TOPIC:

Update to my last post...

There does seem to be a problem still and I'm curious to know if anyone else using the standard plugin route is experiencing it.... Volume control!

The SHD volume can be changed from -127.5db to 0db in 0.5db steps. When I change volume on the App or via the Squeezebox Duet Controller, the miniDSP volume is changed seemingly randomly (anything from 1db to 5db!). I’m assuming this is because values do not correctly correlate. The APP has a 0-100 scale so 50 on the App would equal -63.75 on the SHD which simply doesn’t exist, so the the SHD jumps to the closest available value (-63.5db or -64db). I’m guessing here.

Also, if I change the volume directly on the miniDSP’s using the rotary volume control I can change values in 0.5db steps but as soon as the playlist moves to the next track, the volume jumps up or down by a few dbs.

Under the advanced settings of LMS, UPnP/DLNA Bridge has Player volume management settings. These are:
(1) Maximum volume value' (seems to make no different)
(2) LMS volume changes with options (a) only when playing (b) ignore all changes (c) transparent forward
(3) Feedback to LMS (a) Yes (b) No

Playing with these settings doesn't seem to fix the issue. Is anyone else having a similar problem when using the squeezebox app to control volume? I'd love to be able to use the Duet Controller, since the look and feel is perfect for the SHD and unlike a touch screen you can use it with your eyes closed but having volume change of it own accord it too frustrating.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Alex

Hi,
I wouldn't use the volume control of squeezelite. Its very simple and just uses lsb ( least significant bit), no dithering, thus reduces the dynamics of the signal. In the squeezbox forum they suggested a minimum volume of 80. I leave it mostly at one hundred. The volume control of the shd seems to work much better.
Greets
Christian

Hi Christian,
But when using the volume via the app it’s actually changing the volume on the SHD. The display of the SHD changes. I think I’ve read somewhere that it used to adjust the volume within volumio/squeezelite but now it actually changing the SHDs volume which as you say is better. Are you sure that is not the case?
Thanks,
Alex

Hi Alex,

I don't know which app you mean. There is volume control in squeezelite, volumio and shd. LMS itself doesn't have a separate volume but you can control the volume of each player via web page. I prefer the control of shd and leave the others at maximum.

Greets
Christian

We still use the Squeezebox App. Because I’ve got the duet controller which has the same user interface.

So when I change the volume on the squeezebox app, the SHD’s display shows the volume changing. I thought because of that, it was adjusting the SHDs output volume rather than squeezelite’s.

Is that different to what you understand is happening?

Thanks,
Alex

I can't remember using the squeezelite volume control on shd so I can't tell. At the moment I'm away from home so I can't try, but if you use the logitech app and the volume display of shd changes, it must be this way but it sounds strange to me.
Greets
Christian

I use Chrissy's plugin, and if I change volume in the LMS interface nothing changes on the SHD display, so that volume change is in the squeezelite player

but with the pnpbridge it might behave differently

Hi Guys,
I’ve definitely read somewhere (perhaps in the change log for the SHD firmware or for the volumio software) that volume control used to only change the volume of volumio/the plugin but now it changes the SHD directly.

Being able to control play functions and SHD volume from the same handheld device is obviously a big improvement but at least in my case it’s not perfect - there’s an error in the code somewhere either between the SHD and Volumio or Volumio and the Squeezelite plugin! Argh it’s so close!

It would be great if someone that was using upnp bridge and up to date update firmware and volumio software with the squeezelite plugin, could confirm whether they were having the same problem. We’d then know if it’s a general problem or not.

Alex
Sorry for the dumb questions but I am only a prospective purchaser and don't have an SHD yet (but long-time LMS user and very interested). I took it from your previous post that you had installed squeezelite as a Volumio plug in. If so, what does this have to do with UPnP/DLNA bridge? Surely if you are running squeezelite on the SHD you aren't using it as a UpnP/DLNA end point?
Sorry if I have misunderstood.
Also what do ypou mean by "using squeezebox app to control volume" - do you mean the LMS browser interface?

