HW/SW volume control

Yes, exactly, we used an RPI4 for the USB connection. However, the quality was extremely poor.
There were no interruptions, but the sound was extremely bad. How should I describe it… very flat, no emotions, details such as the sound of the guitar strings, the voices etc. completely inconspicuous and enigmatic. Just really bad and cheap…

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my recommendation would be

  1. AUDIOPHONICS DAC I-Sabre ES9038Q2M
  2. ABACUS electronics | AroioDAC
  3. https://www.osaelectronics.com/product/dacberry-pro-plus/

ask the manufacturer for availability by pm! :wink:
all does have hw volume control

In fact I have 3 possibilties

1-I move to RPI4 (80€), connect my smsl m100 via USB, finger crossed that quality will be there.
2-Keep my RPI3, exchange (amazon) the HIFIDigiPro2(60€) to a Dac, try to ressell my SMSL M100
3-Keep my RPI3,use the HIFIDigiPro2 + SMSL M100 (€0)

Regarding the quality of each DAC, I am not sure I would be able to make difference.

I was able to carry out the comparison this week with a Topping E50 DAC and, unlike the Devialet, I noticed absolutely no deterioration via USB.
At the same time I connected an RPI3 to Allo DigiOne via coax and an RPI4 via USB to the Topping E50. I played the same track on both.
With the remote control it was possible to switch and compare the input signal between coax and USB. I couldn’t notice any differences. Possibly slightly better over coax, but I’m really not sure. If there is a difference, it is very, very small.

It may be the DAC that is re-clocking the USB signal or not… The Topping E 50 is re-clocking the signal.

The only thing that is a bit annoying is that the volume is at 100% when the DAC is turned on after Volumio or the USB cable is connected.
This problem does not exist with Allo DigiOne and coax.

Hello! I’m writing here, this is a suitable topic. RPI4B 8GB, latest Volumio3. I’ve had an annoying bug with the volume control since the beginning. In the USB I use a Topping E70Velvet DAC. I control Volumio from an ASUS Zenfone 7 pro mobile phone. The problem is, the volume control rarely works. The “slider” appears on the phone, I move it, but it rarely responds. It doesn’t matter if I set it to hardware or software. Imagine this as e.g. I turn it down considerably, the slider goes down graphically - and nothing happens :frowning: If I press pause during playback, then play again, the new volume is interestingly set. Or if you play music. So it works as strangely as if it didn’t it would keep asking. And it doesn’t matter if I set a hardware or software mixer in Volumio. Help, has anyone noticed the same thing? Is there a solution? It’s annoying because it would be handy to quickly mute the phone application, when needed. But if it doesn’t respond the program, it’s hard …So that’s the point, in all modes it reacts rarely and with difficulty the volume control. In software mode, I think it should work perfectly and sensitively and continuously. Thanks to whoever answers.

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I have the same issue, same model pi, and same version of the OS, ie the latest. I have a Schiit Bifrost DAC and the volume control GUI slider changes visually but has no effect on volume, forcing me to lean way over to my headphone amp to adjust the volume. The hardware control works fine when using my Pathos Converti mkII DAC. I was hoping the recent update of a week or two ago would fix that and a broken Qobuz playback issue I’ve had for two months, but it didn’t fix either. Are there any solutions? It doesn’t matter whether it’s software or hardware volume control mode, in either case it has no effect on volume.

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Hello! Unfortunately, the volume is not as good as before. Neither hardware nor software. It’s crazy if it works sometimes. Sometimes the volume jumps only after a pause or when a track is played. In the settings, it doesn’t matter whether I set the jump to 1 or 10 percent. I also bought a MiniDSP SHD STUDIO device now, which contains a “full” special volume. There is TIDAL Connect. But it suffers from the same problem as free Volumio. Neither the volume nor the recognition of the Cue+flac file system works. I sometimes slow down or freeze. But it also bothers me that even when searching in NAS folders, it always jumps back to the beginning of a directory. Unfortunately, there are many small, annoying errors. And now I complain more legitimately, because I also bought the Volumio software with the device. And what is not fixed for months, no matter how nicely the users ask, is already a dead issue…

@Darmur , @DED

Please have a look here.

cue+flac is not supported, and nowhere it is claimed to be supported