DACs with High Voltage Output

Sorry guys. Been busy and stepped away from the thread for a bit. Thanks for all of the various feedback. All helpful in different ways.

I do have a question that stems from a couple of the comments if anyone is still following. I have read the manual and 1.5 v rms is indeed stated to result in maximum output. However, I am not sure how that translates, as it is certainly not true that it translates into maximum decibels.

I am currently using a Burson DAC with a stepped attenuation that ranges from 0 - 10 v rms based on where the knob is set. The volume increases all the way up the voltage chain, as you would assume. My speakers are some fairly insensitive bookshelves (87db). Unless the Burson attenuator is set to a level that outputs approximately 4 v rms there is not enough headroom in the Bel Canto volume range to be comfortable. So that is where I am coming up with that number. What am I not understanding? Even though the manual states 1.5 v gets maximum output, increasing the voltage input from there continues to increase the volume, all the way to 10 v rms.

Its the Burson HA160D. There is unfortunately not a manual online (that I could locate). I got the above cited info about the voltage as it relates to the attenutor from a review at 6moons:  http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/burson5/1.html

Al, this is great insight that I am not (yet) technically literate enough to have discerned on my own. I really appreciate your willingness to dig into this. I will contact Burson at the beginning of the week and see if I cannot get a fuller, or perhaps more accurate, picture of how their DAC outputs. 

As a follow up to your question, yes, the volume control on the Bel Canto is necessarily significantly below max when I run the attenuation on the Burson to full tilt.  

I will report back after talking with Burson.

Also, in response to david_ten: there is certainly a speaker component, as they are somewhat inefficient bookshelves (87 db - Rosso Fiorentino Fiesole). But I am in a small space and have heard them in other contexts with equivalent power (Matersound 845 based integrated) and there is plenty of headroom.

I did talk with Burson. They say that the attenuation does indeed step the voltage output all the way from 0.5 to 10 vrms. That means the Bel Canto really needs at least 4 vrms to be happy.