cdp digital volume control or preamp?

Hello,
As a follow-up, I thought I'd let everyone know that my Blue Circle BC 21.1 pre-amp is in. The sound is way better than the digital volume control on the Music Hall Maverick, and it's not broken in yet.

Cheers.

Great news, congrats! Did you ever dally in adding an outboard volume control?

Hi Lousyreeds1,
No, I didn't. I thought, if the the prices for good ones were high enough to put me close to the price range of a good line stage, so why not just get a line stage? Even though I only have one source, I can now add another, if I want.

Cheers.

That's an excellent point. Is it passive or active?

It is incorrect to say that a digital volume control necessarily loses information. One would need to look at exactly how a digital volume control is implemented, but one way would be as a stepped attenuator (pure analog) with the mechanical switch replaced by electronic ones, or digitally actuated relays. Everyone "knows" that a stepped attenuator is better than a pot. The notion that digital volume control is accomplished by dropping bits is plain wrong.