75% dial rotation, noise is very low but increases rapidly above that point. Therefore, if I need a higher level than the 75% setting, I put a line level preamp after the tape deck. That contribution of noise is much lower than higher settings on the tape deck.

Lowering the levels on the Windows mixer will reduce the bit depth of the data going to the soundcard. Some isn’t necessarily bad, but your analogue equipment may do a better job. Listening, or measuring, is the only route to certainty.

thanks for the informative post. that is basically what i'm doing now, but thought there may be a guideline of sorts and tweak from there. i'll continue with tweaking over the weekend. i appreciate the reply.

The best would be if your soundcard had an unamplified line-out. Are you sure there's no option of this on your soundcard? I would expect a card in this price range to have the option.

i do have a digital coax out. would that work? digital coax to mini?

I guess your headphone amplifier has just analogue inputs so don't even try that, you could just waste your headphones with no chance for it to work!
It seems the panel has sh*tload of inputs but no reasonable analogue output.

The soundcard seems to have plain line-out, you could try to plug the headphone amplifier into Front line-out (probably at the rear panel of the soundcard). Just have your PC volume lowered before trying out and make sure you have SPDIF disabled just in case (I managed to drive the digital output to my headphones with Live 5.1 once and I almost wasted both my ears and my headphones).

EDIT: Now it seems that the Front line-out is already amplified, so you could try connecting the amplifier to Rear out and somehow persuade the player to use these two (unamplified) channels instead. This is quite easy with media player classic and a matrix mixer, you might not be able to achieve this with a music player, though.

Note that by driving the signal through the X-Fi's amplifier, you may be sacrificing the deepest bass. Some people reported that X-Fi is somewhat lacking in this department.

thanks Martel, i'll be doing those suggestions in the next day or so. way too many hobbies i'll report back either way.

yeah, i can't seem to get foobar or winamp to what ou suggested, but am still experimenting with the myriad of options in creative's control panel. the least amount of processing the better for me.