Discrete R2R Ladder dac from Soekris, Absolute Sounds review.

George,

Not to drive you nuts but I have questions that reflect my ignorance and would appreciate your further explanation:

The Soekris DAC digital volume control specification is -90 dbl to +10 dbl. It also says the line outout is 2 volts. 

In the Control volume with DAC or Preamp? you commented "...Unless there’s some problem, the lowest noise is always achieved if you use all or most of what the source has to offer..." So is that at 0 on the DAC volume control or somewhere else? Or does it not matter?

If I am hell bent on hearing some "tube magic" with a solid state amp, I need to use a tube preamp. In that case, where should I set the volume on the DAC? Is it the same answer as above?

I am switching back and forth with the preamp in or out of my system and want to maximze the best quality signal from the DAC with the preamp in to give the best comparison.

Or does this just get down to what I think sounds the best?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

If I am hell bent on hearing some "tube magic" with a solid state amp, I need to use a tube preamp. In that case, where should I set the volume on the DAC? Is it the same answer as above?

At least 70% or more so your sure it's not "bit striping"
If your hell bent on tube sound, use a tube pre with little or no gain. A Schiit Saga+ is tube and 1 x tube gain, and can also be used as a passive pre as well. 
https://www.schiit.com/products/saga-2

Cheers George

Okay, 

After rereading the manual, I found that there is a "Clip" light that must not show red so you turn down the volume until the red light does not flash.

Ends up at plus 2 for me. 

Yep, that’s the way I read it too.

What a great thing to have, to know when volume is too high and the load is too hard for the dacs output buffer. It’s got a distortion sensor that blinks the red led, nice. This will prove to you if it’s not loud enough direct and you need more gain from an active preamp.

" “CLIP” indicator: Will blink when the DAC output signal is clipping. You should not turn the volume knob higher than to where the red “CLIP” LED will not blink."

And it may blink at different volume positions, depending on what load the dac’s output buffer sees, (the 10kohm of the DNA-500 or the variable input 30k -120k of the CJ-17LS2 depending on it’s volume position.)

So if you’ve just turned it back down a little from where it blinked, what’s that volume like when you go direct to poweramp?

Cheers George

Soren Kristensen is held in very high regard as a digital designer.

Really? By who? I have never heard of him. I don't see any amazing accomplishments.