You're correct that lowering amplitude ~= reducing bit depth. I'm not sure that lowering amplitude digitally keeps S/N constant but I'm a bit out of my depth (e

You're correct that lowering amplitude ~= reducing bit depth. I'm not sure that lowering amplitude digitally keeps S/N constant but I'm a bit out of my depth (excuse the pun) at this point. To further muddy the waters, in most cases using software volume control won't noticeably reduce audio quality. The main point I was trying to make is that on most computer setups 100% volume should be the least noisy, most accurate signal that it's capable of.