Ah4000 CDP Directly connected to Stratos amp ?

The player has a variable digital output, not analog. It also has a very high gain, and even playing with the volume all the way "down" on the unit, it is very loud, for the volume does not go all down like most variable output players. It has very low resolution when the digital volume is at low to medium positions. Not recommended for what you want to do.

The output on the Ah4000 can be attenuated internally; that way you can use less digital attenuation via the remote. The resistors are built into the circuit board, all you have to do is "jump" them into the circuit. I think you can select between .07, 1.25, 2.5 (factory default), and 5.0 volts. The above post is correct in that when digitally attenuated, the sound suffers (1 bit per 3db decrease?). Therefore, you should run it as close to the max output as possible. Try www.upscaleaudio/service.com for the details.

I ran my AH!4000 directly into my amp. (Threshold)
I ended up and bought a Canary Island VPC-1 volume control unit for $245 off of Audiogon.
Some might call it a "passive preamp". But in reality it's an unpowered volume control. Regardless, it works great.
Write this following underwoodwally@aol.com and he'll answer any and all questions.

I did as Ultrakaz describes above. Soldered two bridge connections on the board to reset the Ah!4000 output voltage from 2.5v to .7v.(These were the first solder connections I'd ever attempted, but it was pretty easy. Search on google for "soldering - demo" and you'll find some great streaming video training that fills in all the how to blanks for those of us w/o experience with such things. You do need a pretty steady hand though.) We now listen at or near the top volume level of the cdp and likely loose little detail. Never fully appreciated how great my Odyssey Stratos monos were until I ran the cdp into them directly.This has transformed my system and provided the first "Holy Cow!" moment of my audio "career"!