First Watt F8, passive preamp, DAC

Aha. Would it be 1.414 VRMS unbalanced? It's the PS Audio Directstream DAC. 

1.44v is pretty low.  Most DACs output 2v and higher. With that low voltage coupled with a low gain amplifier, unless your speakers are high sensitivity, you’ll likely need an active preamp to provide additional gain.

Charles

i believe the chord hugo tt2 has a high output voltage, and remote control of it as well, so it can run straight into the amp, low gain or not...

1 Speakers are 91 db sensitivity.

2 Amplifier has 15 db of gain.

3 No use of an active preamp.

4 Desire to use DAC with volume control direct to amp.

5 Definitely a high voltage output DAC is required. With this scenario probably at least 4 to 5 volts or higher.

Charles

OK, the F8 isn't going to work. How about the J2 with 20 db gain? Do you think 20 db is sufficient?  don't want to get a preamp. My new mission is consolidation. I may need to either stick with integrateds or find speakers with higher efficiency. Frankly, the Super 9s are too big for my room anyway.