DAC with volume control under $250

That's great. I considered getting one myself to use the balanced outs into some amps I have, but will probably just get an all in one integrated instead to save space. Please be so kind as to update us with some listening impressions when you have a chance. I hope your friend enjoys it. Seemed to get a lot of positive feedback on various forums, especially for the price.

I'll do my best. Probably I won't get to hear it, but I'll post his impressions.
We both "owe" this to those who helped us in the search. ;-)

I don't know about "owing" but I'd gladly thank you for those impressions. I have a buddy looking in the same price range and I'd probably just forward him the thread if your friend has a favorable impression. :)

OK, here it comes. I had the chance to listen to my friend's Emotiva DAC. First and foremost, he is very happy with it.
I, one, less so, but I have to admit that feeding the DAC from Airport Express may not be the best solution, jitter-wise. And I wasn't cutting it the "for the money" slack.
For the $250 (shipping included) my friend paid for this unit new, not quite sure one could get much more. Thus, bang-for-the-buck, the unit scores well and deserves consideration. It's a handsome unit too, this might score well with WAF.
But I strongly believe that those who compared this unit with the likes of Benchmark and said it comes close were incorrect. I beg to differ. It's not close at all in my opinion.
All-in-all, this DAC, I believe, is very good for the money and nothing more. One should not expect miracles.
It worked very well for my friend who sends his thanks to the Audiogon community for the advice, and so do I. It was the perfect solution for his problem.

Thank you for that. I'm not too surprised that a) it's nothing more than good for the money and b)your friend is very happy with it. As far as the Benchmark comparison, that seems like wishful thinking or confirmation bias. It seems rampant on internet forums. Based on your report, I think it'd still be a win for my friend, who would never think to spend $1000+ on a DAC, but could actually benefit from the feature set this one provides. Mihaitaa, thank you so much for taking the time for the update. I, for one, really appreciate it.