Volume levels

Cleeds,

Yes,, you’re right, dynamic range is a factor.

OR, is your digital stream compressed?

I don't know what you mean by "dynamic range," but digital media have much more dynamic range, in the usual sense of the word, than vinyl. "Loudness wars" aside (and that means: compression of pop for play in cars, etc.), vinyl not only can't reproduce the dynamic range of the original source (which, these days, is almost always digital), but vinyl is also beset with much higher extraneous noise (pops and clicks, surface noise, etc.). Thus, one must listen to vinyl playback louder than digital because: 1) the signal to noise ratio is far poorer; 2) the noise floor is higher (which is sort of the same thing). 

For me, be it LP or CD, listening at low levels has never been enjoyable.  I'm not suggesting LOUD, but every piece of music just pops and comes alive at a certain volume that is not achieved at low volume. IMHO

Typically, digital sources have higher output gain than that of a TT/phonostage. So when wired to a preamp, the TT's lower gain means you need to turn the volume control higher than digital sources.