[gkinberg]

I just discovered that my ps3 has a volume control. I have heard/read that digital volume controls are "bad". I adjusted the volume to the max to avoid any negative attenuation. While I was playing my music loud, I don't think it was ridiculously so but my sound was suffering distortion. This was the first time that I have heard noticeable distortion from my system. Why is this? Was I wrong in my assumption that max volume through the ps3 was good? Or was I just playing too loud without realizing it?

Thanks, Garth

[MaxCast]

Not sure on the volume control but the distortion was probably amplifier distortion, which can fry your voice coils.
Or you were driving the speakers too hard.

[mhconley]

Everything I have read says set it to 0 (zero) and forget it.

Martin

[eclein]

If your using the analog outputs that may be it, I've been told they suck. I use the Toslink to my receiver for games and movies and to my dac VIA a switcher for 2.1 music.
Digital output is very clean,  I think mine is set like 5 never worry about it....try digital.

[kbuzz3]

I think this is a very good question/thread.  My experience is that using the ps3 with a toslink is that when i adjust the volume higher then flat i get some distortion.  I have turned down the volume on the amp while raising it on the ps3 and still seem to get some sort of sound change. This my by psychological but id be interested in some confirmation of the whats actually going on in volume control on the ps3.

As an aside i bought a used ir remote for the ps3 on ebay. what a pleasure to get rid of the game player when listening to music

[eclein]

Ok...I got ya, If I have time later I'll check mine out and see if maybe I'm giving bad info....Thanks for the heads up.

[srb]

The volume control on the PS3 is different from most digital volume controls that only attenuate the signal, as any setting above "0" is a volume boost to accommodate sources like movies that may be inherently at a lower level.  So it is quite possible that it may overdrive certain preamps or processors into distortion depending on their maximum input level specification.
 
As the manual states:
 
•  The sound may become distorted if the volume output level is set too high. If this happens, lower the volume output level.
•  This setting may be disabled when using certain audio devices or when outputting certain types of audio
 
Steve

[kbuzz3]

If may , can i also ask a related ps3 question.  Does anyone use this thing as a music server. It appears to me that the highest resolution it saves at is Aac, which i believe is lossy. 

Not that it means anything b/c my 10 year old is very possessive of the unit, particularly if its not being used for anything other then madden

[gkinberg]

I out put to my receiver using HDMI (digital). I haven't tried setting to zero but I can't imagine likeing it. Nonetheless I may try it when returning home. Thanks to all for such informed responses!

Garth

[Rclark]

The analogue outputs are great actually. But transporting directly to a dac via toslink, so using an external dac, was obviously an improvement.

[gkinberg]

Everything I have read says set it to 0 (zero) and forget it.

Martin

My first thought was that zero was the minimum setting and thought that action would kill all of my gain and result in an imbalance in my system. When I went back to check on the PS3 volume configuration, zero is the middle setting (labled as normal). Therefore, I think your right. I've set it at zero, or normal, and have now tried to forget it =)

Thanks, Garth