ADI-2 Pro EX! (Page 2 of 2)

Hello MC,
I've read chapters 18 and 19 of the ADI-2 Pro EX manual carefully, so I understand the current design: normal DSD playback is converted to PCM inside the DAC chip to enable volume control, while DSD Direct keeps the pure 1-bit path — at the cost of volume control, phones output 1/2, and balanced phones mode (activating Balanced Phones temporarily deactivates Direct DSD).
My use case: HQPlayer applies volume upstream, before its delta-sigma modulator. The incoming DSD stream already carries the correct level while remaining a true 1-bit stream. For this workflow, the missing hardware volume in DSD Direct is not a limitation — but the loss of the phones outputs and balanced mode is.
My request, in order of ambition:

An expert option to route DSD Direct to a phones output at fixed level, off by default, behind a clear warning ("full-scale fixed level — volume must be controlled in the playback software; risk of hearing/headphone damage"), ideally re-confirmed once per power cycle.
If technically feasible: balanced phones in DSD Direct. I assume the balanced mode's phase inversion is normally a DSP function and the DSP cannot touch the bitstream — but if the DAC chip's per-channel phase-invert registers remain functional in the direct path, the inverted legs could perhaps be generated at chip level without leaving the 1-bit domain. If that's impossible with the current converter, a one-line technical explanation in the manual/forum would already be valuable.

I fully support the conservative defaults — I'm asking for a clearly marked opt-out for setups built around player-side volume, where the ADI-2 Pro EX is currently so close to being the perfect pure-DSD headphone rig.
Thanks for considering it — and as always, thanks for documentation that actually explains how the device works.
Best regards, Michael