First Watt F8, passive preamp, 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. 

The J2 would be a better option because it has balanced inputs, and if you run balanced interconnects from your DS DAC you will double the output voltage to 2.8V.