I was wondering if an option could be added in the DSP section, next to the clipping indicator, to mute the signal when it clips (to avoid damage to the speaker).
I was wondering why a loudspeaker should get damaged when digital clipping is happening.
Update: The good thing about digital clipping is that you will clearly hear it if there is enough of it – it sounds awful. (This statement was influenced by times when I used digital equipment that just wrapped the signal when clipping occured. It sounds to me that Roon actually clips and don’t wrap [Yes I did a listening test with Roon and clipping {12 dB +} and my headphone/speakers are still alive].)
The last reports I know of, where clipping was the source of damaged speakers, report back to the times when self-made/self-engineered audio equipment was used to drive massive speaker systems (60 years or so back?). I attended parties and may even hosted some myself where the clipping indicators on the power-amps (I think that these are the ones that really matter when it comes to speaker health) where part of the light show and no speakers where ever damaged.
I play my turntable through Roon. I have one DSP preset for regular digital sources, and another preset for phono. This preset includes RIAA correction as well as 26 dB gain.
If I play a digital source and forget to switch the preset, the music plays with major distortion at full volume. That can’t be good for my speakers…
That’s quite a difference. Making up for 26dB in Roon can’t do any favors to SQ.
Does your ADC not have enough gain for your cart? Seems like you need a higher gain cart or phono stage to help even the playing field.
Alternatively, apply a -26dB gain to your digital sources in Roon.
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Under normal circumstances I can’t play any of my systems at full volume – it’s just way too loud. And then you have additional 26 dB input gain. Your setup is very unusual.
As Roon doesn’t provide an input channel, this all sounds more like a tinkering problem to me, than as a general problem that Roon should take care of. But maybe the developers can implement something like an insanity auto-mute at 24 dB + clipping.
Amplifying in the digital domain is much cleaner than using my old phono preamp. There’s no 60 Hz hum.
How loud your system sounds depends entirely on your particular system’s gain. This feature will be useful to people with low gain amps, and DSP implementation (as they may have to add some gain to make up for the loudness loss due to DSP).
How do you do this? Via Live Radio?
Yes I use live radio. The layout is like this:
MC phono cartridge—>step up transformer for impedance matching—> ADC ( MOTU 8a)@96khz with 12 + dB gain—> PC (Windows 10) Via USB—> BUTT Software at 96 kHz to capture the signal and boost another 24dB (unfortunately truncates at 16 bits but realistically an LP has less than 16 bit resolution) and send FLAC to —> icecast 2 —> Roon Radio (localhost stream on same PC) with RIAA correction and 26 dB gain using DSP —> Motu 8a via USB for DAC.
It sounds great. I’ ve put enough gain in the system so that the loudness of an LP matches that of a digital source, making A/B comparisons easier.
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Is there a particular reason you use vinyl through that lot, discs you can’t get in other formats?
When I first got into audio, I made all my own equipment (turntable, tonearm , tube preamp and tube amps etc). Over time I phased out the tubes etc in favour of good quality solid state components.
I just can’t bring myself to put the turntable and LPs in storage. I also like tinkering so I enjoyed the challenge of integrating the turntable into Roon (and getting rid of the tube phono preamp).