[mlu3141]

I'm a little new to this and confused, as well. Is the inability to control volume for passthrough only a factor in 5.1 files? If I were to play stereo flac (16 bit/44.1 mostly, but also some 24 bit/various sample rates), would I be able to change the volume through XBMC? Unfortunately, my receiver does not work with a remote.

Thanks!

[pr0xZen]

You could try - if the playback unit will output this as (L)PCM stereo, then ther should not really be any issue with volume control.

The number of channels is not really relevant, it can be anything from mono to ##.# channels. Anything that is codec enabled with your receiver and set to "passthrough", will go to the receiver untouched, including no volume adjustment. If using Windows, you could try setting XBMC output device to Directsound, and attempt to adjust the Windows "master" (or device) volume. In principle this isn't supposed to affect he audio stream, but I have experienced instances where it have done so - so it is worth a shot.

I imagine the alternative, if your receiver in LPCM capable with HDMI connectivity - would be to transcode all audio to (multichannel) LPCM. This setup should allow you to adjust the playback volume within XBMC.