Sugden Audio writes: “The DAP-800 is our flagship pre-amplifier and features an abundance of both analogue and digital inputs. With so many connections for different types of source components, there will always be problems matching volume levels. To solve this, the DAP-800 has a unique solution to make sure every source has a large area of adjustment within the volume control.”
This has been achieved by having three noticeable gain stages, medium, low and high in that order. The first gain stage works in the area of 6–9 O’clock and will produce a reasonable listening level (Medium gain). From 9–1 O’clock it offers a fine adjustment (Low gain) and after 1 O’clock it’s full throttle (High gain). This unconventional approach may seem a little alien at first but we certainly feel it has enormous benefits. Two advantages are low noise and the ability to connect a digital source and USB device with the volume level at maximum, avoiding loss of bits and resolution.