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Headphone volume too loud

T

tehn00p

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 21, 2011
43
9
Hey,

I got a 2011 MBP 13" and when I use headphones the volume seems much too loud, even on only one volume notch! I have to have itunes volume right down to 20% or something for it to be comfortable.

Does anyone have the same experience? I don't know what can be done about it.
 
tehn00p said:
Hey,

I got a 2011 MBP 13" and when I use headphones the volume seems much too loud, even on only one volume notch! I have to have itunes volume right down to 20% or something for it to be comfortable.

Does anyone have the same experience? I don't know what can be done about it.
Click to expand...

You have very sensitive hears my friend, one notch is fine for me.

Perhaps you could try alt-shift-fn and your volume keys when adjusting, you'd then adjust the volume by quarter notch increments.
 
snaky69 said:
You have very sensitive hears my friend, one notch is fine for me.

Perhaps you could try alt-shift-fn and your volume keys when adjusting, you'd then adjust the volume by quarter notch increments.
Click to expand...

It may be the earbuds I have, I noticed when I had apple ones it tended to be a lower level. I cant get the key combo you posted to work though, I am using lion.
 
tehn00p said:
Hey,

I got a 2011 MBP 13" and when I use headphones the volume seems much too loud, even on only one volume notch! I have to have itunes volume right down to 20% or something for it to be comfortable.

Does anyone have the same experience? I don't know what can be done about it.
Click to expand...

It is a hot signal. Aside from the other suggestions here, you could replace your headphones with a set with a lower sensitivity rating. When you're looking for headphones, the back of the box should list the specs (if it doesn't, you may want to reconsider your purchase of them!)

The most important specs to determine how loud a set of headphones will be are impedance, sensitivity, and max input power.
 
I have just bought a Creative USB headset HS-720 for my new iMac with Lion OS and the volume is ridiculously loud. Adjusting the volume via the task bar on the very lowest setting before it mutes it is far too loud, even with the quarter notch adjustments. The specs on the box state that they are suitable for Mac OSX. 16 ohms impedance.

I am taking the headset back to Currys but frankly I think it is an iMac/Lion problem as the headphones work fine with my PC. There seems little point buying a different headset as they all seem to have the same specs.

Anyone else having this problem with USB headsets/headphones? And how can I get to use an external mic for my voice-overs, which is why I bought this headset?
 
Captain Slocum said:
I have just bought a Creative USB headset HS-720 for my new iMac with Lion OS and the volume is ridiculously loud. Adjusting the volume via the task bar on the very lowest setting before it mutes it is far too loud, even with the quarter notch adjustments. The specs on the box state that they are suitable for Mac OSX. 16 ohms impedance.

I am taking the headset back to Currys but frankly I think it is an iMac/Lion problem as the headphones work fine with my PC. There seems little point buying a different headset as they all seem to have the same specs.

Anyone else having this problem with USB headsets/headphones? And how can I get to use an external mic for my voice-overs, which is why I bought this headset?
Click to expand...

The earbuds I have are 16 ohms too and are way too loud on the lowest volume notch. I find the apple earphones with the remote are ok volume wise so I have some of those on order, but disappointing I can't use these nice earbuds I have :/

There must be a way of reducing the gain or something on osx surely..

I'm gonna try them using bootcamp and see if they are too loud there too (might indicate it's the actual hardware rather than osx).
 
The problem here is the low impedance, that determines the ''volume'' of the headphones, I buy 32ohms ones, aside the better sound quality of these more electric hogs phones.
 
Mr MM said:
The problem here is the low impedance, that determines the ''volume'' of the headphones, I buy 32ohms ones, aside the better sound quality of these more electric hogs phones.
Click to expand...

Ah right. I think the official apple ones are 32ohms which is why they are at a nice level. Ill pick up some of those for when I use my MBP at 2am :p

These earbuds do kick butt for ipods though :cool:
 
Found a solution!

I was having the same issue. For a while I did option+fn+vol up to open up the full volume widget and took the volume down as far as possible. After a while, I realized that I could do it all with the keyboard.

1. Take the volume all the way down (fn+vol down) until it mutes.
2. Unmute with fn+mute

The sound will automatically be at its very quietest.
 
wilcoxaj said:
I was having the same issue. For a while I did option+fn+vol up to open up the full volume widget and took the volume down as far as possible. After a while, I realized that I could do it all with the keyboard.

1. Take the volume all the way down (fn+vol down) until it mutes.
2. Unmute with fn+mute

The sound will automatically be at its very quietest.
Click to expand...

For me it was the SHIFT & ALT keys then press the volume up/down keys (f11/f12) to go up/down in quarter steps.

with my Philips/ONeill TR55LX, the first 1/4 setting is great. I get no such problems on other devices, only on my Macbook pro - its definitely an issue for Apple to look into.

ps - just found that if I go into iTunes and set ITS volume down to about half volume, then the normal Mac volume then operates over a better range that gives you much greater control.
 
Last edited:
there is an app called Boom that is usually used for boosting volume, but i think it may be able to lower the volume as well.

I also remember reading something about an app or hidden OSX function that lets you change the volume in 1/3 steps, rather than a full notch at a time.
 
My Beyerdynamic DT-770s are 80 Ohms, and they can get pretty loud when driven with the MBP's headphone out. I can only imagine that regular headphones, which are lower impendance, get even louder. I think it's just the headphones.

There is probably a setting somewhere that allows you to set a volume limit for your headphone-out, so it shrinks the range of volume the macbook will output.
 
Hey any solutions to this other than just using the slider to adjust the volume?

I'd really like to be able to set an artificial max on the volume so that I don't accidentally blow my ears out when I plug in this headset.
 
ViViDboarder said:
Hey any solutions to this other than just using the slider to adjust the volume?

I'd really like to be able to set an artificial max on the volume so that I don't accidentally blow my ears out when I plug in this headset.
Click to expand...

Perhaps MIDI Setup would allow you to lower overall system audio through the headphones?

Higher impedance or lower sensitivity headphones will also play a lot lower. I've got a set of Beyerdynamics DT990 Pro's and the MBP can barely drive them at lower volumes...
 
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