My thoughts on the volume mismatch issue

Support
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I promised I would share my observations on one of 3 minor issues I have with the MSB side of my system. The first one relates to the way I am using the system and probably doesn’t affect most users.

The issue relates to my wife wanting to use spotify, for her SQ is a much lower factor than convenience and roon isn’t an option, as she uses her phone and watch more than anything else to listen to music and that means Spotify.

So no worries I got her a bluesound node connected via toslink as she is familiar with it (we have 4 bluesound and 8 sonos systems in the house) and I dont like roon but it works great with the renderer and it streams tidal so all is good, or so I thought.

Day 2 my wife looks at me and says hmm, how do I adjust the volume. I show her how and think it’s all good, a couple hours later I go to listen to a track and deafen us both. Ok we have an issue.

The problem I think (and somebody has to confirm) lies in that Roon can control the volume of the Cascade +/- while the bluesound can only attenuate i.e. -, the initial issue was that the default volume was set to 70 (rather loud) so I reduced to 50, then when she took control the level was to low so I raised to 70 and when I started roon it blasted

So several solutions (some fantasy options too), ordered in preference

  1. The renderer natively supports Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon (fantasy 1)
  2. Roon supports Spotify Connect (fantasy 2)
  3. Implement separate volume defaults for each interface on the Cascade
  4. Implement separate volume controls for each interface on the Cascade
  5. External Network Player with ProISL that can control the volume of all my streams
  6. External Network Player using USB that can control the volume of all my streams
  7. Live with it
  8. Somebody comes up with an alternative I haven’t thought of?

Note: I have not looked into if the issue is the same on any other digital input

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Hello @Peter.Bomberg

I have a setup where I have an Airplay device at home for my wife and kid. What I found is the phone/Airplay device will have a default volume very low (Like 20 to 30% of full volume). What I do to make it similar level to my other sources is turn the volume up on the phone/airplay device to max or close to max. With this you can either change the volume on the DAC or change it on the phone. With this instead of adjusting the phone between 30 and 40% I adjust it between 90 and 100%. When I change sources, it’s not too loud.

I know @Daniel_Gullman and his wife use JPlay on their phones. It allows them to play the music they want to hear and control the volume of the DAC via the Renderer interface. JPlay might have some Spotify options.

I think some servers such as the Antipodes support Roon, the Renderer V2, and Spotify connect so this might also be a good solution. I personally haven’t tested it. See the Antipodes feature here: Enabling Spotify on K50 - Support - Antipodes User Forum

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Good Afternoon @Jonathan_Gullman, we tried that but when she put her earbuds in she got blasted. But she did offer a very affordable compromise which @Vince_Galbo has already turned into reality.

Just buy me a remote for each room! So that is the plan!

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