Hi,
I was using upnp/DLNA bridge long before I got the SHD. So I’ve never tried the SHD without it being installed on LMS.

I think you’re probably correct that with the squeezelite plugin in volumio that upnp bridge probably has no effect. I can’t remove it from my LMS as I need it for other devices.

I do wonder now you’ve raised it, wether I should try disabling it upnp bridge briefly to see if it is having any bearing on volume control. And alternatively leave bridge running and disable the squeezelite plugin in volumio instead and see how much control I have just from upnp/bridge. I’d love to find a way to make volume control behave itself.

When I say te squeezebox app I mean the ‘original’ android app. From there you can control all functionality and (for what it’s worth) volume . I don’t control anything directly from my PC with LMS. I only go on there to update settings or trigger a library rescan.

Edit: PS I think @chrissy is the real squeezelite expert around here!

Hi,

Don't bother about upnp/dlna bridge. If you have squeezelite installed, it will simply connect as a normal squeezbox player to your lms. You can use any squeezbox controller (squeezecontrol, ipeng , orange squeeze or even the original logitech app, if you have a device that's old enough. I think it stopped working with Android 7) to use the squeezbox volume control although I wouldn't do it. Rather use shd volume control since squeezelite uses digital volume control without dithering dropping the least significant bit (lsb) which cuts dynamics when using more than 10 to 20 percent reduction. Hope that minidsp did a better job on volume control on shd side. I keep squeezelite at 100 % when listening seriously.

Hope that helps. I don't get what Alex is doing.
Greets
Christian

PS: I wouldn't use volumio volume control either since it probably does the same as squeezelite.

Chrissy,

I’ve got LMS on a Synology NAS that has my music library.

I added the squeezelite plugin to volumio.

I do have upnp/DLNA bridge on LMS but I think this is distracting us as I use it to use the squeezebox app to control a marantz Av amp and a Primare streamer.

Yes my android devices are old. I use them for nothing but control and use the original squeezebox app that works perfectly on it. I’ve also got a control from a squeezebox duet which essentially also runs the same ‘old’ app.

I don’t change volume in LMS but I do use the app. When I change volume on the app or via the duet remote, it changes the volume display on the SHD so I presume whatever they’ve done with the latest software/firmware updates allows Squeezebox app to directly control the SHDs volume and the problem you described with losing resolution isn’t occurring.

however... the volume control is not perfect. As described earlier SHD has 127.5 volume ‘steps’. Squeezebox has 100 ‘steps’. 50 on squeezebox = 63.75 on the SHD, a value that doesn’t exist. I find that using volume via the app therefore isn’t smooth. It doesn’t change the SHD in 0.5db increments but instead in 1-5 dB jumps. And furthermore, if I then change the volume using the SHDs volume knob, the volume jumps a few dB up or down when the next track starts. Very frustrating and leads me to not use the app or duet control’s volume control.

Hi Chrissy/Alex
I generally use Ipeng to control my main rig. At the moment I'm I'm using an SBT into a DSP antimode (which I'm looking to replace with an SHD) into active ATC speakers. Because of the actives I'm quite sensitive to the problem of having any volume control glitches at the control point end. This is not an issue with the anti mode as i can rely on it to set an analogue vc. I tend to use Ipeng to make the fine volume control*.
If i continue to use the SBT into SHD none of this really matters, but I am tempted by the elegance of using the SHD as a squeezelite endpoint. I'm taking it from Alex's post that the volumio squeezelite implementation may have some sort of hard vc control which isn't playing nicely with the SHD, although since he also has UPnP engaged I wonder whether this might be the problem. I certainly don't want to use UPn/DLNA because I really do need gapless. I have a dim recollection that there may be a squeezelite hard vc command though so this may be the issue with the volumio plugin version..

[*I'm familiar with the issues of the undithered LMS volume control implementation, but its never really bothered me]

Hi,
Just a quick one, upnp/DLNA bridge is gapless so long as the device at the other end supports it.

asx77 wrote:

Hi,
Just a quick one, upnp/DLNA bridge is gapless so long as the device at the other end supports it.

Does the SHD work gapless with LMS UPnP bridge?