[JGA007]

I am finding the gain too high. Too loud at 8, head shredding at 9. Also more grain/distortion up loud. I assume the DAC is overloading the initial gain stage.

I am trying some Rothwell inline attenuators and they did fix the gain problem, but can definitely hear a sight veil. Wondering if a good quality unity gain 0db preamp in between the DAC and amp might be a better choice. Or would this affect the signal path even more?

 

[live555i]

I'm finding the exact same issue as well. Did you find any good solution?

 

[kevin gilmore]

the amp was designed for a 1 volt input. the dac supplies way more than that.
double the values of the tail resistors in the input stage and you will get 6db less gain.