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This mystery that I would like to get answer….

Both Pacific Microsonics Model One and Model One have adjustable DAC output. Although Pacific claims the ultra-low distortion and super-high quality of their digital attenuation my negative position about DSP attenuation is well know.

So, Pacific has 24dB output gain. My question is where they have 0dB gain in this thing, the location where the DSP will be presumably not engage.

It is possible that it would be at +24dB, where the digital attenuator is wide open and is in “unity gain”. The Pacific recommend that Output Level Monitor  be set at +18dB to provide the best digital resolution and best analog stage performance. Would it be that at 18dB Pacific “eats” 6dB by DSP means?

It is in way very peculiar as the guys who designed Berkeley Alpha DAC (the same as did Pacific) made Berkeley to have the same behavior. Berkeley had DSP attenuator at output and Berkeley folks recommend using -5dB of full scale as the “best preferable setting”.

I do not care what they “recommend” and they might have other agendas, but I would like to know where Pacific has 0dB and where DSP is not engaged. I think the answer for Pacific would be the same as for Berkeley. I do not think anybody would push an answer in context of Pacific – not a lot of people use it “for Sound” and mostly professionals use Pacifics to pay their mortgages. In context of Berkeley the answer might be “pushed” but so far I heard public voices about Berkeley DACs only from idiots. I spoke with Berkeley guys about the subject but their answer was not concussive, ot put this way – they made it not conclusive.

So, where the Pacific has 0dB in Output Level Monitor?

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