Spotify connect doesn't work OOTB with external DAC (plus fix)

[gmerrall]

I’ve normally been using a HiFiBerry with Volumoi but thought I’d give ay Schiit Modi a go. Playback is fine with FLAC and using the local Spotify plugin to browse/play but discovered Spotify connect didn’t work.

Logged in and took a look at the logs and spotted this when connecting:
Mar 06 10:33:45 stereo volumio[1786]: thread 'main' panicked at 'Couldn't get current volume: Error("snd_mixer_selem_get_playback_volume", Sys(EINVAL))', /build/cache/git/checkouts/librespot-6f197fd632ef9380/08d8bcc/playback/src/mixer/alsamixer.rs:94:14

Pretty clear error there. I do note that the volume when using an external DAC defaults to 0/NaN so set it through the UI and tried again. Still failed.

Went into System settings and changed Mixer type to “Software” with a default startup of 50. Reconnected from Spotify and we’re all good.

So looks like a bug in the plugin. I’ll file a report in the github repo but just wanted to post here in case people had the same issue.

[metro]

I came across (and resolved) a similar problem:

Volumio 3 Spotify Connect not working

I am unable to connect to Spotify Connect on Volumio 3. Here is my log file: http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/IK5dkBj.html This was my sequence before sending the log file: Verified Connect2 plugin is installed and enabled Reboot Volumio The Spotify app cannot find the Volumio device as a Connect endpoint In Volumio Installed Plugins tab, disable and re-enable the Connect2 plugin Now the Spotify app shows the Volumio device as an endpoint On Spotify, select the Volumio device The device icon…

[ashthespy]

This seems to be a common issue with these Schiit DACs.
Do they actually have a working Hardware mixer? See related

Spotify Connect Not Connecting

The Schiit Dacs seem to report a hardware mixer when they either don’t, or more likely the driver doesn’t work/needs some coaxing… A quick search should lead to other bad experiences with this Dac and mixers. Does volume control work directly from amixer ? If so please share the full command you use?