[Solved] Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

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somelurker
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[Solved] Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by somelurker »

I recently plugged in a USB sound card. I've found that the volume is not loud enough in certain applications, such as videos being played in my browser. The volume setting within the video is already set to maximum. My output volume as set by the speaker icon in my panel (bottom right) is also at maximum, as is the physical dial on my speakers, which have produced much louder sounds before.

This makes me wonder if I'm missing some hidden softwre setting. The sound card itself has no dial to increase volume. Is there a setting in Linux that can allow me to increase the volume?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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MrEen
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Re: Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by MrEen »

Hi somelurker.

Try alsamixer in the terminal. When it opens, press F6 to select your USB device and see if the volume settings there are high enough.

Good luck.
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richyrich

Re: Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by richyrich »

To add to MrEen's reply, you want to look at both the Master and PCM volume sliders. :)
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somelurker
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Re: Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by somelurker »

Thanks! There were only 3 settings: 1. Speaker 2. Mic 3. Auto Gain Control

I don't know what the gain control did, but I set the speaker to max, and that solved my problem. I assume Mic is microphone, which I don't use at the moment.

Will these alsamixer settings persist after a reboot?
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catweazel
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Re: Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by catweazel »

somelurker wrote: ⤴Fri Aug 31, 2018 12:33 am Will these alsamixer settings persist after a reboot?
They should, yes.
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lsemmens
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Re: Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by lsemmens »

There's also a useful little Applet called Sound 150% that can also solve some "too quiet" problems.
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somelurker
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Re: [Solved] Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by somelurker »

I'll mark this problem solved since in my case, raising the volume in alsamixer alone was enough to bring the volume to the level I need.

For future reference though, is this the Sound 150% app you were talking about?: https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/306

If so, I could be wrong but it looks like that app only works on Cinnamon, while I'm using Mate.
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MrEen
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Re: [Solved] Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by MrEen »

An alternative is PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol) that lets you raise the volume to 153% on the Output Devices tab.
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somelurker
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Re: [Solved] Volume on USB sound card not loud enough

Post by somelurker »

Thanks for all the responses! By the way, I can confirm that alsamixer's volume setting did stay at 100% after a reboot.
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