Output volume too high

Baldbloke · 7 Oct 2011 at 22:41

Creative Xifi gamer audio card. The volume is just too high. E.g. The maximum output level I can reasonably withstand is when the volume slider is at 7 out of a possible 100. I can lower it of course but the volume increments are just too rough (too large) to achieve a pleasant setting.

I'm currently running Win 7 64 bit on an MSI motherboard. The same problem occured when I used the same soundcard in a previous pc which ran Vista and an Abit motherboard.

Tried Playback devices/Speakers/Properties/Levels. It doesn't help. Tried some settings in Creative audio panel (I can't honestly remember all the variations I tried) But still no help. Tried uninstalling, rebooting, re-installing drivers etc.

So basically I'm trying to decrease the audio levels whereby I can set my volume control roughly midway(ish) and finely adjust the volume around there. I'd imagine that would give me reasonable volume increments to play with.

Any suggestions, please?

Marsman · 7 Oct 2011 at 22:58

I'm assuming you are using headphones or a headset?

King Damager · 7 Oct 2011 at 23:15

Turn down the volume knob on your speakers.

Otherwise
Turn down the sound in the relevant media software

kd

Baldbloke · 7 Oct 2011 at 23:23

Marsman said:
I'm assuming you are using headphones or a headset?

Yes. Mainly headphone useage. I've tried ticking the creative "headphone " setting but no change. The problem remains the same even when I listen via speakers.

Baldbloke · 7 Oct 2011 at 23:27

King Damager said:
Turn down the volume knob on your speakers.

Otherwise
Turn down the sound in the relevant media software

kd

Speaker volume control has same effect as windows voluime control. Small turn on Vol cntl = too large a difference in volume.

Playback/devices/levels. Tried those settings. They seem to be directly linked to main output volume. 1:1 ratio. E.g. Turn input level down by 1, main volume goes down by 1.

Baldbloke · 7 Oct 2011 at 23:30

If I haven't overlooked anything (I hope you folks can tell me I have) then I must assume a faulty audio card from new. This is not a recent fault. It's always been the case with this card.

And thanks for the suggestions. Any more ideas?

Marsman · 7 Oct 2011 at 23:42

I don't see how it can be a fault TBH. I've never seen any sound card which has a fault, and that fault is that it's volume is too loud.

I've got an Xtreme Music, which is pretty much the same card. The highest volume I can stand is 30%, and even that's too loud for prolonged use.

You might have very sensitive hearing.

What headphones or headset are you using?

Baldbloke · 8 Oct 2011 at 00:14

Marsman said:
I don't see how it can be a fault TBH. I've never seen any sound card which has a fault, and that fault is that it's volume is too loud.

I've got an Xtreme Music, which is pretty much the same card. The highest volume I can stand is 30%, and even that's too loud for prolonged use.

You might have very sensitive hearing.

What headphones or headset are you using?

Sensitive ears. Yes. Headphones are Sennhieser HD485.

An update: I went to Playback devices/Speakers/Levels/Balance. Set balance for left and right down to a value of 5 out of 100. Now I can set main volume at 41 out of 100 and obtain acceptable volume with a good incremental sweep from low to high volume. Hmm... I thought I'd tried that before but maybe I got confused. Anyway, problem solved for the time being. I'll see how long it lasts like this.

And thank you once again, folks, for your help.