Powerstudio,
If you take a look at this
thread then you will see what I meant about volume control. Simply read what Elias Gwinn has to say about a potentiometer volume control in the first post at the top - it is best used in its "upper 80%" and should not be used in its lower "20%". That would be my rule of thumb too.
My preamp has a resistor ladder. My DAC has a pot! The resistor ladder on the preamp (Crystal 3310) is in "theory" better - so I simply run the DAC at full output (volume up all the way) and use the preamp to attenuate (besides I am lazy and really like to be able to use a remote!!!).
I suspect that many unhappy experiences with some gear may be partly related to this issue (and not the fault of the gear itself).
FWIW: I could not determine how the Avocet controls volume. If it uses a resitor ladder like the Crystal 3310 (used by Bel Cantyo, Jeff Rowland and many others) then it could be equally as good at 9 oclock as it is at 2 PM.
Of course, most people don't have the benefit of an engineering degree and are unaware that volume control can be a bit of mine field. 140 db of dynamic range of volume control sounds small ...but it is a multiplier/divider with numbers with TEN+ of zeros after them (if you are an engineer then you start to feel sorry for the poor electronics which are expected to have such linearity in two channels)!