I’ve been a long-time user of the dCS Mosaic app, but one thing continues to frustrate me — the volume control interface. For years, the only way to adjust the volume has been by sliding on the screen, and this design feels both risky and inconvenient. A small finger slip can easily lead to drastic volume changes, which is especially worrying when using sensitive systems or powerful headphone setups.
It’s surprising that dCS, a company known for precision and attention to detail, hasn’t addressed this issue yet. Many users have been asking for simple “+” and “–” buttons to fine-tune the volume accurately and safely. It’s such a basic usability improvement that would make a huge difference in daily experience.
I honestly hope dCS will listen to user feedback and update the Mosaic app accordingly. A thoughtful brand should prioritize not only sound quality but also user comfort and control — and adding proper volume adjustment buttons seems like an obvious next step.
What version of Mosaic are you using? The current Mosaic app is v. 1.4.4. The volume control is now a large, full screen, blue circular control . You just tap the volume level next to the speaker icon to see this.
Alternatively, I can recommend using the official dCS Remote (“The Plank”). It is costly, heavy and large, but the volume dial is oh so comfortable:
Please note that Varèse and Lina use a different remote.
Yes, it is excellent . However if I remember correctly it is only supplied with Vivaldi DAC. Otherwise it is an optional extra which owners of other units have found expensive.
There was a rumour around the time of Lina X release that the new IR remote for it might be programmed to make it work with other dCS units. I wonder what happened to that (if anything)?
The IR receiver on the Lina DAC is active on software version 2.0 and forwards. When the IR setting on the DAC is set to Generic, the DAC uses the modified NEC IR code base as used by Apple TV remote controls (as opposed to the RC code base used with the dCS Universal Remote).
The Rossini Apex Player, Rossini Apex Transport and the Vivaldi Apex DAC come with the dCS Universal Remote handset included.
As a separate, it costs Euro 875 here. It is available in silver and black.
The dCS Lina X remote does not have a rotary volume control:
dCS Mosaic moved away from the slider-based Volume control to a virtual Rotary-dial based control 3 years ago (since release of version 1.4.0) - which, for all intents and purposes, is pretty accident-proof.
Just to clarify, the DCS remote with the volume knob works with the Lina just doesn’t come with it.
Ideally, mosaic would also use the phones volume buttons to control volume as ROON does, and so does the Storm Audio app for their theater processors.
The issue for many is that the volume adjustment steps from a mobile phone are considered as too crude for serious music listening. For example iPhones have 16 steps only from dead silence to full output ( so AI tells me).
Astell &Kern seems to be aware of this and their new dongle DAC (HC5) has an improved volume control with 50 steps.