I’ve just installed the Roon demo on my Mac Studio. Roon app sees my iTunes/Apple Music library. I play a track as a test. Volume is very low, almost inaudible. Output going to Studio Display speakers, and I can’t hear anything, even with the volume set to 100.
Suggestions? TIA.
There should be two zones you can configure for your Studio and Studio Display. Are you using “Default” or “Core Audio”?
Thanks for your reply. I am very new to Roon. Where will I find these zones? I’m not seeing anything by that name in settings.
Settings → Audio. Here’s the Roon manual page. You may find other useful info:
Thanks for your reply. I didn’t see the word “zone” there, either; reference to this word still a bit confusing.
I am on a Mac Studio, with Studio Display and its speakers, which are the ones I’m trying to test, and which has almost inaudible volume, set to 100%. I also have a settings → audio “zone” named “C-Media USB Device”, which is what I have headphones plugged into. The headphone volume is perfectly normal, e.g. 40-50% is perfect for me. Any ideas/suggestions about why the display speakers are so quiet, and how I might fix?
Will be less confusing after searching for „zone“ in the help
Or maybe start here and follow the links from there to further details:
I have a similar setup with a MacBook Pro into a Mac Studio Display. Here’s Settings → Audio for me:
In this case, the MacBook Pro (“Talos”) is enabled and will play out the default audio device being the Studio Display. It is a bit confusing because you can see several other “virtual” audio devices installed on my MacBook (Dirac, Record It, Steam) as well as hardware devices (MacBook Pro speakers and Studio Display Speakers) but the best approach is to use the default device and then can play to AirPods, etc. when they are connected.
Good screenshot. The one named “Talos” is the “Default” version of the Studio Display, but likely had the same name as the “CoreAudio” version before @ExUnoPlura renamed it. @Christian_Jensen1 does that make sense?
does that make sense?
Starting to, yes. Still a bit puzzled by the “System output; this will play out the default device”. If I click the gear there, I don’t see any reference to my Studio Display speakers or anything else specific to something identifiable. Where do I set a default device?
Thanks for the replies, all.
Excellent question. The term does not come from the Roon software as much as macOS itself. In other words, if you didn’t have a Mac in your playback chain, you would never see the word “default.” There are two audio pathways from your Mac’s audio software to your Studio Display speakers; one is capable of going through Apple’s Core Audio software layer, and the other (“default”) is not.
If you don’t see two versions of your Studio Display, that’s odd. You should (I have two of the same setup as you, and @ExUnoPlura has a similar setup as well). Dumb question from me: Is your Studio Display connected directly to the back of your Mac Studio using the cable provided?
The default device is whatever you have selected from your audio output menu on MacOS:
So if you enable System Output and choose it as your “Zone” or output target in lower right of Roon UI, and you have selected your Studio Display Speakers as your default device, then voila you are in business!
Good to know. I notice that if I change that setting in macOS sound settings, it doesn’t automatically switch outputs in Roon, e.g. I switch from the ASD speakers to my headphone “zone”. Does that sound correct?
Yes, my display is connected as usual, via the cable provided. I do only see my ASD speakers in Roon, identified as such, only once:
Correct. Roon can send audio to any of your enabled devices so it is not changed by a change to your MacOS settings.
Makes sense. Any idea why I might be getting almost inaudible volume from my ASD speakers even when set to 100%, but normal volumes the headphone device?
When using System Output to the ASDs, there are two volume controls: lower right on Roon UI and the MacOS sound controls. Try turning both up.
When I’m playing through Roon, the macOS Settings volume control does nothing, and the Roon volume is already set to 100%.
¯_ (ツ)_/¯
Hmmm, does your signal path look something like this:
Substitute “System Output” for “Talos” in your setup. To see signal path, start Roon playing and click on small greenish ball near controls.
OK, cool, well that rules out that you had inadvertently added some kind of volume leveling or DSP that might be impacting volume. I’m running out of suggestions, I’m afraid!
