Music Banter - View Single Post - headphone volume on laptop whilst playing music is far too low?

thedarkness · 01-13-2012, 04:11 PM

The balance is set correctly on this laptop for both the system and the player, and the volumes are also maximum. The headphones I have tried so far are cheap, but I am certain I never had the same problem with these headphones on my old xp desktop, compared to the low volume I am receiving on vista and 7 (have tested both). It could be a problem with the operating systems or a driver problem (no audio updates available on this laptop). If no one has ever had a similar low volume problem with vista or 7 using headphones, then I think Ill have to just get hold of different brand. I never thought of trying out a usb soundcard before, thanks for that, could be a last resort. I tried a google search and some users do state that there is a "headphone" option in Realtek Audio Managers speaker configuaration on similar laptops, but my own only has 3 options of stereo, quadraphonic or 5.1. Its not a major issue as for music playing in general I have a reasonable set of seperate speakers I usually use instead of the laptops own, but it is annoying if I want to listen to music when no else wants to hear it, and am stuck with these headphones. This laptop is definately not of the highest quality (MSI), its age is definately starting to show with the plastic casing holding it together starting to come loose. Not a good sign! The only other thing ive tried was trying to find a utility-I found dfx audio enhancer, which had a few options to almost give the equivalent of a normalizing effect, but the "free" version was very limited and I think included some unwanted software, so not really recommended. thanks

update:- I dont think this will help distinguish the problem, but I tried audacity to convert a stereo track to mono, and L is still far lower in volume than R. The mono track is roughly the same volume than the stereo original overall. If new headphones doesnt solve the issue and my old headphones work on any other laptop perfectly, then itll no doubt be either a audio related driver or windows problem. If anyone is using headphones on a windows laptop, please add to this thread, stating what version of windows you are using and if the volume levels in L and R are similar or not. that would be of great help-thanks

01-13-2012, 04:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
thedarkness Groupie Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 20	The balance is set correctly on this laptop for both the system and the player, and the volumes are also maximum. The headphones I have tried so far are cheap, but I am certain I never had the same problem with these headphones on my old xp desktop, compared to the low volume I am receiving on vista and 7 (have tested both). It could be a problem with the operating systems or a driver problem (no audio updates available on this laptop). If no one has ever had a similar low volume problem with vista or 7 using headphones, then I think Ill have to just get hold of different brand. I never thought of trying out a usb soundcard before, thanks for that, could be a last resort. I tried a google search and some users do state that there is a "headphone" option in Realtek Audio Managers speaker configuaration on similar laptops, but my own only has 3 options of stereo, quadraphonic or 5.1. Its not a major issue as for music playing in general I have a reasonable set of seperate speakers I usually use instead of the laptops own, but it is annoying if I want to listen to music when no else wants to hear it, and am stuck with these headphones. This laptop is definately not of the highest quality (MSI), its age is definately starting to show with the plastic casing holding it together starting to come loose. Not a good sign! The only other thing ive tried was trying to find a utility-I found dfx audio enhancer, which had a few options to almost give the equivalent of a normalizing effect, but the "free" version was very limited and I think included some unwanted software, so not really recommended. thanks update:- I dont think this will help distinguish the problem, but I tried audacity to convert a stereo track to mono, and L is still far lower in volume than R. The mono track is roughly the same volume than the stereo original overall. If new headphones doesnt solve the issue and my old headphones work on any other laptop perfectly, then itll no doubt be either a audio related driver or windows problem. If anyone is using headphones on a windows laptop, please add to this thread, stating what version of windows you are using and if the volume levels in L and R are similar or not. that would be of great help-thanks Last edited by thedarkness; 01-13-2012 at 07:28 PM.