Streamer with variable digital output

It sounds to me as if the Peachtree is a DAC/Power amp combo. The weakness of not using a pre mp with a volume control is that you are then at the mercy of the volume regulator of the DAC, which apparently this unit doesn’t provide, or the volume regulator of the source, and as the OP implied in his first post, most sources don’t consider volume regulation to be one of their issues. The Node ,because it wants to be the Swiss Army Knife of Streaming offers one, but as other posters have indicated it probably isn’t going to be great shakes.

I would get a traditional integrated amp with a proper volume control and just use the Peachtree as a DAC

. I briefly tried pairing a Node with a Mytek Manhattan DAC when I had to change a tube inthe preamp and awaited the replacement. The Mytek also offered a digital volume control and both that and the volume control of the Node sounded so bad that I wound up putting an unused AVR inthe system as a preamp until the Tube arrived

As far as I am aware, all Bluesound products can control the volume in the digital domain.     

That is the main reason I upgraded to an Aurender.  I wanted to avoid but truncation,  no volume , nothing to worry about.  

Auralic makes the Aries G1 and G2 streamers that have digital outputs.  On those devices, you would need to control the volume using an app on an iPhone or iPad.  HIFI Rose makes the RS250 streamer, which has a digital output and a volume control knob along with what appears to be a very nice touch screen interface on the device.

Most streamers that you would get have apps that can control the devices as well as user interfaces on the devices.  There are plenty of reviews of these devices on YouTube that will give you a very good idea of what the various user interfaces and features are all about. 

I appreciate the many varied replies here. In the end I conclude that the Bluesound Node is the only streamer guaranteed to work with the Gan1. I'm fine with that as I can't imagine doing much better for $1800 plus one's choice of speakers. 

Thanks, 

Dave

Don’t forget the Lumin transports such as U1 Mini, U2 Mini, u1 or U2.  They even sell a remote if you don’t want to use the app.