Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Life Advice => Topic started by: JoshuaFH on April 07, 2009, 11:18:32 pm
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I have a set of headphones.
Said headphones have a fixed volume that cannot be changed, so the loudness that comes from them is determined by how loud the computer says that it should be.
Sometimes, when I want to listen to something quiet, I can't get them loud enough, so it's difficult. Is there a (preferrably free) program that I can get to tell my headphones to be louder? The built-in loudness control on my computer is already at max.
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It sounds like they might just be weak speakers on the headphones, so the only way to make things louder would be to make the song louder in audacity or something or replace the headphones.
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The headphones are fine, I take good care of them, it's just that I'm trying to listen to quiet stuff.
Can you elaborate on what audacity is? I'm terribly stupid you see.
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Audacity (http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://audacity.sourceforge.net/&ei=1yjcSZbENKPCM7LLyN0N&usg=AFQjCNGbqdS_9Hch8C5LNzDqK8Qa-hBLXw) is a freeware sound editing tool, and you could always make the songs louder with it. But it could hurt the quality.
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What you need is a Headphone Amplifier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphone_amplifier). :)
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If it's for mp3s, I use this one:
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
depending on from where you got your mp3s, they tend to ... not have the same volume, so you can solve two problems at once.
And supposedly it doesnt screw with the quality.
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Lol, headphones don't use power. That's what speakers do. Unless you plug it into a power socket. If it's a laptop, does it work if you put the laptop speakers on max? Or wait.. do you mean that some things you're listening too is too quiet, but others work fine?
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*sighs*
Your headset speakers are weak. Want louder? But more powerful ones.
Lol, headphones don't use power.
Riiiight. And how do they work then? Magic? Do You even KNOW how speakers work!?
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Seriously guys, the OP is not very clear what exactly his problem is.
But let's just assume he downloaded some mp3s. Let's say it was some music a friend made, so it was all legal.
But that friend is only listening to his tunes on his ultra phat hi fi space ship style thingy. Therefore he chose to set the record level lowish, he wanted to make sure he doesnt peak during recording, and he knew his hi fi lab would playback the thing at any volume he wanted.
Now you put that tune on your average mp3 player, and suddenly the maximum volume is limited, too low, insufficient.
And when you got your mp3s from all kinds of sources, it can get quite awkward, because one tune is almost silent while the next will go all carpetbombing on your eardrums.
Hence, you use a normalizer. I'm guessing that's what's going on here. And I like to think I'm right, at least until proven otherwise ;)
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Think this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_aid) could help?
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Yeah, I'm kinda confused as well. What exactly are you trying to do? Doesn't your computer have volume control?
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Alright, I'm a loser that enjoys listening to music on youtube instead of pirating it like a decent human being. The video isn't loud enough, so I want it louder.
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My solution would be as follows (no, this isn't sarcasm.):
1. Using Firefox, get VideoDownloadHelper (http://www.downloadhelper.net/install.php)
2. Download the streaming Youtube video.
3. Use video watching software of choice to amplify volume using sound normalization.
Other than that, I'm not really sure... though I doubt you're watching "Youtube" *wink wink nudge nudge*.
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*sighs*
Your headset speakers are weak. Want louder? But more powerful ones.
Lol, headphones don't use power.
Riiiight. And how do they work then? Magic? Do You even KNOW how speakers work!?
There is a moderate current sent to the speakers by the computer, but powered speakers use an external power source to amplify that signal to achieve a greater range of volume.
So, the headphones don't really use power, in a way, since their power comes as the data, but as a consequence they are limited to the volume produced by the computer.
Either way the power comes from the same source, but the computer's circuits probably weren't designed to handle the power required for the upper range of volumes(maybe, although I wouldn't be surprised if they could).
The solution is, as stated reviously, amplify the audio signal with an external bit of hardware or edit the volume in the song itself.
Depending on your media player, you may be able to increase the volume if you haven't already, and there may be an advanced setting that allows you to edit aplification by frequency ranges, and if they are all equal, you could put them all to full.
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Waiit... did you just say your headphones had a fixed set of volumes? Man, any headphone that doesn't have a volume tuner is garbage, even my cheap, stock clearance $5 headphones have a volume setting :P Chances are it's set to a moderate amount to prevent you from going deaf.
Well, you could also just buy cheap speakers. That's what speakers were make for, to amplify volume. Then plug your headphones into those speakers if you don't want to annoy the people around you.
Editing the volume will drastically lower quality after you increase it past a certain level, which is why MP3Gain only lets you do it to a certain level and watches out for clipping. Unless it's already much lower than it should be.
Buying speakers is the easiest solution :P
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Then plug your headphones into those speakers if you don't want to annoy the people around you.
Wait... I HAVE speakers! I just looked at them, they have a little hole in the front with a headphone symbol on it. I plugged them in, and got the desired effect!
I'm so stupid, I had these speakers for over 5 years now, and I never noticed that little hole.
Problem solved people, thanks a bunch.
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LOL. Sometimes the simplest solution is overlooked. That's what you get for asking DF and LCS players :P