Why the hell are my headphones so quiet sometimes? - Windows 7

Any way to make it louder? 100% is fucking WEAK AS SHIT! Loudness in Enhancements makes a SLIGHT improvement. But i’m really tired of this. And games like GTA V can be LOUD. But nothing else I play with headphones.

I really have no audio knowledge and no idea why the hell this happens. 100% in-game volume on some games I play is just shit. It’s quiet, and it’s pissing me off.

I’m using a SPH9500s with a VMODA Boompro. Tried removing the Y-splitter. It’s still the same, so it’s not the Y splitter.

Do you have Discord running in the background? If so, turn the setting in the “Communication” tab of Audio Properties to “Do Nothing.”

Well i’ll have Discord running when playing GTA. But it’s odd. I open the Steam Overlay and play a video and it’s loud AF! The game can also be as loud as I want. But some things are just so quiet. MusicBee for example. Just way too low at 100%.

What’s your volume mixer look like?

Maxed for both. Heh. If only that was the problem. :joy:

The only thing I can suggest here is an apo that has dynamic range compression. I believe viper4windows does. Not sure if equalizer apo does.

Edit equalizer apo doesn’t have anything like this ootb but could be supported by a front end, at this time it doesn’t seem like it exists though.

Also ensure that the communications tab is set to nothing in the sound control panel.

Control Panel -> Sound -> Communications -> Do Nothing

Also generally recommended to do these settings:


Quick image. Just search up “sound” in the control panel and the left one should pop up. Look for the one with the green checkmark, right click, select properties.

Go to “Enhancements” and make sure nothing is checked. Then check “Disable all enhancements”.

Then in “Advanced” make sure 24-bit 44100khz is selected. Might break a few things if sound is actively playing, a restart will fix it right up.

Idk… Nothing, really. Some games can be LOUD. Other games, like Mass Effect at 100% are quiet. GTA V is loud at MAX volume, as it should be. Witcher is loud at max volume.

And I listen to music with MusicBee. It’s quiet af. I crank the preamp way up. I think that might not be good for my headphones?

Is the issue only with musicbee? Try something like foobar2000, or heck just play a file with windows media player.

Its definitely a pretty peculiar issue. The only thing similar is when voice call apps like skype reduce the volume of all other programs when someone talks. But the setting in the communications tab should fix that.

A far stretch is asking if audio drivers are installed?

I ktow what you’re talking about and I never found a fix I just reinstalled and it went away. Theres a million fixes that you can try but I can’t speak to their accuracy.

Just google ‘windows 7 suddenly quiet’

I don’t know SHIT about volume fixes in Windows 7, or 10. But I’m gonna suggest something that’s more on the audio hardware side of the question.

What audio equipment are you using? Are you plugging the headphones into just the 3.5 mm jack on the pc soundcard, or the front audio port?

Basically I’m asking if you’re using no amp or dac in between the headphones and the PC.

Cause this sounds like the soundcard whether it be onboard, or an add in card, may be having issues with your headphones maybe? Like perhaps the resistance is too high for your soundcard’s output? And it’s struggling?

I used to be a heavy audio guy. Knew almost all there was to setting up car stereos and house hold stereo systems.

I could be 100% wrong. But it sounds like a problem I had before with a client back in the late 90’s. His sound card just couldn’t handle the output it had to push out to run the headphones. All I needed him to do was hook his headphones up to a separate amplifier after his PC.

Like I said I could be wrong. But it sounded familiar.

I use the front 3.5 mil jack on the PC, yeah.