sony single din, line driver for sub amp?

[04murdalanche]

I don't doubt your experiences. There are lots of things in a HU that affect SQ.. the DACs, opamps, and especially the DSP. Even circuitboard layout and passive components have an effect. Pioneer goes as far as using a solid copper chassis for their high end unit. As price goes up so does the quality of these components. And preout voltage seems to follow suit - the higher SQ decks have higher voltage preouts. Personally I think they do that on purpose to get us to spend more money. Look at Alpine's under $200 decks and they're all still 2V.
Gain controls are for adjusting an amp's input sensitivity to the supplied signal level. That's all they do. Higher gain settings don't make the amp work harder, run hotter or distort more. It's just an input sensitivity control.

I agree with you, atleast on the DAC part. I those 24 bit BurrBrowns in the 80 PRS cleaned up my highs alot. Was very impressive compared to my kenwood x994

As far as the gain, when you have a lower input signal, you can't turn up the gain as much, because it will distort, as compared to say a 5v preout deck, correct?

 

[Jepalan]

As far as the gain, when you have a lower input signal, you can't turn up the gain as much, because it will distort, as compared to say a 5v preout deck, correct?

No. You have it backwards.

But I still think you are missing the point. The amp gains are for matching your actual signal level to the amplifier's optimal input level. Period. Theoretically high voltage pre-outs ensure better signal to noise ratio, but honestly this is arguable as well. High voltage pre-outs do not allow you to get more power from your amp into your speakers. Nearly every amp made today can handle line level inputs from 0.5V to 8V and when gain is set properly they all put the same power into your speakers.

 

[2010HHRUMADBRUH 10+ year member]

Put the sony in. It starts to clip at about half volume. It's a POS. Sticking with the stock unit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif