Question of the day: it is better to adjust the speaker volume from the settings of the computer / operating system (Windows, Android, Mac or any other) or from the knobs on the speakers "> link" in English that I try to translate in an understandable way. Reducing the volume from the software is like reducing the bit depth.
In digital audio, the signal is made up of thousands of samples, the bit depth is the number of bits used to describe a sample.
Attenuating the signal means multiplying each sample by a number less than one, with the result of losing full audio resolution and consequently reducing the dynamic range and the signal-to-noise ratio.
In particular, 6 dB of attenuation is equivalent to reducing the bit depth by one.
So if you listen to 16-bit audio (the standard for audio CDs) and reduce the volume to 12 dB, the quality of the 14-bit audio will drop.
Turning the volume down too much will decrease the quality considerably.
Reducing the volume on the speaker or amplifier can have the same effect as volume reduction via software if the control is digital.
Going to the point, ideally, the audio volume of the computer should always be at full volume via software, in order to obtain the highest possible resolution (bit depth).
The volume adjustment should then be done using the knobs on the speakers, analogically.
If all the devices running the signal are similar in quality (i.e. you are not pairing a low-cost low-end amplifier with a high-end digital source), you should have the best possible audio quality.
This answer, however, opens up a big problem because it is generally inconvenient to change the volume of the computer from the speakers and it is much more convenient to modify it from the system, on Windows, through the volume icon.
Furthermore, the job of an amplifier is, as the name suggests, to amplify beyond the levels set by the software.
The solution to this is to lower the hardware volume to the operating system level, until reaching the best compromise and optimizing the audio quality.
Keeping the volume of individual programs always at 100% helps to avoid bit depth and sound quality reductions.
Fortunately, the question of reducing bit depth does not apply to modern operating systems.
In particular, starting with Vista, Windows automatically oversamples all 32-bit audio streams before making any attenuation.
This means that no matter how low the volume is, there should be no actual loss of resolution.
The fact remains that, to avoid background noise, it is necessary to keep the software levels at 100% and to attenuate and adjust them from the hardware point of view, as close as possible to the source of the audio .
If there are other considerations to make, the comments are more open than ever to those who know more.
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