(Sorry, apparently my thread was deleted for trying to edit it too many times. Didn't realize I couldn't post links so the link to Lee's post was originally left out.)
I’m having an issue that may not be an issue, I just can’t find any information about it.
Hardware: Nu Audio Card (Not pro)
Headphones: Headphone out
Speakers: RCA Line out
Previously, I had my Windows system volume set at about 50% and the headphone amp volume (in the Nu Audio app) at about 35%. I then set my speakers’ physical volume to approximately match my headphone volume at 50% Windows system volume. That way I can go between headphones and speakers in the Nu Audio app and not have large changes in volume between them. This also meant I could just use the native Windows system volume controls for both output types. I had no issues with this setup.
Going based on EVGATech_LeeM’s post here: forums dot evga dot com/FindPost/2914295, I decided to tinker a little, thinking maybe my volume setup wasn’t optimal, quality wise, since Windows was attenuating before sending the signal to the sound card. So I set my Windows system volume to 100% (which I understood to be unity) and turned down the headphone amp volume and my speaker’s physical volume. In this setup, headphone output is great. I can set the headphone dial in the Nu Audio app to about 15% and the volume is perfect with no issues.
However, the speakers clip no matter what volume I set the speakers’ physical knob to. It turns out that I get clipping on the speaker output at any Windows system volume above about 65%.
What difference between the outputs on the Nu Audio sound card are there that would cause clipping on the RCA output but not the headphone output? Is this a defect in the card, or just a difference in the way the Nu Audio drivers handle line level over the RCA outputs?
Does anyone else have this issue or is this expected behavior?