Set volume limit ignored when DAC first powered on

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)
Roon core QNAP i3, 16GB. Roon version 1.7 (build 511).

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
NAD D 1050 USB DAC / headphone amp - plugged into the QNAP NAS USB cable
Audiolab M-PWR power amp.

Description Of Issue
Hi - I have a USB DAC plugged into my Core and it is detected and plays music fine.

However, I’ve recently plugged the DAC direct into my power amp over XLR connections and so not to risk sending too loud a volume, I’ve set “Volume limits”, a Max and Comfort to 40. Volume Control is set to “Device Volume”.

This all works fine and when playing music I can’t move the volume slider button past 40.

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However, when I turn my DAC off, it disappears as an available source (as expected) and then when I turn the DAC back on it re-appears however which a volume set to 100.

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Even when I click on the volume icon, it still shows as 100.

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It’s only when I touch the slider with a mouse click does it switch back to a max of 40.

FYI - the voulme comes out at 100 and almost blew my speakers, but there doesn’t seem to be any damage yet.

Is there a way to get Roon to pick up the volume limit before any music is played?

Thanks
Dan

Hello @Dan_Mason,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Can you confirm if you’re using the latest firmware on your NAD DAC?

Also, can I please ask that you reproduce this behavior (as safely as possible) and note the exact local time + date when it next occurs?

I would disconnect the speakers or power amp while reproducing this behavior, and you should be able to confirm you entered this state by the Roon UI volume feedback.

Thanks!

Hi,

Yes I’m running latest NAD firmware.

I’ve reproduced the problem. I turned off my DAC at “Thu Feb 6 22:45:18 GMT 2020”, I then turned my DAC back on at “Thu Feb 6 22:45:31 GMT 2020”, I then moved the volume slider to get it to pick up the 40 max at “Thu Feb 6 22:45:39 GMT 2020”.

My Roon UI is running on Windows and I am using the volume slider there.

Thanks

My DragonFly Cobalt does the same thing on all Linux endpoints I use. When not using the limiter it’s full 100% when started up and shows as such regardless of last volume used on device before power on. With Volume limiter it comes on lower than the limit and if I move it a notch up or down it goes straight to 100% until you move the slider again. Nearly deafened me so many times and I know it’s not great for my headphones either. Had a ticket for this for a while with no resolution. :frowning:

Hi @Dan_Mason,

Thanks for letting me know the timestamps. I have activated diagnostics mode for your account and what this action does is automatically upload a set of logs to our servers for analysis. I can confirm that the logs have been received, and I have passed them on to the technical team for closer inspection. Thanks!

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Hi @Noris, any update on this? Thanks

Hi @Dan_Mason,

The diagnostics have been recieved and your case is still pending review by the technical team at this time. Once the review is complete, I will reach out to you again, thanks for your patience!

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Hi @Noris, any idea how long it takes to review?

Thanks

Hi @Dan_Mason,

Apologies that it’s taking a bit here.

Your case is currently with the hardware team, they are going to attempt to reproduce this behavior in the lab and verify if they also see this behavior with the NAD gear they have in-house.

As soon as I hear back from them I will be sure to let you know, I have also just messaged them regarding a status update. Thanks!

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Hello @Dan_Mason,

Thank you for your patience while we investigated this issue throughly. We wanted to have all of the correct hardware in place for proper testing and ensure that our test setup mimicked yours as close as possible. Any reports of volume control issues are approached with the utmost caution, we’re aware that bugs in this area have the possibility to damage equipment or ears.

After extensive testing with the NAD D 1050 USB input, we believe we have a good understanding of what’s going on here.

The culprit of this behavior is that the NAD D 1050 UAC2 implementation causes the Linux ALSA driver to be unable to correctly identify the device. USB DAC UAC2 volume levels are controlled by the “host”, and it is the host’s responsibility to correctly identify the DAC and set the volume to the previous level when it is connected.

The default behavior in Linux when a new USB DAC is connected is to set the volume to ‘100’.

As for how this relates to Roon: when volume commands are made in the Roon app to a USB DAC, Roon is actually sending these commands to the ALSA driver which then communicates directly with the DAC.

Roon’s “Volume Limit” controls are there to limit the volume levels one can set from the Roon volume controls. This “Volume Limit” cannot limit or control the volume of the device at the driver level.

We have confirmed that other USB DACs that are correctly re-identified on Linux do not suffer from this issue. When these DACs are power cycled, they return at the correct volume in ALSA and thus in Roon.

-John

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@john

Thanks, John for the detail description of the issue, sorry it’s taken me a while to reply, I’ve only just seen this.

I’m guessing the issue is with NAD and Linux driver. Is there nothing that can be done within Roon as a work around?

I actually have an old Meridian pre-amp which I’m going to install in the chain, which will fix the issue as I’ll use the unbalanced RCA outputs into that and control the volume via the Meridian.

Thanks for your help

Hello @Dan_Mason,

I will inquire with the development team during our next meeting if there is an improvement that can be made in this area.

-John

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