Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/accuphase-dg-68-digital-voicing-equalizer

Each time I altered room treatments, or cabling, or power treatment, or equipment supports, or component resonance damping, I created new “Smooth” and “Flat” curves with the DG-68, turning VC/EQ on and off and listening intently. Over the same period, I also changed optical (internet) cabling and upgraded optical-to-electrical converters and SFP (small–form-factor pluggable; don’t ask) modules. In due time, I created and implemented 18 different “smooth” and “flat” VC/EQ curves.

Under ordinary circumstances, making changes to my reference setup during the course of a review would be verboten. But in the context of a Digital Voicing Equalizer review, each change provided a new opportunity to evaluate the DG-68’s efficacy. While the journey was more stressful than fun, it led me closer to Oz. In nonmythological terms, as I made successful changes, the system sound with the Accuphase bypassed got progressively closer to sound with the unit activated. The room itself was doing more of the heavy lifting, and the Accuphase was proving itself a useful tool.

The higher output XI cartridge was no problem. If I held my ear right up to the speaker, I could hear a little preamp noise, but at a significantly lower level. The gain difference needed to make up for the lower output of the XA over the XI is 8 dB, so my preamp was right on the edge in terms of noise for the lower output unit. Ideally, I think you’d want something with closer to 70 dB gain for the XA and 60 dB for the XI. I set loading to 1 kohm. A-T recommends loading of at least 100 ohms. I did a little experimenting but decided to limit variables and just leave the loading at 1k for the test as I was happy with what I got. But you can experiment to your heart’s content.