DAC w/ low-voltage XLR analog outputs for EMM XDS1
I am looking for a solid state DAC that
[1] I could feed with my EMM XDS1 used as a transport;
[2] Has a low voltage XLR output (say, 3 volts or less, preferably);
[3] Has Audiophile sound quality.
Why? My headphone amps have stepped attenuators and the 5 volts coming out of the EMM's XLR analog outputs produce so much gain that I cannot get a fine enough level of volume (it's either too low or too high and I am confined to the first 5-6 steps of the headphone amp Dact CT2 23-step attenuator which has 2-3db jumps at the first 8 levels (a stupid design if you ask me, but for some reason a commonly used attenuator in the headphone amp world). In some cases, depending on the CD, if I'm lucky, I can get a good level, but I want an alternate route into my amps, hence the DAC.
I'm not used to separate DACS, all I know is the the EMM player has AES/EBU and Toslink digital outputs, so I assume all I need is a DAC that can use these as input. Thanks in advance.
[1] I could feed with my EMM XDS1 used as a transport;
[2] Has a low voltage XLR output (say, 3 volts or less, preferably);
[3] Has Audiophile sound quality.
Why? My headphone amps have stepped attenuators and the 5 volts coming out of the EMM's XLR analog outputs produce so much gain that I cannot get a fine enough level of volume (it's either too low or too high and I am confined to the first 5-6 steps of the headphone amp Dact CT2 23-step attenuator which has 2-3db jumps at the first 8 levels (a stupid design if you ask me, but for some reason a commonly used attenuator in the headphone amp world). In some cases, depending on the CD, if I'm lucky, I can get a good level, but I want an alternate route into my amps, hence the DAC.
I'm not used to separate DACS, all I know is the the EMM player has AES/EBU and Toslink digital outputs, so I assume all I need is a DAC that can use these as input. Thanks in advance.
