Roon ARC support for MoonDrop Dawn Pro [Ticket In]

[Brian_Jones1 (Brian Jones)]

Roon Server Machine

NUC 5i5 - i5 processor, 16GB RAM

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Google Mesh Wifi, Zyxel Router, Double NAT for ARC

Connected Audio Devices

Pixel 4A 5G wifi and 4/5G connection to Roon ARC

Number of Tracks in Library

17,500

Description of Issue

Roon ARC works well for me. I have 3 USB dongle DACs, an iBasso DC03, Fiio KA1 and a recently acquired Moondrop Dawn Pro. The problem is with the Dawn Pro within ARC

Firstly, with Enable USB Driver disabled the Dawn Pro needs a significantly higher volume from the Android phone than when using the same DAC with Roon (the only EQ preset is the same for both - I have both L & R channels mixed to mono as I am deaf in one ear). On Roon the volume is about 12, on ARC I have to increase the phone volume several steps so that it is about 80-85% of the phone range (this is with the DAC itself on High gain and 70% volume in both cases)

If I enable the USB Driver (which works for the other two DACs with no problem) the volume drops further so the phone has to be 90-95% volume and one many tracks I start to notice distortion. If I increase the phone volume to say 85% and then use the DACs volume control to increase volume to reasonable listening levels then distortion also occurs.

When ARC has USB Driver enabled for my DC03 the phone volume is no longer operative and volume control is via the volume buttons on the DAC, on the Dawn Pro both options are functional.

If I subsequently disable the USB Driver Roon ARC continues to ask if I want it to control the DAC, even if I Force Stop and Restart the app. Even a reboot does not stop ARC requesting to control the DAC despite the USB Driver not being enabled.

So four bugs/quirk with the Moondrop Dawn Pro:
1: ARC has significantly lower volume than Roon and needs increased Android volume
2: ARC USB Enabled both reduces the volume to need the phone or DAC at high output levels and distortion becomes apparent
3: ARC USB Enabled allows volume control from both Android and the DAC volume buttons. It should only allow the latter as per the iBasso DC03
4: Once ARC USB has been enabled, subsequent disabling still has ARC requesting control of the DAC when inserted even after a Force Stop or Phone Reboot. Surely with disabled USB Drivers then ARC should not make such a request

Obviously I appreciate ARC USB Enabled is a beta feature but both #1 and #4 above should be considered bugs irrespectively.

[connor]

Thank you @Brian_Jones1. We’re tracking USB-driver-related issues on a DAC-by-DAC basis internally as the team works to improve behavior. These notes will be appended to the ticket.

We additionally have a separate ticket to address a Pixel-specific bug possibly causing #4 above.

So, while all of these are tracked, you can likely expect a faster resolution to issue #4. We’ll keep this thread open in the meantime, and thank you for taking the time to summarize in your post.