Can I connect DAC directly to amp?

You will need a DAC with a volume control, otherwise you will get a full signal gain from the DAC output. That may or may not be very soft or very loud or just Okay. Probably not recommended unless you can control the volume with some type of an attenuator.

I have hegel hd11 but as you said full signal to amp,
I would like to control that, I lower amp volume, but I would like too control it before.

My preamp is down for repair,so I ran my system as follows;power
amp/DAC(without volume control)/MF-V-Link/IMac/Audirvana ,with volume
control The results were very good! First time I have heard my poweramp
without the preamp.I was pleasantly surprised that it sounded as good as it did.I
still prefer the sound with the preamp(bass was a tiny bit better without pre). I
like what the tube pre does with the midrange,and I have multiple sources.If you
run straight in,make sure the volume is not maxed before you send music to
poweramp.

If you use JRiver, you can use the volume control in the server running on your PC. The less attenuation you need the better this works. Give it a try. Less sensitive speakers requiring less attenuation at the source would be a plus.

Hu11,

It depends on the DAC - some have gain control and some have passive or active preamps. I used the Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold as a preamp during the 2011 RMAF show, in between the phono (analog) and digital (mac/USB) inputs and the Earo active speakers. I think that it sounded fabulous.

There are other excellent DACs that will allow you to do the same thing.