Low volume control on a Nakamichi ca-7a

Just received a Nakamichi ca-7a for my system, everything seems great, the condition is immaculate and all functions appear to work well. My only concern and a fairly minor one, is two fold. First, when lowering the volume very near minimum volume, the right channel fades/cuts very rapidly before the left. It is just before both channels go to minimum but definitely there. Second regarding volume adjustment, it seems there is very little finesse at lower volume, it goes from essentially no sound to quiet but listenable volume immediately and then increases rapidly from there. I am used to a digital volume control and there is a lot more gray area between no sound and listenable volumes and a much slower increase on up the range. So are these issues common to this model preamp or is this specific to my unit? Anyone with the Nakamichi ca-7a, I would love to hear what your experience has been regarding the volume control. Thanks for any input.