Roon Rock Version 1.0 (build 259) production on NUC
Roon Server Version 2.0 (build 1365) production
Networking Gear & Setup Details
Eero Mesh Wifi
Connected Audio Devices
Teenage Engineering OD-11 via Airplay
Number of Tracks in Library
~50k
Description of Issue
When the speaker is playing audio from an Apple TV the volume acts normally and can be controlled by the orthoplay (the speaker’s remote control) app. When streaming over wifi from Roon there is very strange volume behaviour:
When audio is not playing, I can set the volume to any level (using Roon, or the orthoplay app)
if I then hit “play” it will play (but not actually at the set level I think)
if I touch the volume control while a track is playing it will then adjust itself down to the nearest level which is a multiple of 20. It doesn’t just jump there in one step but keeps gradually adjusting down in steps of 2 or 3 at a time
So for example if I am listening at 40, and touch “volume down” to 39 it will then turn itself down in steps all the way to 20!
Previous reports of issue and solution
This was previously reported in 2022. In that case the response was “the volume jumping doesn’t appear to be a Roon-specific problem, but rather, what you’re experiencing is likely due to how UAC2 volume implementation is being handled on the device itself.”
But it demonstrably is a Roon-specific issue (or rather a Roon-and-OD-11-together-specific issue. Apple TV plays over the speaker with normal, continuous volume control, as does Apple Music from my desktop, for example.
The solution suggested last time was to use the DSP volume control, which is not an available option as far as I can see.
@Mats_Johansson were you every able to get the OD-11 working with normal, continuous volume control?
Workaround
While typing this up I have found a workaround: if you set the speaker in Roon to “fixed” volume, and give up on controlling it from Roon, you can sucessfully use the Orthoplay app to control the volume continuously. It’s not really ideal? But it does work.
So with the workaround it is essentially solved, but I’ll post this in any case in case it helps someone else! (or in case Roon want to look into what is causing this really strange behaviour).
Thank you for having a look. I can re-enable volume controls and reproduce an example for you and note the timestamps.
I will also point Teenage Engineering tech to this thread as they are also looking into it, and point to the older diagnosis of " due to how UAC2 volume implementation is being handled on the device itself". Hopefully one side or the other will be able to find a clue.
Did you have a chance to review the test above? We can likely pin down the cause of this with a little more information if you’re still experiencing the problem. Thanks!
Hi @connor thanks a lot for following up on this one.
For a detailed description with video I can offer:
System: OD-11 connected to over wifi
Symptoms: when streaming AV audio from an Apple TV the volume acts normally and can be controlled by the orthoplay app. When streaming over wifi from Roon there is very strange volume behaviour:
When audio is not playing, I can set the volume to any level (using Roon, or the orthoplay app)
if I then hit “play” it will play (but not actually at the set level I think)
if I touch the volume control while a track is playing it will then adjust islef down to the nearest level which is a multiple of 20. It doesn’t just jump there in one step but keeps gradually adjusting down in steps of 2 or 3 at a time
So for example if I am listening at 40, and touch “volume down” to 39 it will then turn itself down in steps all the way to 20!
It looks like it is an interaction / rounding effect. I also stream to many Sonos endpoints from Roon (also using airplay), and none of them have ever shown this behaviour, so there is something specific to the roon to OD-11 interaction over airplay.
In the screen recording of Roon, you can see the cursor, so hopefully it is clear what is happening.
I start playing at volume 50
I touch the volume to bring it to 51, and it moves itself to 40
I move it to 39
it steps down to 20
I’ll note Roon has a few volume-related controls: volume levelling and volume limits, but these are all turned off for the OD-11.
I will perform the test you ask and send you the relevant timestamps. Right now I am having some (apparently more common right now) airplay issues withthe last update, but I’ll see if I can.
@lyroon you’ve gone above and beyond with this thorough description - thank you again for your gracious help here. We’ll respond shortly once we’ve synced with development.