hi, im using roon server+squeeze player on oladra direct to d&d 8c active speakers over aes. Roon volume is set to ‘device’. When i turn roon volume down to 0 is still have sound out of my speakers and i dont understand why?
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As you can see from this, the device control setting “ causes Roon to pass volume commands on to your device via the device’s driver”. And “exactly what happens next varies from device to device”.
This has nothing to do with your OLADRA. It would seem that Roon can’t correct;y control the volume of your speakers so you should check with the manufacturer to see if this is even supported. Note that you’d have to connect to them over USB for this to even have a chance of working.
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thx. i thought i would try roon player instead of squeeze to see if that helps, or if i would get the ‘dsp volume’ option but when i set the solution to roon+roon i can only have fixed volume. why is roon player fixed volume only?
If Roon thinks that the software can’t control the output device’s volume, then only fixed is shown.
Fixed is the best choice for sound quality.
so squeeze player can control the oladra volume. but roon player can’t?
I need to stop here as I have only used fixed volume because I don’t think software should be controlling volume when sound quality is of utmost importance.
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Thx, understood, unfortunately roon is the only practical volume control i have for now with these speakers
Ah ok, now I understand. DSP volume will likely be the most reliable/predictable in terms of setting the level. It will sacrifice transparency though. Again, I would check with Dutch and Dutch for their recommendation.
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@tommytwotimes you might find some useful advice in this thread. He mentions controlling the volume with Roon. This post is from a few years ago but there may be more after that.
Thanks Kenny that’s great.
Can you tell me if you find a noticable difference in SQ using roon vs your hardware volume?
I have found Roon’s DSP to give up transparency. It’s almost always best for Roon to indicate that the signal path is lossless. Only exception is when streaming through HQPlayer. HQPlayer also gives up a bit of transparency but the filters it provides can provide a worthwhile trade off.
I have never specifically used Roon’s DSP volume control. I have always had a proper way to control the volume.
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Hi Kenny, so i did a bit of digging.
My speakers support control of the volume by roon etc. They are roon ready and when using them as a roon endpoint, adjusting roon volume (when roon is set to device volume), sucessfully adjusts the internal amplifier volume of the speakers.
So now i add in the oladra, and using squeeze player, setting roon again to device volume, the 8c volume is not affected by volume control in roon.
So it seems the issue is not at the speaker end.
Should squueze, or any selected roon player, pass the volume changes from the oladra to the speakers in order to control the speakers volume directly? Btw i use aes. I know you said i would have to use usb but that.s a no no. And i dont use usb with the first case above where the 8cs volume can be adjusted by the roon volume slider.
It would appear that this just may be an unexpected disadvantage of adding the oladra to my setup so i would love to know if there is any way around it. Such as adding an external amp or dac or something else that will take over the volume control.
Doesn’t the Dutch & Dutch 2.0 software Ascend Audio app provide for volume control of your loudspeakers?
Yes it does but its a bit awkward - i use a few different devices to control volume direct in roon so thats my preferred option
You aren’t taking advantage of the Roon Ready capability unless you use RAAT to stream to that device. “RAAT technology is the backbone of the Roon Ready program”, according to Roon.
Squeeze does not use RAAT. It streams using “Squeezebox streaming”.
Roon Ready essentially means the device is a Roon-approved network endpoint. To leverage this you need to connect your speakers to your network. Roon should then discover them so you can enable them as an audio output. This will bypass the Player board on your Antipodes.
AES is absolutely the wrong choice if you want to have the ability to control the volume of your speakers via Roon Ready. You must use a computer interface like USB or Ethernet. AES is not a computer interface. It offers no ability to control downstream devices. It’s for audio only.
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There is a step inside of Roon which is required to enabled variable volume with Squeeze.
You actually have to SAVE the Fixed Volume setting first, this will then enable Variable.
Once you have done that, it will work for all time.
Does this become DSP volume in both cases?
bypass oladra? ouch! the only reason i am looking to achieve what im after is so that im not using DSP volume and get direct control of my amps volume with the roon volume slider. So the question becomes - is the benefit from non DSP volume adjustment worth bypassing the antipodes player board/squeeze?
i have variable volume control in squeeze already - but 1) this doesnt control the volume in the speakers directly but instead adjusts the volume with DSP and 2) as i understand from Kenny this comes at the cost of sound quality
what i really want is to control my 8c speaker volume directly, using the roon volume slider, without using DSP, all going through the oladra, while using AES. i know - i dont ask for much )