The volume control of Dionysos adjusts the level of the input signal to the value required by the power amp without burying low level information in noise while transferring enough power to properly drive the amplification stage without affecting its operation. 

Potentiometers and resistor ladders, as sophisticated as they might be, have a fundamental flaw. They operate by unnecessarily dumping the excess signal across a resistor. It is like driving a car with fixed engine power (signal) and adjusting the speed with the brakes (resistor) wasting most of the engine power! Our solution is fundamentally different and as simple as it gets. We use a transformer with various winding ratios and we switch between them. In the example above it would be illustrated by a gearbox, transferring all the power of the engine at all speeds. In other words remains in CONTROL at all volume settings.

The gain stage is realised by the use of a single low noise dual triode coupled with a transformer, making the output of the control amplifier low impedance, DC free, truly balanced, isolated from the noise sources and decoupled from other components in the system. This is the absolute optimum driving method for the following power amplifier’s input stage. To further reduce the astonishingly low noise floor of the unit the active circuit is disabled below a certain volume setting and the attenuator is connected directly to the output providing low impedance noise free signal. This “gearbox” approach guarantees consistent performance at all levels making sure each component operates in it’s optimal range.

The power supply of Dionysos uses a choke input rectifier arrangement. This eliminates switching noise and any other disturbance that originates before the choke, so the power reaching the reservoir capacitor is perfectly clean. Audio signal modulates the power supply of all devices, so  we opted for a very unique way of power supply regulation eliminating the problem entirely. Dionysos uses a current sourced shunt regulator. In other words the current consumed at any given time is constant. Avoiding any variations makes intermodulation impossible while the shunt element passes all signal currents getting rid of energy storage devices (e.g. capacitors) that might affect the sound thus allowing all the finest textures to be rendered unaffected by signal content or amplitude.