Cheap DAC w/ volume control for direct amp input?

Easy. Grant Fidelity Tube DAC09. $300 new. Show up here used at times. A bargain. I use mine with a Dynaco ST70 with great results.

Thanks!

Another option is one of the variations of the Beresford 7520. The latest version has a number of upgrades from the original and has gone up in price a bit. I have the original but with upgraded opamps and it's a very good DAC for the money, with a good headphone amp and preamp as a bonus.

Burson HA-160. Loved it. $1,250 new.

Apogee Mini-DAC.

Emotiva XDA-1. $299 delivered. Pretty nice DAC for the bucks. I love mine. Great remote.

W4S Dac 2.. But what's Your cheap?

Thank you gentlemen for sharing your experiences with these dac's. I'm really looking forward to trying out a tube amp w/ some old paradigm bookshelf speakers at work. Currently using a w4s dac w/ a xa-30.5 amp and c1 speakers in the den. It sounds fine although it's hard to imagine the singer is in the room frequently. Probably just a set up problem. Playing w/ these dacs should be fun! Thank you again for your time. :)

Easy. Grant Fidelity Tube DAC09. $300 new. Show up here used at times. A bargain. I use mine with a Dynaco ST70 with great results.

There is a better and newer version, Grant Fidelity Tube DAC11