Reading FAQ i see it is possible to have volume control on it. Im desperate to have some kind of volume control for speakers cause i cant afford or cant find something that fits my needs at the moment. Im getting JBL lsr305, which are active, thats why the desperate need of a preamp.
Any chance for a separate firmware release with hardware volume control enabled?
Aside of the preamp out volume control i mentioned, i was already expecting windows to be able to control the tone2 hardware volume (as usual with most dacs?). So it would be perfect for me, because i planned to use it temporary before getting a competent passive knob.
Personally i was confused with the lack of this ability and cant see how it could be that much complex to have it, as far as i know most dacs work that way.
I understand tone2 may be a little different having the separate volume control chip for headphones while being able to output in all outputs at the same time but i really dont think its necessarily a bad thing or confusing at all.
edit:
bonus question: would it be possible to have an option on the encoder to switch the knob’s volume control between HP analog and DAC’s digital?
If that was possible it would be aboslute perfection, not much need for a passive knob, at least for me im a digital volume believer. I cant afford 400$ stepped knobs xd.
I use a nobsound passive balanced preamp between my tone 2 pro and jbl lsr30x. Can be found on Amazon for under 40 usd. Works great and has a good pot.
From what I understand, this is not as simple as a firmware update. Changes to hardware would be required to implement proper hardware volume control over the RCA outputs. Perhaps @Gouwa or someone else here can confirm.
If you require a DAC with digital preamp functionality, the Khadas Tone2 Pro is not a great choice, but I feel that Khadas was transparent about this in product information. There are plenty of other DACs in this price range that offer this functionality. It sounds like you just bought the wrong DAC for your particular use case.
Adjusting the volume control registers of ES9038Q2M DAC chipset
USB Digital Volume: for both RCA and headphone jacks
Adjusting XMOS
The pre-installed firmware for T2P with Hardware volume enabled only and with fixed RCA line out. And we plan to enable the DAC software volume for preamp applications in the future:
Not a fan of having to mess with the gain to toggle with that setting. Much less having to actually change the gain. Not much of a problem but sounds a little confusing to me and unnecesary.
Ideally i think it would be better to add an extra menu where you switch between software volume on and off.
With software volume enabled the volume knob would still be usable for either of the functions (software volume/headphone amp)? If yes im not sure which one i prefer to have it.
I think for headphone amp because i use it to mute headphones when using speakers. But, if there was a way to mute headphone out, then i would much prefer having the knob for software volume.
Maybe im just making things up and enabling software volume doesnt change how the knob works, sorry if thats the case.
I would think this would be one one of the most sought after features for the Tone2 outside being able to use the 3.5mm and 4.4mm jacks as pre-amp outputs. Is there an ETA on this being implemented on the next firmware release?
Personally I think it would be simpler to just be able to switch between a pre-amp and amp mode, where as in pre-amp mode all outputs (RCA/3.5mm/4.4mm) act as pre-amp outputs controlled by the volume control.
Actualy, we’ve completed the development & release a bata firmware for Dual Volume, but our engineer team found that if we are able to merge the two firmware “normal firmware” and “dual volume firmware”, will be better user experience.
I’ll give this a try this evening and post before/after test results. If they look good, I may have to buy another one.
Edit: In stalled v1.3. No issues. Working great. I won’t get around to remeasuring tonight, but I am doing a bit of listening, and it sounds terrific. I don’t expect the measurements to show anything different. The preamp volume control works as expected. No noise. No drama.
