Onboard volume controls and DAC's

Hi,

This Christmas I got a new headphone DAC - Cambridge DacMagic XS.
I connect it to my iMac, and it works perfectly, but as most people knows you loose your onboard volume controls when connecting anything external sound device to your computer.
I also have a pair of B&W MM1 speakers connected with USB, but with these ones I still have control of the volume with the buttons on the keyboard etc.

So, my questions to you forum members:
Is there any way I can still use my onboard volume controls with my new Cambridge headphone dac?
I've tried Soundflower, but it hangs and I need to force quit it after a few seconds.. I got the latest version of it, but it still doesn't work for me.
For the few seconds it does work I also notice a huge lack in volume strength compared to using the headphone dac directly or my B&W speakers.


Any help will be appreciated

 

I have only used it for a few hours, but my impressions are that this is an awesome little dac.
I've tested it with two pair of headphones - Beyerdynamic T70 (250 ohm) and DT250 (80 ohm).
The dac most certainly boost up the dynamics in the music being played. It also sounds like voice/dialog in movies/TV-series sounds better and clearer - at least with the T70 headphones.

I also love that the dac supports HQ sounds up to 24bit/192khz as I record/produce a lot of music and prefer as high quality as possible.


Im very happy with the dac and will use it every day from now on

 

No, it would make it sound a bit more punchy and clear.