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Best digitally controlled volume control

davidsrsb

davidsrsb

pfm Member
As decent potentiometers are either obsolete or crazy prices, any thoughts on what is the best digital volume control currently available?
I do believe that these can work well if the design is right.
 
No idea about other devices, but the gain control on my old CA DACMagic Plus works quite nicely. Or were you thinking of as part of the player software or a system that can ADC, then scale, then DAC?

I'm lucky in that I still have a few old Alps Volume/Balance controls that work very well. Seems crazy to me that these now seem rare. Even now they are c 40 years old they are excellent.
 
Topping pre90 if the I/O does what you need.

There's loads of good relay controlled units if that's what you want, khozmo have several.
 
LDR volume controls like the light speed attenuator or the one from stereo coffee seem to give the most transparent option on a budget in my experience.

a pot is used to control voltage but there is nothing in the signal path. An arduino controlling a potentiometer chip could be used with an Apple remote to get what you’re looking for. That’s what I’m building anyway.

up/down on the remote controls the volume. Left/right on the remote cycles through a script which turns various relays on and off to select any combination of source and amp. The centre button turns the whole thing off and on by controlling the soft starts of two isolation transformers, the arduino is powered by a little lipo battery and a charging chip which keeps it topped up when the system is on and seems to last between listening sessions - if that becomes an issue I’ll just add another lipo in parallel. Amps turn themselves on and off by detecting an incoming audio signal.
 
I must admit to liking relay switched attenuators but the clackety clack drives me potty. VTL did a very nice quiet reed relay version, but screened reed relays are somewhat expensive and do take up more space that standard relays.
John
 
I like the sound of the relays! You don't need screened reed relays and they are usually smaller than most standard relays. I've found the really tiny relays to be problematic also... the ones not much bigger than an op amp.

I have Elec-Trol mil spec reed relays put aside in case I ever get round to building the 256 step attenuator I've designed.
 
thommy said:
Maybe you should try measuring one again, things may have changed.
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The limit is set by how the LDR cadmium sulphide cell works, and significant %thd (one-to-several whole-percents-worth) is utterly unavoidable; see informed previous discussion here in DIY by 'Pigletsdad'.

It cannot be ameliorated by complex external control schemes nor device geometry - it is intrinsic in the cdS semiconductor physics.
 
martin clark said:
The limit is set by how the cadmium sulphide cell works, and significant %thd (whole-percents-worth) is unavoidable; informed previous discussion here in DIY by 'Pigletsdad'.

It cannot be ameliorated by complex external control schemes - it is intrinsic in the cdS semiconductor physics.
Click to expand...

I haven’t done such tests myself and haven’t seen that thread but I have two LDR attenuators in my systems because they work. I didn’t design the attenuators but someone did and they probably wouldn’t have bothered if the results weren’t worth it.

Also I don’t think that all optocouplers are created equal because getting the right ones and having them matched makes up the majority of the cost.
 
There's a huge diyaudio.com thread n the lightspeed with accurate measurements done by good engineers. It's far from transparent or linear.
 
/\ "thommy" can't hear 1-2% distortion but regards mains cables etc which are not silver and blessed by the pope on a full moon as ruining the sound....

The Long Dog Audio guy also published distortion figures for cds LDR's a few years ago IIRC.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
/\ "thommy" can't hear 1-2% distortion but regards mains cables etc which are not silver and blessed by the pope on a full moon as ruining the sound....

The Long Dog Audio guy also published distortion figures for cds LDR's a few years ago IIRC.
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I’d forgotten what a nasty place this is, and you in particular Arkless. Just wanted to share some of my experiences with other people who also value that kind of stuff. Sorry that it triggered your belief systems and you felt that you had to try and shut me down. I’ll stay away from now on. It’s been 5 years, another 5 won’t make much difference.
 
thommy said:
I’d forgotten what a nasty place this is, and you in particular Arkless. Just wanted to share some of my experiences with other people who also value that kind of stuff. Sorry that it triggered your belief systems and you felt that you had to try and shut me down. I’ll stay away from now on. It’s been 5 years, another 5 won’t make much difference.
Click to expand...

Thankyou. Great. Nowt worse than people attempting to propagate fake news and alternative facts....

"Just wanted to share some of my experiences with other people who also value that kind of stuff". There's loads of covid deniers and 5G mast conspiricists who I reckon would just love to hear your "theories"!
 
thommy said:
I’d forgotten what a nasty place this is
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you feel like that; it's definitely not 'a nasty place' - more a very broad range of experience and wide variety of views - some of which are also deeply informed in a very open and collegiate way which might not be easy reading if you dip in, perceive you are told you are wrong, esp if it jars against what you are 'at home with' elsewhere say.

But not different to all of us find at some point, some where, some time, usually for the better in life.

Please do continue to share your interest - perhaps in a new thread to suit?
 
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