DAC w/ low-voltage XLR analog outputs for EMM XDS1


I am looking for a solid state DAC that
[1] I could feed with my EMM XDS1 used as a transport;
[2] Has a low voltage XLR output (say, 3 volts or less, preferably);
[3] Has Audiophile sound quality.

Why? My headphone amps have stepped attenuators and the 5 volts coming out of the EMM's XLR analog outputs produce so much gain that I cannot get a fine enough level of volume (it's either too low or too high and I am confined to the first 5-6 steps of the headphone amp Dact CT2 23-step attenuator which has 2-3db jumps at the first 8 levels (a stupid design if you ask me, but for some reason a commonly used attenuator in the headphone amp world). In some cases, depending on the CD, if I'm lucky, I can get a good level, but I want an alternate route into my amps, hence the DAC.

I'm not used to separate DACS, all I know is the the EMM player has AES/EBU and Toslink digital outputs, so I assume all I need is a DAC that can use these as input. Thanks in advance.
rgs92
AMR DP777 has a full function analog preamp and sounds nearly as good as the older EMM Labs stuff and in some ways it is better.

I sell both lines, dealer disclaimer so I am intimately familiar with both products.
Thank Almarg. I tried the Rothwells (both XLR and RCA versions) and the Goldenjacks, but they did not work out. While they did solve the gain problem, they made the midrange very irritating and muffled the bass like it was underwater. If anyone wants to buy them from me, please let me know.
RGS, have you considered simply putting a pair of balanced in-line attenuators at the inputs of the headphone amp, such as those made by Rothwell. Here is further background.

10db of attenuation would reduce the 5 volts to about 1.58 volts. 20db would reduce it to 0.5 volts.

Best regards,
-- Al
I think the dCS debussy has a similar DSD DAC design and has variable gain adjustments.
There are two DACs that I'm aware of that have more than one gain setting:
Empirical Audio Overdrive SE
Weiss 202

Steve N.
Empirical Audio