Wadia, et al - basically they just drop the least significant bit(s) to attenuate the signal = hence degradation.
The concepts postulated by eldardfort are good ideas, but likely more work/effort to implement vs. a decent analog attenuator/vol. pot.
I've had good luck with the Sony XA7ES - their top of the line CD player from a few years ago. I had a remote-controlled analog volume control output, in addition to fixed-level outputs. very handy. The vol. control also works on the headphone output.
-Ed
The concepts postulated by eldardfort are good ideas, but likely more work/effort to implement vs. a decent analog attenuator/vol. pot.
I've had good luck with the Sony XA7ES - their top of the line CD player from a few years ago. I had a remote-controlled analog volume control output, in addition to fixed-level outputs. very handy. The vol. control also works on the headphone output.
-Ed