DAC /pre Advise NEEDED urgently

I am having same struggle. Throw out the pre-amp and go straight from dac to amp with some passive pre-amp or volume control (outboard) I'm not sure i would trust the volume control in a DAC

I can control the volume from the pc which I'll use as source... Will that be any good? Any cheap passive pre out there?

In a previous post, I explained why I returned my DACMagic+ and bought a Wadia 121. In my system, at least, it didn't sound very good. Do some searching, and buy from a shop with a good return policy.

"...and it sounds amazing although the inexpensive cost loses it some points...."

Wow! You disparage a good-sounding product because it *doesn't* cost more money? Did you really mean that or were you joking?

-RW-

What part of "sounds amazing" would you say is disparaging? The previous version DACmagic could (and mine was) be bought for under 300 bucks, and combined with the ($100) upgraded power supply is a GREAT sounding DAC in my system. I've personally compared it directly to DACs costing a LOT more and it holds its own (even being indistinguishable from the ones I compared it to in my informal blind testing), but since it's so inexpensive many in the "snobophile" community (especially those who paid 4 times its cost for something else) ignore it. Its USB thing apparently sucks, but I don't use that feature so I don't mind. Incidentally, a dude at Audio Advisor told me the DACmagic was its best selling item ever. Not sure what that means, but people seem to like the thing. No joke. One more thing...when I was shopping around for a DAC, this was the only reasonably priced one with balanced in and out and switchable multiple source inputs.