Level Meter bug or feature?

Audacity version: 2.4.1
Audacity source: unofficial ppa “Panda Jim” 2020-05-22
Xubuntu Linux 20.04 with current updates

Additional info:
audacity invoked with “pasuspender – audacity %F”

Problem description: playback meters peg to 100% if playback volume slider reduced below max.
Additional info: Since I’m not using pulseaudio for input or output, I need to reduce playback level using Audacity’s internal playback volume control. When I do, playback level meters stop working and register fixed 100%. Is this intentional, or maybe an unavoidable circumstance, or just a bug?

Here’s the meter with slider at 100%:
SliderMax.png
and with slider reduced:
SliderReduced.png
Audacity_dbgrpt-5583-20200530T104223.zip (13.3 KB)