The Full Tube amp sound @ low volumes.... solutions?

So. I love my tubes. But to get the best tube sound I find the amp should be set at =/+50% amplification, and the sound is even left biased at the lowest volumes (although I found the latter part in the solid state amp as well). So how do we get that cherry sound of tubes at various volumes with minimal unwanted distortion stuck somewhere between the DAC and our ears? I assume I'm not the first one to stub my toe on this...
 
As I understand it...
 
- Using a passive preamp between the DAC and the tubeamp would squish the voltage variability further below what the DAC is outputting, at the detriment of subtitles in sound (analogous to going 24/192-->16/44.1-->24/192)
 
- Using a passive pot after the tube amp (DAC --> tube amp set at 80% --> pot w/ volume control --> cans) would not be ideal, as passive preamps (ie: Schiit SYS) aren't meant to receive high voltages (like from an amp set to 80%) and aren't meant to output voltages high enough to run passive devices.
 
- Using an active step attenuator would add more of that non-analog-flavor into the line after the DAC (or hey, lets assume we're playing vinyl)
 
So, I know I'm new to this and still figuring it all out, but it seems like every time I research enough to find a solution, I find a problem to go with it. So hopefully you guys can help me out if there's a more common solution I'm not aware of. And hopefully nobody says "use a headphone tube preamp with a headphone tube amp", because I think I might have an aneurysm. And also, I realize that adding an attenuator/potentiometer between the DAC and the tube amp would cause distortion inaudible to the human ear's capability to blah blah... I'm just seeing if there's a better solution I just haven't heard of.
 
(for reference, current equipment includes: Modi Multibit(only has the 2V RCA out), LittleDot MKII (has RCA in, 6.55jack, RCA preamp out), HD 700 (150ohms), previously owned and may reorder the Magni2U)
 
Thanks for the help!!

m0rancharles said:

  So. I love my tubes. But to get the best tube sound I find the amp should be set at =/+50% amplification, and the sound is even left biased at the lowest volumes (although I found the latter part in the solid state amp as well). So how do we get that cherry sound of tubes at various volumes with minimal unwanted distortion stuck somewhere between the DAC and our ears? I assume I'm not the first one to stub my toe on this...

Click to expand...

Hey thanks man!