Here's my take on the preamp gain.

Yes there is 3dB less gain on the preamp, which means the signal going out the preamp RCA's is 3dB less at the same volume setting as before. -3dB of voltage is, I believe, .293V (1-.707) down from 1V and .586V down from 2V.

The 950 spec (on the web site) is 1V rated output voltage at zero dB gain for analog bypass. The rated output for digital inputs is 2V (at 0dB playback). I am guessing this really means what the output voltage is when the volume readout says 0dB.

So now that output voltage is less than those values by maybe 293 and 586 millivolts resectively.

The 770 amp achieves maximum rated output with an input of 1.43V (also on the web page).

It appears that the 950 might now be derated to 1.414V (1-.686) for any digital input, which is almost 1.43V. The question is, can the 950 exceed it rating? Well you can turn the thing up beyond 0 dB right? So I would suspect it can.

For analog, I am less sure. Maybe it is now only rated for .707V instead of 1V.

As a comparison, the Rotel 1066 is rated at 1.2V output for a 200mV input. This would be an analog only input, since digital inputs are not voltages.

Also for comparison, the Parasound HCA-2205 amp is spec'ed at 1V input equals 28.28V output (THX reference level) and 1.5V input equals maximum amp output. The Bryston 9B is 125W x 5. For it, 1V in equals 100W out.

This is a technical issue and I am no electrical engineer. If Outlaw were to state the maximum output voltage (without clipping or seriously distorting the 950), that would answer the question for certain. It appears that 1V is loud, but not max volume for most amps. 2V is most certainly max power (or more) for about all amps.

If the max 950 voltage is high enough max out your amp, then the benefit of less gain is a less sensitive volume knob, meaning you have more usuable range before the volume is "too loud."