Low Volume Listening?

[David A]

David has given great advice in this thread, I'll just add one thing I've not seen mentioned. An alternative to turning up the volume is sitting closer to the speakers, this might not be possible, and many speakers need some breathing room to sound right, but it's worth a try.

The night time DSP to boost bass and encourage a low playback level might work, or go the other way and roll of the bass to keep the volume up and lower bass transmission.

Yes, I can't thank David enough.  Sitting closer is a good idea, but would be problematic with my arrangement.  I'm having maintenance come inspect the various jacks near the speakers to see if more insulation is called for, and I'm considering some form of isolation. 

I think one of the culprits of the complaints may be the dynamic range (I think the right term)—perhaps there's a way in Roon to trigger a DSP that keeps loudness spikes under control along with rolling off the bass.  One quality of the Devialet that I've noticed is that it's much more likely to let the quiet stay quiet and the loud get loud as compared to other kit I've owned.  I'll keep some form of remote very near whenever it's running.

I don't know that Roon's DSP can help you, or that what you're thinking of trying will help.

Burt first, while as far as I know Roon has no way of reducing dynamic range, your mention of that reminded me that the Devialet actually has a control which works with dynamic range. This is Intelligent Cinema Mode (ICM). The explanation for this setting says in part:  "This mode optimizes the dynamics of the incoming audio content, allowing you to enjoy your favourite films without having to make any compromise on experience or power.". You can find it listed in the settings for particular inputs.

When it comes to dynamic range, however, I don't see much help for you. Dynamic range is a measure of how much difference in volume there is between the loudest and softest sounds in a piece of music. Roon gives a figure for the album as a whole. A dynamic range of 14 in Roon means, if I understand it correctly and I'm probably oversimplifying here, is that the difference between the loudest level in 95% of the music and the softest level in 5% of the music, will be 14 dB. 14 dB is a pretty large dynamic range for a lot of the music I listen to, which is largely jazz, and in comparison a lot of pop music seems to have a dynamic range of 8 dB or less. I've seen records with a range of only 5 dB.

The bottom line is this:

- if you have music with a high dynamic range, at whatever level you play it at the loudest passages will be very loud and the softest passages will be very soft relative to each other. Most of the music is unlikely to be very loud, or very soft, but when the loud passages come along you will know it, and when the soft passages come along you may be struggling to hear the music. There are wide variations in loudness during music with a high dynamic range.

- if you have music with a low dynamic range, basically the soft passages aren't going to be all that much softer than the loud passages. There's very little variation in loudness during music with a low dynamic range.

Controls like Devialet's ICM are often used to solve problems with neighbours, or people in your own home  who are trying to sleep while you're playing music. ICM reduces the dynamic range on the basis that it's easier to turn the volume down in order to avoid disturbing other people because the soft passages become a bit louder so you don't have to struggle to hear them when you turn the volume down, and the loud passages are softer so they're less likely to disturb other people. I think this kind of control was implemented in movie soundtracks for DVDs/Blu-rays and the soundtracks contain extra data, separate to the music, which tell the AVR how to reduce the dynamic range if the control is activated. The problem with music is that music recordings don't contain that extra data and the mastering of music recordings isn't standardised while there are standards for some elements of the mastering process. That means the results of these controls with music can be variable. Another issue is that a lot of music relies on dynamic range for part of its effect. The 1812 Overture would be very unsatisfying if you played it with a small orchestra, reduced the dynamic range, and replaced the cannons with popguns. 

You can try ICM. Make a new config file and activate the ICM option for each input you use. Then in the section of the configurator for settings for your remote assign the middle button to ICM On/Off instead of Mute or whatever you're currently using. Load the configuration and try it.

You may still find yourself wanting a bass boost at low levels.