I’ve got the DragonFly Cobalt and just read a few poor reviews, much to my disappointment.
In this review, they suggest there is less clipping if used with -6db.
So my question is: how does -6db translate in the 0—100 scale of the Roon Volume Control?
I’m currently shooting the source directly to the DF-C, and have set it to both decode and render, that way I manage to keep the signal path lidless with a purple star throughout.
Don’t obsess about bit-perfect reproduction - you’re on a quest to avoid clipping in your DAC, right?
Is clipping worse than a non bit-perfect stream without clipping - YES, any day!
There’s a great article with measurements from our exquisite member @DrCWO, showing all artifacts of such processing being orders of magnitude below any DAC’s noise floor, no matter how much money you would throw at it!
Clipping, OTOH, is orders of magnitude above any DAC’s noise floor, and you clearly hear it.