Every step down in OS digital volume costs audio resolution. At 16-bit output, 6 dB of attenuation throws away an entire bit. Find out how much resolution is gone at your current volume - then hear it for yourself in the live A/B demo with TPDF dither.
My presets
Save bit-depth + volume + law combos. Useful when you're auditing different OS setups or playback chains.
Effective bit depth-After OS attenuation. Native depth minus bits lost.
Bits thrown away-Every 6.02 dB of attenuation costs one bit.
Dynamic range left-
-5 tiers from "CD quality" down to "telephone".
Side-by-side
CurrentCurrent
vs
Saved-
Source format
native
What your OS actually sends to the DAC. Check Windows / macOS audio settings.
OS volume
attenuation
%
Volume law
app
Volume law decides how the slider position maps to dB attenuation. Linear is the worst for digital volume control, dropping a bit every 6 dB starting from the very first step.
Effective bit depth across the volume range
live
How the three volume laws degrade effective bit depth across the slider range. Linear (Windows) is the worst - drops a bit per 6 dB starting from the very first step down. Logarithmic and direct dB keep more bits at typical listening positions. The dot is your current volume.
LinearLogarithmicDirect dBYour setting
Hear it for yourself
16-bit @ 0 dBFS
A live A/B test. The "Your setting" button generates the test signal at the post-attenuation level, then quantises it to the effective bit depth using TPDF dither - so you hear the actual noise floor your current configuration produces. The "24-bit reference" plays the same signal at full resolution for comparison. Pink noise reveals dither hiss most clearly.
Show the math
Why digital volume control degrades audio quality
Bits and dynamic range
Each bit adds approximately 6.02 dB of dynamic range. A 16-bit file has 96 dB theoretical range; 24-bit has 144 dB - more than the ear can resolve in a single moment.
Attenuate digitally by 6 dB and you discard the least significant bit. At -12 dB you lose two bits. At -48 dB you've thrown away 8 bits - taking 16-bit signal down to 8-bit quality. The noise floor rises with every step.
The fix
Use 24-bit or 32-bit OS output and keep the digital volume at 100 %. Control loudness at the analog stage - amplifier knob, preamp, or a DAC with a hardware volume.
With 24-bit OS output you can attenuate digitally by 48 dB and still have 16-bit quality remaining. Many high-end DACs implement volume in the analog domain for exactly this reason. If your DAC has a volume knob, use it.
Bit depth, dynamic range, and what it costs you
Each bit is worth ~6.02 dB of dynamic range. The "audibility floor" column shows where the residual noise starts to surface above the music's lowest passages.
Format
Bits
Dynamic range
Audibility floor
Telephone, voicemail
8
48 dB
Hiss audible on every quiet passage.
Compact cassette
~12
~72 dB
Tape hiss; classical pp passages disappear.
FM radio
~13
~78 dB
Audible noise floor under quiet music.
16-bit CD (Red Book)
16
96 dB
Below threshold of hearing. Dither can lift effective range to ~120 dB.
16-bit at 50 % Windows volume
~13
~78 dB
FM-radio quality.
16-bit at 25 % Windows volume
~11
~66 dB
Worse than cassette.
20-bit DAT, early hi-res
20
120 dB
Beyond any room's noise floor.
24-bit hi-res / studio master
24
144 dB
Beyond physiological hearing limit.
32-bit float (DAW internal)
32 fp
~1500 dB
Effectively infinite headroom.
FAQ
Digital volume and bit-depth FAQ.
Why digital attenuation costs resolution, how much is too much, and what to do instead - analog volume, 24-bit output, and the quiet music problem.
Why does digital volume reduction lose audio resolution?
Digital volume scales every sample by a fraction less than 1, which truncates the low bits. At -6 dB attenuation you lose 1 bit of resolution; at -24 dB you lose 4 bits. A 24-bit file at -24 dB attenuation effectively becomes 20-bit. The calculator shows exactly how many bits you keep at any volume setting.
How much digital volume reduction is too much?
For 16-bit content (CD-quality), keep digital attenuation below 12 dB to avoid audible quantization noise rise. For 24-bit content, you can attenuate 30-40 dB before degradation matters. Better practice: set your DAC or amp gain to match the loudest peak you ever play and keep digital volume near 0 dBFS.
What is bit depth in audio?
Bit depth is the number of bits per audio sample. 16-bit gives 96 dB of dynamic range and is the CD standard. 24-bit gives 144 dB, more than human hearing can resolve, useful as headroom during mixing. The actual recorded music rarely uses more than 60-70 dB of dynamic range; bit depth is mostly about quiet-detail noise floor.
Does Windows or macOS volume reduce bit depth?
Yes, when the system mixer is in the path. macOS Core Audio and Windows shared mode apply digital attenuation that loses bits per the calculator. To avoid this, use exclusive mode (Windows WASAPI exclusive, macOS bypass via apps like Audirvana or Roon) or hardware volume on the amp/DAC.
