Low gain dac!

Went on EBay and bought 1 pair of each (Harrison Labs and Rothwell) looking forward to try them out.

@tbi yes I bought a pair.

@dyson2004 - I am in Faroe Islands ( North Atlantic) 
@georgehifi - yes I think he did not read that thoroughly, or he thought I would mostly use the 300B output where I can turn the gain down!

@iseland 😂 happy to make you laugh.
I only noticed it a little later, but was not allowed to edit, English is not my first language so you can be sure there will be a few more 😜

russ69 - I always heard that an attenuator would degrade the sound, but maybe that is just a tale !

As to millercarbon - I know that where a volume knob is sitting isn’t really important, therefore writing from 6 o’clock to 8-9 o’clock would give you and others a picture of the small adjustments that is useable, in reality it is more between 6 and 7.5 !
As it is more you with a problem, please stay out of this tread, life is too short to answer grumpy people. Please find peace in some other thread, have a nice day.

Thanks russ69 that’s good to know.
elevick - I have a fantastic tube pre amp, just would like to have bigger volume range.
cat_doorman - would prefer rca output (single ended), price? $2000-$3000c color? Not so important, but preferably black, input? Usb, and toslink for tv. MQA I am NOT a fan of.
Will check your link 🙂

Thanks for the advice, but I like the sound of tubes, and just to be clear, my system got so much better when I got the Supratek, will never sell it I suspect, it makes the artists stand in my living room so to speak, my dac is good, but I suspect there are better dac’s out there today, I think the Dac30 is from 2012.
It is not that I don’t find a good listening level either, it just would be nice with a bit more adjustments range, and as I was looking to change my dac I thought it this would be a good place to ask about this, as there maybe was someone that had experience something similar.

To clarify, my Supratek is a dual design, was buying a Cabernet with 6SN7 output, but then Mick has designed a dual with 6SN7 and 300B output, on the 300B output I can adjust gain, but unfortunately I like the 6SN7 better for most music, unfortunately Mick never told me that variable gain was only on the 300B output, if so I would probably have asked for the 6SN7 to be variable, nevertheless I am happy with my pre, I have never heard my system as good as this and having heard many far more expensive system on my travels I feel good with the sound quality, I will also experiment with other tubes, especially 300B tubes.
Some dac’s that have interested me are AudioMirror, Doge, Musical Paradise, and the ladder dac’s that have been coming to market the last years.
I guess I am on a journey to get my system to sound as analog as possible while using digital source...

I am not a technical person. When I was in email with Mick at Supratek, I told him about my system and sent him a picture of the speck of the amp, he told me they were ideal for each other!!
But still, my system sounds really great, that is not the problem, only more volume control is wished for 😜

@iseland Yes, I am a native, to live here, wet and windy most of the year, but the summer is wonderful, the living standard is high, same as in Denmark to whom we belong too.
Living so isolated brings some challenges, especially when interested in Hi-Fi, by the way, have been to Stockholm once and a trip from Copenhagen to Ystad to listen to a pair of Harbeth’s 30.1 speakers that I was interested in buying, bought Graham’s instead, but that’s an other story, beautiful places both of them and very friendly people.
We have a ferry that sails all year to Denmark, Iceland and Norway, sometimes Scotland too, but I am too lazy for that, so usually take the plane, that before Corona times use to have several going’s and arrivals every day to the same countries, so 1 or 2 hours one could be in a bigger place if one so wished 😎

Just listening to this https://youtu.be/qsRLRmRogKU
wonderful music, it is YouTube but it sounds quite okey.

@charles1dad - Thanks, I don’t understand George either!

I am one that likes what tubes bring to a system, but have decided to have them in the pre amp as tube power amps would need more care and my speakers are 87db, so needs good power, not necessarily many watts, but a good power supply is a good thing, maybe some day I will have tube mono amps, Supratek makes a nice pair, so, maybe that would be a good pairing with my pre someday when I have gone on pension and have more time on my hands.
I made a post in the Supratek tread about when in Bangkok I was so lucky to hear a anniversary Supratek setup with Triangle speakers, the dealer had time for me, and we sat listening to music and talking about Hi-Fi, music and life in general, I think for 2 hours, as my wife was shopping, that was the best sound I have ever heard and today I can lister to even a better pre from Supratek.
Never expected to buy a pre amp all the way from a one man production shop in Australia, but it’s been totally worth it.

Thanks for everyone replying I this thread, even the grumpy ones 😜 someone said that everyone should know that Supratek has very high gain, well maybe in the US or UK or Australia, but here where I live, you can be sure that no one knows the brand, I think the same would be the deal in Scandinavia and Europe.
I think maybe Mick didn’t notice the spec on my power amp as we exchanged quite a few emails, I always found him to be very forthright and patient with me.
Now I think some here are given the impression that my system is a total mismatch in gear, well if that’s the case, it sounds bloody fantastic!!!
With an upgrade to my dac with a lower output I think I can live with this, no problem.
Was listening to Tom Russel ( the man from God knows where ) what a fantastic sound and quite a good cd. Also The Modern Jazz Quartet ( Lonely Woman ) beautiful sounding, so much better with the Supratek than with other pre or intergraded amps I have had.So as you see, it is not the end of the world.
As I can see, many other people also have this problem with too much gain! To the more technical minded of you, where do you think the problem is mainly, are the sources the problem or is it the pre - power amps to blame, there must be a technical reason that designers choose to have high gain in their designs, maybe someone could explain for us more the reason and what in a combination of source, pre, amp would be best to have higher gain, I would think variable gain on a pre would be preferable, but maybe I am wrong.

@mesch thanks for your input, yes this was my thinking too, when I got the opportunity to buy the Belles for a very good price, I could not pass it, must admit that gain was not in my thoughts.
The Sonnet Morpheus https://www.sonnet-audio.com/Morpheus.html
looks very intriguing with 2v output and also a pre section that I can use when watching tv, thereby bypassing the tubes, the price is a bit too high at the moment for me, but later in the year it could be an option.

Yes it is true that the gain on my Primare Dac is higher than the industry standard of 2v.

The dac does not have a volume knob or any way to adjust the output.

 I don’t know why Primare decided to do this, maybe most of their customers normally use the balanced out on systems with more than one Primare component?

My thinking is just to get the gain a bit down with a source that has the standard 2v output.

Thanks for all the replies, a question to George, Charles and others, if I move the Belles to an other system and were to get me an other power amp, preferably class A or heavily biased into class A, what would you guys recommend ?
Your suggestions would be appreciated.