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Regression: --hardware-volume false still changes PipeWire sink volume in v5.x #175
Description
Summary
In sendspin v5.x, using --hardware-volume false still modifies the PipeWire sink volume.
This appears to be a regression, because sendspin v1.2.4 correctly applied software-only volume without touching the system sink volume.
Expected semantics
When --hardware-volume false is used, sendspin should:
- Apply volume scaling internally (software volume)
- Not modify the system audio sink volume (PipeWire/Pulse sink)
This behavior worked correctly in v1.2.4.
Environment
- Hardware: Raspberry Pi + IQAudio DigiAMP+
- OS: Raspberry Pi OS
- Audio system: PipeWire (PulseAudio compatibility)
- sendspin versions tested:
- 5.3.3
- 5.3.2
- PR Match selected device for hardware volume #173
Steps to reproduce
-
Start sendspin:
sendspin --name "Test" --audio-device 0 --hardware-volume false daemon
-
Set the system sink to 100%:
pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ 100%
-
Change the volume from Music Assistant
-
Inspect the sink volume:
pactl list sinks | grep "Volume:"
Actual behavior
The system sink volume changes, for example:
Volume: front-left: 13107 / 20% / -41.94 dB
Logs confirm sendspin is applying the volume:
INFO:sendspin.daemon.daemon:Server set player volume: 20%
INFO:sendspin.daemon.daemon:Server set player volume: 76%
Expected behavior
The system sink volume should remain unchanged (e.g. 100%), while sendspin applies volume scaling internally.
Why this matters
When sendspin modifies the system sink volume, it affects all applications using that sink.
Example in my setup:
- sendspin (music playback)
- snapclient (legacy synced announcements)
If sendspin lowers the sink volume, snapclient announcements become too quiet.
Working version (for comparison)
Rolling back restores the expected behavior:
pip install sendspin==1.2.4 aiosendspin==1.2.0
With v1.2.4, the sink volume stays at 100% regardless of Music Assistant volume changes.
Related issues
This appears separate from #156, which was about controlling the wrong device.
This issue is specifically that --hardware-volume false no longer disables hardware/sink volume control.
Activity
abmantis commentedon Mar 9, 2026
I think the issue is that you are passing the options (
--xxxx) before the command (daemon).Try the following instead:
sendspin daemon --name "Test" --audio-device 0 --hardware-volume false.joopdo commentedon Mar 9, 2026
You're right! Moving the options after
daemonfixed it:Confirmed working with --hardware-volume false - sink stays at 100% regardless of Music Assistant volume changes.
Thank you for the quick response!
Perhaps the CLI could warn when options are passed before the subcommand, since they get silently ignored? That would help others avoid this mistake. (or was it that obvious and I missed it)
balloob-travel commentedon Mar 10, 2026
Made a PR to avoid this in the future #178
Refactor default player app parsing in CLI (#178)