Can I reduce the usable volume range for one pair of headphones?
Asked by
MellowQuasar7
My new headphones sound great over Bluetooth, but when I turn them off and connect them to my computer with an AUX cable, they become extremely loud. Even 10% volume is nearly deafening, so the normal volume controls have very little useful range. Is there a way to set a lower maximum level for just these headphones—something like 25%—so the regular volume buttons provide finer control?
Answers
Windows doesn’t natively let you shrink the volume range for a specific output device. It does remember a separate volume level for each device, but that only sets the starting level and doesn’t create a lower maximum. Check the device properties in the classic Sound control panel for options such as headphone boost or loudness equalization and disable them if available; the options depend on your audio driver. You can also lower an individual app in the volume mixer, but that setting is tied to the app rather than the headphones. For a proper per-device reduction, Equalizer APO can apply a negative preamp in decibels to just that output. An inline volume knob on the AUX cable is another simple hardware solution.
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The per-app workaround technically works, but it gets annoying because you have to adjust it whenever you switch between wired and wireless. A one-time device-specific reduction isn’t normally built into Windows, so using Equalizer APO or an inexpensive inline volume control is probably the most practical answer.
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MellowQuasar7: That’s what I was hoping to avoid, but knowing it isn’t available natively makes the third-party option much more appealing. Thanks for the suggestions.