Interesting to learn about the Muses, I've not come across that manufacturer before. Spec is very similar to the Cirrus and TI although the Muses has a gain stage built in (but not great distortion figures).
In all honesty I'm not even sure whether 99.9% of people would ever notice whether it was a pot, IC or switched attenuator. In terms of noise the ICs score lowest, pots are pretty good when they're brand new. Pots are worst on left/right tracking and longevity. And switched attenuators are either expensive and have limited steps (passive types) or expensive and complicated (log relay types). If 'high end' means best sound quality then none of the ICs really cut it... I'm only saying that because 'high end' is in the title of the thread.
In all honesty I'm not even sure whether 99.9% of people would ever notice whether it was a pot, IC or switched attenuator. In terms of noise the ICs score lowest, pots are pretty good when they're brand new. Pots are worst on left/right tracking and longevity. And switched attenuators are either expensive and have limited steps (passive types) or expensive and complicated (log relay types). If 'high end' means best sound quality then none of the ICs really cut it... I'm only saying that because 'high end' is in the title of the thread.