Why is my amp/DAC more powerful when connected to my laptop?
The difference is noticeable. For example, My amp/DAC can be turned to 3 o’clock when connected to my iPad, but I can’t go past 9 o’clock when connected to my PC.
Make sure your ipads digital volume control is set to 100%. Same thing on your laptop computer. Do all your volume adjustments on your DAC/ amp…
Also, a laptop outputs a more robust 5 volt supply when plugged in to the wall. The iPad might not have as much available current to drive itself and a usb powered DAC providing the DAC is only being powered from the ipad… If everything is plugged into wallwart power supplies then it’s something that’s going on…
Thanks for the suggestion, Dobbs. I’ll give it a shot later today.
However, make sure that there is no clipping on the PC.
You will notice this when it starts to distort, then go down in steps of 5 with the PC volume until it sounds clean again, and then leave it like that.
With the Ipad it doesn’t matter because technically the output voltage is limited.
On the laptop as on the PC, however, it will probably be somewhat better because of battery operation and because there is no power supply connected to it, if so, then only to a limited extent.
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