Cambridge Audio CXA81 + CXN V2 & volume control

I really like this pairing. Great streamer with a good sounding DAC and a very capable integrated amp. I’m struggling though to understand how (if) I can control volume from Roon.

Using Cambridge’s ‘stream magic’ app I can control the volume of the CXA81 … but Roon seems only able to control the volume of the CXN V2 when the CXN is put in preamp mode.

Q1: when using the CXN in preamp mode with the CXA81 what does one do with the volume knob on the CXA81? Leave it at max? Seems like a bad idea?

Q2: what does this do to sound quality?

I have the same setup and leave the preamp of the CXN V2 disabled all the time controlling the volume on the CXA81 via the physical remote. As you can’t disable the preamp of the CXA81 this is will give you the best results as it keeps the chain as short as possible.

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Yeah I figured as much. Guess I will have to use the remote (which isn’t terribly precise) or god forbid get up off the couch and walk over and use the volume knob :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Too bad though. I would have thought that if their StreamMagic app can control volume then in principle Roon would be able to as well. Maybe it’s an issue of Cambridge using some proprietary or nonstandard api for volume rather than some standard that Roon knows about or expects

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