Not matter who says this even it's amir. Digital volume control doesn't attenuate noise it's a fact and no room for discussion. 10kohm or less pot will improve a lot in dynamic range at any volume except maximum.
A cool solution is a digitally controlled analogue volume control.
There's been various implementations but in the more affordable price range, the little iFi xDSD uses this method of volume control.
Similar to this that @amirm measured
"Boy, I did not expect this. The volume control feels like a cheap little potentiometer which I predicted would have horrible balance. Not so at all. There is zero deviation until the end, indicating that it is a mono pot that is sampled. That digital value is likely then used to change the volume in the DAC chip. Very nice!"