I use my ears for volume adjustments as well. I do like the default volume setting in the 976 menu, although it's a global setting.
As Owl's_Warder points out, every source is slightly different. It would be nice(r) to have this setting for each input source. The 976 starts out at -40dB, but I've had to set mine to -60dB for the TV converter source.
Does it or not effect overall volume and how?