Adding Placette for finer volume adjustment?

I cannot get a small-enough volume gradations from the Dact 23-Step attenuator on my (tubed) preamp. I was thinking of trying a Placette passive between the preamp and my power amp. (There is a lot of gain going on with my EMM cdp, a lot with the XLR outputs, less with the SE ones, so I am usually limited to the 1st 4 steps on the attenuator.)

I don't want to muddy-up the sound.

I tried some well-regarded attenuators thingys that attach to the RCA jacks, which did give me decent gradations, but made the sound muddy and veiled, so I gave up on those.

I *LOVE* the sound of the tubed preamp I am using, but I may have to give up on it and just get another preamp so solve this attenuation problem. Oh well...

Thanks.