On SOF cards with no Master mixer the software gain defaulted to 180% (3.2x linear), tuned for the Jasper Lake sof-rt5682 + MAX98360A pipeline and its topology headroom. The Gemini Lake sof-glk-da7219 + MAX98357A path (Lenovo 500e) runs at full scale, so 180% was painfully loud and clipped into crunch. Baseline is now per card id: glk/bxt da7219 boards start at 80%, everything else keeps 180%. config.json "volume" (0-400, percent) overrides the baseline so a stick can be tuned without a rebuild: ac-inscribe --volume <pct> writes it into the inscription and flash-mac.sh carries it into config.json. ac-native parses it before audio_init via audio_set_default_system_volume(); a live audio_set_system_volume() setter comes along for pieces.