[jeswa]

I presume the WAV file is being played back in a DAW application of some sort...are there any meters in that application? What do they show?

Wavelab, Nuendo, etc. None of them show clipping.

When you say the file is "clean - no distortion" are you basing that purely on what the file *sounds* like? How were you monitoring the file when you ascertained that?

Well, as I mentioned above, these are recordings I'm familiar with (i've tried lots of different ones. I know them very intimately and they are not distorted or overdriven in any way, just bass-heavy.
No clipping out of the DAW application yet the signal is clipping into and out of the 01v. Pure digital signal, no dither. 16 bit, 44.1. The Lavry receives a locked signal at 44.1

Is it a stereo file or a mono file?

Stereo, I just tried some mono signals and some of them clip.

Where did you get this file in the first place? Did you record it yourself? (if so, how, where, using what equipment?)

Some of my own mastered tracks ripped from CD or played directly (wav, aif), some CD's (Thriller - "Billy Jean", Led Zeppelin - "Immigrant Song"), some mp3's.

Sorry for the first degree ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!") but your answers can help track down how & where this level mismatch might be occurring. Off the top of my head, my first guess is that you're experiencing a symptom of the imprecise metering common to lots of affordable digital recording equipment. iow, maybe the file *isn't* really clipping the Yamaha's audio circuits, it's just triggering the meters to indicate overs...or, alternatively, maybe the audio file really *is* exceeding 0dBFS and your DAW's meters simply aren't indicating that.

Thanks and no sweat, you are offering exactly what I'm asking, any questions I may have overlooked, so again thanks.
As far as your last response, the metering seems to be precise.

Setup A:

• All channels on 01v set to 0db on a freshly initialized preset.
• DAW (AMD Athlon X2 based PC / RME 9636) connected to 01v via ADAT optical option input channels 17-18
• 01v out S/PDIF to LAVRY DA10 (locked @ 44.1) to JBL LSR 6328p monitors

Results:
File A plays from Wavelab with no visible clipping.

It does not show clipping on the 01v's channel meters and does not clip on the 01v's main stereo meters, it sounds normal on my monitors.

File B plays out of Wavelab with no visible clipping, but is bass heavy.

It shows clipping on the 01v's channel meters and clips on the 01v's main stereo meters, it sounds distorted on my monitors.

Setup B:

• All channels on 01v set to 0db on a freshly initialized preset.
• DAW (AMD Athlon X2 based PC / RME 9636) connected to 01v via S/PDIF coaxial digital input
• 01v out S/PDIF to LAVRY DA10 (locked @ 44.1) to JBL LSR 6328p monitors

Results:
Clean signal, no distortion when monitoring the S/PDIF input directly (ie. Stere Cascade "On").

Distortion (same as in Setup A) occurs when routing the S/PDIF digital to Channels 13-14 via "flip mode" ans 13-14 fader is set to 0db.

Conclusion:
So it seems that routing a bass-heavy (or generally loud) track to an "analog" fader channel on the 01v set to 0db I get distortion.

I've been using this exact setup (minus the Lavry and JBL's - which definitely are not the problem - headphone jack of the 01v confirms this) without trouble until now.

Any ideas about what might be the issue?