On 17 February 2010 14:35, Lennart Poettering mznyfn@0pointer.de wrote:
This is a good aim, but I still think getting the correct 0dB points is more important to ensure the best audio quality. I personally think that PA should just set the hardware ALSA controls to 0dB and do all the volume control in software within PA. The 0dB points in hardware should result in the best sound quality.
I don't think this would be a good idea. In a lot of hardware you definitely want to make as much use of the built-in volume adjustment capabilities as you can. For example, on my integrated USB speakers you may control the built-in amplifier with the alsa mixer, and that's definitely much better than attenuating the 16bit PCM stream and having the USB speakers amplifier constantly configured to a very high volume level.
I was thinking more specifically of the line-out and line-in where knowing the 0dB gain points is very useful and what most people need, with maybe a new dBv or dBu
Mic and Speaker amp levels is a whole other kettle of fish.