When using roon, how do I enable the volume control on Meridian MS600 digital out?
The volume control on the RCA outputs are fine but not when using the digital outs.
Thanks in advance
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Hello @William_Francis,
Unfortunately, due to a limitation in the Meridian streaming protocol, there is no way to control the volume of the digital output on Meridian devices. According to Meridian spec, volume attenuation should not be done before the digital outputs of their devices because hinders devices further downstream from receiving a bit-perfect signal.
-John
The only exception if your MS600 is connected to a Meridian system, like a G or 8xx. In that case, if they are set up with proper communication, the volume control signal is passed downstream and applied where it should be, in the amp or in the speakers.
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Theres no way to hack this when using Roon?
Sure there is.
The Meridian’s digital output doesn’t have volume control, just like all other digital output devices that I am aware of.
But Roon itself does: you can set up Roon to do volume control. That means the volume reduced bits are transported to the MS600, which then passes them on to the downstream DAC.
The reason this doesn’t do as much harm as you think is that the music doesn’t need the full 24 bits. There is room to reduce it digitally.
Unless you are a perfectionist and mostly play high res content with super high quality equipment. In that case you have to replace the MS600 with a MicroRendu, and the DAC with one that takes volume commands over USB (not all do).
how can I do this?
Thanks in advance
Dang, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask.
I looked at the settings for my MS600, couldn’t see it.
@carl can you help with this? Did I lie?
I may be misunderstanding this, but the MS600 does have variable analog output for volume. I used to use mine as a roon endpoint straight into an amp, and controlled volume using the roon interface.
I think all that’s needed is to set the MS600 for variable output on it’s admin page (which you configure from a browser pointed to the MS600’s ip address [which you can get from your router’s admin interface]).
That’s the analog output, I think Anders was referring to the digital output?
Yes, the OP was about the digital output.
According to the manual it is fixed at 0db, I sold my MS600’s so can’t experiment?
That’s correct, in a typical MS600 + Meridian DSP speaker system the DSP’s themselves or digital controller handles the volume… with the MS600 instructing via Meridian comms.
Right. But I was thinking about setting Roon up to do software volume control. I know that is possible, have seen it, but it does not appear as an option for the MS600. In general, such setup options appear and disappear for various devices and I can’t figure out the rules.
Hello @AndersVinberg,
Meridian Sooloos devices are not presented with the option to switch to DSP volume as opposed to “device controls” or the like. This is due to how Meridian devices handle DSP themselves, DSP volume performed on the stream before reaching the device would cause things to break.
-John
Thanks for the clarification John.
Thanks. I’d missed that.
No problem.