I’ve just received my cascade, and while still burning in, it already sounds amazing! Also, most exquisite finish and impeccable build quality. Congrats!
Since I will be using the dac together with a nagra hd preamp, I have a couple of questions regarding volume control.
If I got it right from your documentation, there is no amplification section on the preamp, so the volume control is purely “passive” (attenuation only). Is this right?
If so, is the unity gain at the 106 volume level, which is the equivalent level of the volume control is bypassed?
The volume control is a pure passive volume control. If you are using it with an external preamp the best thing is to turn off the volume control completely. If you decide to leave it on just set the volume to 100 and not 106. Any level over 100 adds digital gain for low-level recordings.
To disable the volume control, do this:
Enter the menu with the menu button (far left button with 3 lines)
Scroll down with the volume knob to the “Startup Volume” setting and press the enter button (right arrow).
With the knob, scroll the number (default at 70) up past 100 to the “Preamp off” setting and press enter (right arrow).
Leave the menu with the menu button.
After this the volume will be disabled in the Cascade DAC and the volume number will be gone from the display.