Nope, it wasn't like that, Martin.

It's largely a matter of preference where your optimum listening level is achieved, in relation to the position on the volume dial. I simply like mine, in that respect, to be achieved at around the 8-9 o'clock position, and don't like having to wind the dial(s) round to after 12 noon before anything significant happens in terms of loudness.

I just find that unnatural, and with some low-level recordings, particularly with classical music, you can run out of dial space before reaching the listening level you want!

Also, what I find is that if the gain structure isn't right, and there isn't enough, let's call it overall 'oomph', no matter how much your turn it up, the sound lacks 'balls' and sounds limp and lacking in dynamic attack. There has to be a optimal amount of 'signal strength' (for want of a better description) present in the first place, to be amplified, in order for music to be accurately reproduced.

It's rather like in the old days when recording to tape. In my experience, when setting the recording level on a tape deck, there was always a 'sweet spot' where the sound clicked into place and just sounded 'right'... Not enough level made the the playback sound rather weak and inept, no matter how much you turned the volume up when listening, and too much level resulted in saturation, where conversely no matter how much you turned the volume down, everything still sounded too 'hard' and 'loud'.

Well, if you can understand that concept, it's essentially what I'm applying to the Goldpoint: tuning the playback levels of music in order to hit that same 'sweet spot', so that there is enough 'oomph' present in the signal path, in order for SQ to be optimised, in the same way as I've described with playing back recordings made on a tape deck. Hopefully, that makes some sort of sense now!

Marco.