Low gain dac!

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

I have used inexpensive 10 db pads to knock down the hiss on a high gain pre and amp setup with high efficiency loudspeakers.. I could not hear any change in the frequency response. If I had to guess I'd bet they are flat within .1db in the audio band. 

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 🙂

Check the output impedance of your source against prospective attenuators. From something I once read, I think there are ways to mismatch and lose the highs. Your might have better luck with a passive pre in between for impedance matching. (Schiit Sys $49)

Unless there is something else you don’t like about your DAC, it’s probably worth trying the low cost passive or attenuators first. Not sure where your current DAC lies on the spectrum of what’s available, but if you’re curious about a different sound there are a lot of choices, a lot of comparisons, and browsing is free. 

@gryphongryp,
I had a similar situation years ago of having excess system gain. Anything above 9 o’clock volume control setting was too loud. I used attenuators that were effective and didn’t cause any noticeable sonic degradation. Harrison Labs and Rothwell were both good choices. Fortunately not a problem with my current audio system. 

@cat_doorman is right, in certain cases with some components there can be potential impedance matching issues. I understand your desire to have reasonable volume control range in order to have the ability for finer gradients of the volume control knob. 6 to 7.5 is unnecessarily too limiting/restricted.
Charles

@gryphongryph OP

Wow!! this setup needs a passive pre, if ever one did.

Primare Dac30: 100ohm output impedance, 4.7v output. (it's a good dac)
Belles SA 30 : 100kohm input impedance, and needs only 0.7v in for full output.!!

Just get a Schiit Sys for $49 as cat_doorman said, get far better sound this way, more transparent, less noise, less distortion, better dynamics
Sell the Supratek pocket the money and never look back

Nelson Pass,
"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."

Cheers George