Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

T60/T61 series specific matters only
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Muse
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Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#1 Post by Muse » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:20 am

Is there a way to further boost the headphone volume? I'm using it to output to the GAME input on a mini-stereo system. If I boost the volume of the mini-stereo to around 22, it's plenty loud, but that's way beyond what I normally use (10-15), so it's a PITA. Especially since the knob control on the stereo has gone kaput and I have to use the remote buttons to adjust volume. I have the two settings I can see maxed out. I'm wondering if there's something else I can do other than use a headphone amplifier. The one I have is already in service.

What I've done is maximize the volume button on the T60 and maximize output in Windows Sounds.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

craigmontHunter
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#2 Post by craigmontHunter » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:28 am

depending on what you are trying to do, you may want to try a diffrent media player, for example vlc. vlc allows you to output at over 100% of the volume, so if all you want to do is increase the volume of media (videos and music) change the player. Otherwise, I don't think there is a way to increase the volume accross the system. the only other solution would be to run linux, which I think has that option somewhere.
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robert213
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#3 Post by robert213 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:55 pm

Muse wrote:Is there a way to further boost the headphone volume? I'm using it to output to the GAME input on a mini-stereo system.
I am in the planning stages of using my T30 as a CD Changer. That is, place image of CD on hard disk and delete unwanted songs. Then repeat process with another image of CD.

You are correct. Using the headphone port as the sound input source for stereo amplifier results in poor quality of sound.

I am investigating USB Sound Card Adapters.

This is not a recommendation as I've yet to use one. This is just the first example that I found on "google"...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829126101

Please reply back with your results, if you decide to purchase one.
Tuus-built T61: T8100 2.1 GHz, SXGA+, NVS140M, Patriot 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800, Samsung 840 120GB; Thinkpad T30: P4M 1.8 GHz, HYNIX 512 MB PC2700S DDR, Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 100GB; SilverStone Raven RVS01; 97 Volvo 850-R, 85 Mitsubishi Starion-ES, Keilwerth SX-90R, Ensoniq TS-12, Kawai EP-608

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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#4 Post by billp117 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:00 pm

Billp117, Kirkland, WA

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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#5 Post by robert213 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:07 pm

billp117 wrote:http://www.fxsound.com/dfx/pages/download/index.php

This should help you...
FX Sound also sells a USB SoundCard Adapter similar to the one I found on NewEgg...
http://www.fxsound.com/dfxadapter/index ... =0&refer=0
fxsound wrote: Most PC's and all laptops include an "on-board" audio system used for audio playback. Unfortunately, in order to keep the manufacturing cost as low as possible most PC manufacturers tend to use rather low quality electronics for these on-board sound cards. In addition, all motherboard mounted sound cards suffer from unwanted noise and distortion due to the fact that they receive a great deal of interference from the other closely mounted digital electronics.

The DFX USB Adapter uses high quality audio components, specially selected for low noise, low distortion, and high audio separation. In addition, the audio systems in the DFX Adapter are located away from the digital noise generated by the PC motherboard. These two important features allow the DFX USB Adapter to dramatically improve your PC audio quality.

-----

Our DFX Enhancer software restores the audio fidelity and depth that is lost during the MP3 encoding/decoding process. The DFX USB Adapter complements the DFX Enhancer software by greatly improving the hardware quality of your PC audio system. The combination of the DFX Enhancer software with the DFX USB Adapter hardware gives you the best possible audio quality from your PC.
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Muse
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#6 Post by Muse » Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:16 pm

craigmontHunter wrote:depending on what you are trying to do, you may want to try a diffrent media player, for example vlc. vlc allows you to output at over 100% of the volume, so if all you want to do is increase the volume of media (videos and music) change the player. Otherwise, I don't think there is a way to increase the volume accross the system. the only other solution would be to run linux, which I think has that option somewhere.
Thanks. I forgot to mention that I've been using Winamp. So, VLC will allow me a higher output volume than Winamp?

Edit: I just poked around in Winamp and found a volume slider, whose default position appears to be 50%. Boosting that to 100% has the volume pretty OK, about on a par with the volume of FM from the ministereo, so maybe I'm OK.

