Headphone volume is way too loud in windows 10 even with an external usb sound card

I have a pair of Bose QC2 headphones and the volume is WAY too loud in windows on all jacks:

I have tried the following jacks:

speaker out on back of motherboard
headphone out
external USB sound card (Sabrent Aluminum USB External Stereo Sound Adapter)

In each case, even a windows volume setting of 1/100 is too loud. Using the same headphones on my macbook pro the lowest volume is MUCH lower.

Is there any way to reduce the volume levels? I'm debating purchasing a more expensive external sound card that has a volume knob that is independent of the windows system volume.

bradforj287

Posted 2016-03-23T18:37:21.187

Reputation: 231

2The system may have several volume controls. Look for a "mixer" application program for the sound adapter. That will provide level control for sources as well as outputs. – sawdust – 2016-03-23T19:11:44.123

Answers

I had the exact same problem with my DT 770 Pro headphones. I could maximum have Windows' volume on 2/100.

I use this software to lower the volume: https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/

I installed it and set the gain to -50 dB.

Now I can use the whole range from 0–100, which makes it a lot easier to set the volume correctly.

Bjarte Aune Olsen

Posted 2016-03-23T18:37:21.187

Reputation: 311

1Values lower than the software's suggested minimum of -20 dB cause distortion issues, but it works well enough at -20 dB to use headphones that are normally too loud at volume level 2 (of 100). – Michael Brandon Morris – 2018-07-07T22:09:13.003

awesome! I have more than 5 devices and it was terrible to have different sound levels! – Dominic Jonas – 2018-12-19T15:46:52.213

Does the problem only occur with these particular headphones? It's possible the headphones have their own volume controls, although I can't imagine it being that loud at level 1.

Try a pair of plain earbuds and see if the problem persists.

Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes there are multiple volume controls on windows depending on what's installed. The sound card itself may have its own set of volume controls, so check for any programs related to the sound card.

Conine

Posted 2016-03-23T18:37:21.187

Reputation: 21

It's because the soundcard increases the volume and the Impedance of the headphones is not high enough. As already mentioned by Bjarte, this is one of the best solutions - just lower the volume systemwide by setting it to a negative gain – CodeBrauer – 2017-08-15T10:32:53.690

I have the exact same problem with usb headsets and it's been there for years. I don't expect a fix from windows any time soon. A workaround I use is to get a program called 'equalizer pro', which allowed you to adjust base volume up or down. This way, you can set it to -20db simply in notepad and the volume will be much lower for every program, making you effectively erase the issue.

Rob

Posted 2016-03-23T18:37:21.187

Reputation: 1