Why does the device volume reset to 100 every time I start Roon?
I have a RP4 running 2025.8.2 It is connected to a McIntosh C49 preamp via USB.
Previously I would adjust the volume using the C49 preamp with it’s IR remote. But I just added a rooDial and it uses the Roon Device Volume. So, when I try that I found that if I power cycle the preamp Roon resets the volume to 100.
Needless to say that is a dangerous risk of blowing out my speakers.
I found this thread with the same issue
As the thread above suggests I tried rebooting Ropieee under the adv tab to see if the volume level gets stored. But that doesn’t work for me. It still goes back to 100.
I downloaded a fresh 2025.8.2 image file and imaged it on a brand new micro SD card and configured Ropiee again. That didn’t fix anything. Same issue.
Another strange symptom is if I select DSP Volume control in Roon - Ropieee does store the volume level correctly. However I don’t want to use DSP volume as when that’s enabled my DSD music files are downsampled to PCM. So DSP isn’t an option I want to use.
Feedback 40e668375d67e331
That feedback should show what I just did as another test.
In Roon I have the McIntosh set for Device Volume.
I turned on the McIntosh C49 preamp.
Ropieee (RP4 using USB - no hat) was at the default volume 100. I started a song and adjusted the volume down to 70 using the Roon volume slider. I paused the song and with the Roon window still open I power cycled the C49. When the C49 was back on and detected by Roon again the volume had reset to 100.
The USB Force Volume as far as I can tell does nothing.
I set the force vol at 70.
I set the device volume at 70 for the C49 in Roon.
I power cycle the C49 preamp and when it comes back on, Roon has the volume back at 100.
After setting the forced volume at 70 in Ropieee & 70 in Roon, I did a reboot from the advanced tab once again. But I still get the volume at 100.
Feedback 605c8b917ebfcb0e
Upon looking closely to your logs, this is what happens:
Right after booting up your C49 is properly initialized and the volume is actually set to the last known setting or forced level. In your case 70%.
But after some time, the C49 disconnects from the USB bus. Don’t know the cause, but it does. And when it then comes back up (after a while it reconnects), it set’s the volume to 100%.
I’m not sure why this happens. It’s almost like something goes wrong in the USB chip on the C49 side. Are there any USB settings you can make? And does it have a firmware option?
I appreciate you taking the time to look into this. I was beginning to wonder if the issue was with the C49. The C49 has the Mcintosh DA1 DAC module (it has the latest firmware). It is upgradeable to the newer DA2 DAC. But I have no idea if that would fix this and it’s not a cheap upgrade anyway (nothing is cheap with McIntosh)
(I tested this on another system I have here controlled by Ropiee with a Benchmark DAC and the device volume works just fine).
Can you guess why this issue goes away when I use DSP Volume instead of Device Volume?
2 options. Either the problem lies with the volume control itself, which means that this isn’t triggered at all when using DSP Volume (which is all in software), or the problem (disconnecting/connecting again) still happens, but is just not noticed because it’s all just done in software.
mjw
(Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)
10
The line output from the DAC is constant, and volume is controlled using a mathematical operation (64-bit dither). That is, the PCM stream rather than the DAC analogue stage alters volume. Roon remembers volume whilst line out to the preamp remains the same.
I’ve been thinking about this a little bit more…
The ‘force volume’ feature of RoPieee is on start-up: it only happens once.
Which bites, in your case because your amp briefly disconnects and connects again. While that in itself is strange, it would be better if RoPieee does not set the volume (when ‘force volume’ is enabled, of course) on start-up, but on ‘USB connect’. In that case it would also force the volume on the reconnect.
I’ve also got another question: I’ve only seen it once in the logs. What happens if you turn on the amp, reboot RoPieee, and let it sit for 10 minutes or so? I’m asking this because I also see a ‘low voltage’ warning during the boot sequence, and I just want to make sure that that event does not interfere in any way.
Yeah, I see the advantage of setting the volume on USB connect. At least for my case
I tried what you suggested about rebooting RoPieee. With RoPieee set to force volume at 70, and Roon configured for Device Volume (also set at 70) I left the preamp on and rebooted RoPieee from the Adv Tab. When it came back up and reconnected the volume was shown as 74. Not sure why it was 74, not 70. But I tried it twice and it always came back as 74.
So for me it’s the power cycling of the preamp that guarantees a volume reset to 100.
I’ve changed the logic when it comes to ‘USB Force Volume’: up until now this was only done during boot, but with this image this has become completely event driven. Which means that the volume is forced whenever the DAC (in this case your amp) is plugged in.
So what should happen is that whenever you power cycle your amp, its volume will be forced to the level you configured.
You fixed it!
As before I power cycled the preamp and this time device volume remained where it was set - didn’t go to 100.
Are you going to include this change in your stable release?
Once again you’ve demonstrated incredible support for product.
(I sent you a few Euros as a thanks).
UPDATE
I just came across a bug with DSD files on this version. I normally use DoP with the McIntosh C49. But with this version Roon plays normally with DoP set- but I get no audio. If I reconfigure it in Roon to convert DSD to PCM instead of DoP, it works and I get audio.
817583d361b13fe8
Nice! Yeah, I’m about to release 2025.10, but this will be included.
Are you sure? Because you were on 2025.08, and nothing changed in this area. I can do DoP myself as well, so I’m wondering if there’s something in your settings…
I’ve rebooted both Ropieee and the preamp. I’ve triple checked all of the settings and they’re correct and are what I have been using before.
DSD using DoP
384kHz / 32bit sample rate (tried varying sample rate with no luck)
Tried max DSD at both DSD64 & DSD128
Device Volume
MQA off
I’m unable to play any DSD files with this new version using DoP. I only get audio when selecting to convert DSD to PCM - or changing device volume to DSP volume. Both options convert DSD to PCM.
It’s funny, because this is exactly what I was trying to avoid doing when I had issues with “device volume” and was forced to use “DSP volume” that itself converted DSD to PCM.
This is super weird. Nothing changed in the new version related to this, and I’ve asked the question also in the beta channel (where people run the same version as you). No problems with DoP whatsoever.
Looking at your latest logs, especially those from Roon Bridge… it shows that the McIntosh isn’t advertizing it can do DoP. In other words: Roon thinks that it can’t do DoP, because it’s only advertizing PCM.
