BLUETOOTH VOLUME CONTROL

[Jeff. M.]

I have put this in a wishlist before, but did not seem to get much support or feedback! There must be a few of you out there who have Bluetooth devices which do not have a seperate volume control, so please add some support to this, and maybe we could get this added, Thanks.

[Daniel Taylor]

In all honesty, I would not expect this to be implemented any time soon, or probably ever.  It is a tall order to vary the volume in the digital domain without degrading the quality of the signal noticably.  So please don't hang your hopes on this being added.  (I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.)

More realistically, I have serious questions about any Bluetooth receiving device that does not have a volume control.  I recently bought a $17 headband Bluetooth speaker and it has a volume control.  Once the digital signal has been converted to analog (which is how speakers work) it is very easy to add a volume control.  So when a Bluetooth receiving device does not have a volume control, I question its value.  I'd be interested in looking into whatever device you're using that does not have a volume control.

It occurs to me that maybe some very expensive, high end headphones may not have a volume control.  In that case, it is expected that they would be used with Bluetooth sending equipment of the same cost/caliber than might more realistically be expected to have a digital domain volume control.  I'm only guessing on that.  All the Bluetooth receiving devices I own have a volume control.

The above is only my opinion, for what it's worth.

[Jeff. M.]

I have a pair of earbuds, cheap, I agree, and an also cheap speaker. They both work well, and volume can be controlled through my phone or tablet, If they are the source, and also WIN 10 PC and laptop. There seems to me not much,  if any degradation of sound quality when playing at lower volumes through these. I have seen that rasberry PI does have a volume control for bluetooth, I was hoping this could be implemented, so I can use my existing devices.

[John Alexander]

Although I do not need this added functionality, my B2 is connected to my main amplifier by a cable, I do support it. AFAIK, there are lots of BT headphones etc that do not have their own volume control and rely on the device they are connected to for volume adjustments.

Regards

John

[Jeff. M.]

Thanks John. So, if you spend £250 on apple airpods,I beleive you can only adjust the volume via an App, I would be slightly aggreived to find I couldn't use them with a B2! Anyone confirm this??

[JFBUK]

Hi Jeff,

my experience is that the B2 can only adjust output volume of directly connected speakers or the analog line out jack. Not sure about HDMI output as I have never used it.

The B2 website now states that  Brennan are no longer advertising the Bluetooth Out feature though its still there and works for most speakers.

You could try a Bluetooth transmitter connected to the line out as a workaround.

I have just tested one of these connected to the line out jack and connected via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth enabled receiver and the B2 volume controls work.

I do have to crank the B2 volume up to max to get a decent volume.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Transmitter-Indicator-BOIROS-Headphones-Black-1/dp/B07RPV5MXD

This is a similar device and claims to offer volume control but I'm not sure how it does it unless its has its own amplification circuitry

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avantree-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Receiver-Playtime/dp/B07JJCZ3WL

John

[Jeff. M.]

Hi John, my line out, like many I suspect, is connected optically to my AMP. I did have a transmitter many years ago, but hardly used it. I would not want to keep unplugging my amp to plug one in really. All my other devices have a bluetooth volume control, but not my B2, sadly. I know its not really supported as such, maybe if it was called Sonos bluetooth, it might be looked at a bit closer!!!. (tongue in cheek) and I know rasberry PI does support it. I'll wait and see, but shan't hold my breath.

[Daniel Taylor]

The B2 has volume adjustment for only the analog outputs: direct speakers, analog line output (which includes directly connected headphones).  It does not have volume adjustment for any digital output: Toslink optical, HDMI, Bluetooth.

As I understand it, Apple AirPods are intended only for use with other Apple products.  Apple makes no attempt to make their products compatible with any other manufacturer.  It's up to the other manufacturer to make their product compatible with Apple.

It's interesting to me that you say Raspberry Pi has the capability for digital volume control.  I wonder if that's correct, or if volume control occurs as analog, after the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).  If that is true, I wonder if it's available to Brennan for software control.  If that's true, then the whole idea seems to be feasible.  Although how well it's implemented is yet another question.

[Jeff. M.]

Set up a Bluetooth Speaker with a Raspberry Pi - OKdo  Daniel  this is one of the links I have seen, I have not looked too far into this, but Maybe it is feasible!

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Jeff,

I took a look at that article, and it doesn't talk about being able to, or how to, control the volume on the R.Pi.  The only mention I see of "volume" is where it says "If your speaker is still silent, make sure the volume is turned up, go back to Terminal and start bluetoothctl."  I read that as turning up the volume on the receiving device because you are then going to have to restart bluetoothctl.  There's obviously more to it than that, and I'll have to leave it to others to reveal whether it's feasible or not.

[Jeff. M.]

But I think it was playing TO a Bluetooth speaker! Ah well, thanks for looking, I'm sure it could be done, mayb

[Daniel Taylor]

Jeff,

Yes, I agree that it was playing TO a Bluetooth speaker.  But it doesn't say anything about how to adjust the volume on the R.Pi side.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi All,

Another potential issue is that the article states:

Getting Bluetooth speakers to connect and play nicely with Raspberry Pi has not been without its problems in the past with some speakers. Fortunately in December 2020 the Raspberry Pi OS received an important update to smooth the experience with Audio and Bluetooth.

I believe that the December 2020 Ri-Pi OS is based on Linux 5.10, which uses the  Bluetooth CSR5 stack.  The B2 runs on Linux 4.9 which uses the CSR4 stack.

Regards,

Peter.

[Jeff. M.]

well, you can't blame me for trying! I still think it would be great if it could be done. Would save me some money too, I can't afford a stack of Sonos devices sadly!

[Mark Fishman]

and while the article doesn't say which RPi it applies to, the later hardware (and more powerful hardware than the one in the B2) RPi boards have both wifi and bluetooth radio(s) and antennae built-in. Even if the bluetooth software support would work on a B2, I'm not at all sure how well it would work with the external bluetooth dongle.

[Jeff. M.]

Guess I'm gonna have start saving my pennies up for new kit😩

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Jeff,

I have just run this upgrade article on a spare Ras-Pi 4.  The upgrade is a major change, replacing the Bluealsa stack with a new one named Pulseaudio.  The upgrade also requires Linux 5.10.

Given the large scale package changes made on Linux 5, it is highly unlikely that the new package will ever be back-ported to Linux 4 (which is what the B2 runs on).  To support Mark's post, the Ras-Pi Model 1 (the B2) uses a different processor to the R-Pi (Model) 4.

Regards,

Peter.

[Jeff. M.]

Ok, thanks everyone for your input and help, I'm gonna have to dig deep I guess, for new stuff. 

[JFBUK]

Hi Jeff,

I know you are not keen on the Bluetooth transmitter idea but I had another thought....

If your amp has a headphones output and you can control your amp volume remotely then taking the headphones output as input to a Bluetooth transmitter you could transmit via Bluetooth to your headphones control volume via your amp.

Of course you would need to be in line of sight of your amp for your remote to work I'm guessing so maybe not really a practical solution and very kludgy

John 

[Jeff. M.]

Thanks John, but it doesn't have a headphone output, cheers anyway.