Understanding Computer Sound

I'm not going to argue over any of the content of this article but I want to do so over something much more prosaic - that of inadequate sound volume in computer sound systems and insufficient gain (amplification) to compensate for inadequate or insufficient audio input levels.

Simply, on source material whose audio input levels are too low there is almost inevitably insufficient audio gain within the audio subsystem to amplify the sound to a comfortable level.

Why is this so?

Well, the seemingly obvious answer is that designers of digital equipment assume the correct audio level is always available from the audio source and that its maximum level represents the highest level bits in digital form. Thus, setting the optimal output volume is really a matter of sliding along that scale (usually from zero to the desired level).

The trouble is that not all source material comes with the 'correct' gain to fill the full dynamic range of the equipment and thus one is left with insufficient overall gain that one cannot compensate for.

Many a time I've had to resort to switching on the system's equalizer and turning up all frequencies to boost the gain another 6dB or so, and frankly having to do this is absolutely infuriating, especially so on laptops who've inevitability pissy little audio systems that are inadequate at the best of times.

The real problem of course is that designers of digital equipment have no concept of how audio gear is designed in the analog world - if they had then we would never have had this problem.

For those who don't understand this it's realky very simple: traditional analog equipment gain/volume controls are configured so that at about midway on the rotary control (about 12 o'clock) they provide sufficient gain to drive the device to its maximum output. For example, a 10 Watt amplifier would provide its maximum of 10 Watts output when the volume control was set to 12 o'clock AND that the input source was providing the correct level to drive the amplifier to its maximum 10 Watts output. (If one volt RMS input was the designed input voltage for said amplifier then at 12 o'clock volume control setting it provides 10 Watts output.)

In the above condition where the amplifier was providing its maximum output, if the gain control was advanced any further then the amplifier would be driven into clipping (with no more dynamic range available, its output would become distorted).

Whilst, little joy can be obtained by increasing the volume past the amplifier's maximum output, the potential of increasing the gain when the source input levels were low is extremely useful - a fact seemingly never learned by designers of digital equipment. In the analog world I've encountered very few instances where I've had insufficient amplifier gain to compensate for low audio levels.

Can anyone explain to me how going to digital audio has resulted in an enginering step backwards?