Edit2: I seem to be having some issues. Inconsistent volume, some distortion, hum, don't know what's at play. I am using a connecting cable hookup that's suspect, which could account for the problems.

Edit3: Cleaning the miniplug that goes to the headphone out jack in the T60 with a little rubbing alcohol seems to have cleaned up the sound.
Last edited by Muse on Thu Mar 03, 2011 4:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

Muse
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#7 Post by Muse » Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:48 pm

robert213 wrote:
I am in the planning stages of using my T30 as a CD Changer. That is, place image of CD on hard disk and delete unwanted songs. Then repeat process with another image of CD.

You are correct. Using the headphone port as the sound input source for stereo amplifier results in poor quality of sound.

I am investigating USB Sound Card Adapters.

This is not a recommendation as I've yet to use one. This is just the first example that I found on "google"...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829126101

Please reply back with your results, if you decide to purchase one.
I'm not sure, but it seems I'm maybe OK after boosting the volume in Winamp, my audio player to the max. There could be some issues (distortion, inconsistent volume, hum), I think some of this may be attributable to my cabling hookup from the T60 to the mini-stereo.

I actually do have a USB sound card I purchased for my T6x's. I just got it a few weeks ago, haven't done much with it yet. I got it in order to record stereo input off an FM receiver, and for that it seems to be OK. It's a Behringer UCA202, around $30 at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202- ... 254&sr=8-1
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

ParatoOptimal
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#8 Post by ParatoOptimal » Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:25 pm

I find VLC to be fine with MS OSes.
It's volume seems weak in Ubuntu when playing movies even when pushing it past 100%.
I've found that SMPlayer has better volume in Ubuntu. it skips menus and goes straight to the movie.
It also has a filter section where you can normalize volume which increases the volume to the point where I sometimes turn the volume down with the buttons on my laptop.
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flipteo
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#9 Post by flipteo » Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:45 am

Muse wrote:Edit: I just poked around in Winamp and found a volume slider, whose default position appears to be 50%. Boosting that to 100% has the volume pretty OK, about on a par with the volume of FM from the ministereo, so maybe I'm OK.

Edit2: I seem to be having some issues. Inconsistent volume, some distortion, hum, don't know what's at play. I am using a connecting cable hookup that's suspect, which could account for the problems.
Are you sure that the slider you maxed out wasn't the 'pre-amp', which is essentially a gain type control? That would definitely account for the distortion.
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Muse
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#10 Post by Muse » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:28 am

flipteo wrote:
Are you sure that the slider you maxed out wasn't the 'pre-amp', which is essentially a gain type control? That would definitely account for the distortion.
I don't know. What exactly is gain? Are you saying that boosting the preamp volume would push the amp into distortion? Makes sense, but I don't know what that control in Winamp is doing. It's right there in the classic Winamp GUI, not in options but in the GUI (the slider).
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

flipteo
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#11 Post by flipteo » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:35 pm

Image

I might not be correct in saying that the winamp preamp is just like gain, btw. But I know what the preamp does is raise or lower all of the frequencies. There's a little area directly above the EQ slider controls where you can see the effect that moving both the individual EQ sliders, and the pre-amp have on the frequencies - it moves when you adjust them.
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robert213
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Re: Maximum headphone volume not high enough on T60

#12 Post by robert213 » Mon May 09, 2011 10:28 pm

robert213 wrote: I am investigating USB Sound Card Adapters.
Information for whomever may stumble across this post thru "Google"...

I am in the process of capturing audio from my vinyl 33LP albums, recording at 32 bit 88.2 kHz, and saving as *.WAV at 24 bit 88.2 kHz.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showth ... p?t=281792
http://www.clickrepair.net/

I have narrowed my choices down to...

PreSonus FireStudio Mobile
http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail ... oductId=58

Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 Audio
http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffi ... re_pro_24/
Tuus-built T61: T8100 2.1 GHz, SXGA+, NVS140M, Patriot 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800, Samsung 840 120GB; Thinkpad T30: P4M 1.8 GHz, HYNIX 512 MB PC2700S DDR, Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 100GB; SilverStone Raven RVS01; 97 Volvo 850-R, 85 Mitsubishi Starion-ES, Keilwerth SX-90R, Ensoniq TS-12, Kawai EP-608

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