Ubuntu – Headphone output is far too loud

headphonessoundsoundcardvolume-control

I am using Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), with a "Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)" sound card.

When I plug headphones into the front headphone port, the sound that comes out is far too loud to listen to – and has to be turned down to about 5%. Anything above that is distorted and deafening.

I have played around in Alsamixer, and whilst a decent level can be achieved (through changing three separate sliders), this is not ideal for changing the volume on my parents' computer. And using the standard volume control overrides all of that anyway.

Best Answer

I experienced the same problem and I have written a post about the solution I found here. Basically what I did was this:

Open the file /etc/pulse/default.pa by typing the following in a terminal:

gksudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

Change the line that says

load-module module-udev-detect

into

load-module module-udev-detect ignore_dB=1

Save and close the file.

Restart pulseaudio by typing the following in a terminal:

pulseaudio -k

Now open alsamixer:

alsamixer

Then lower the PCM volume to a decent level (I set mine to about 50 %). After doing this, changing the volume using the volume keys or volume slider won't reset the settings for PCM in alsamixer and will let you keep the lowest threshold of the volume a as low as you'd like. This will also keep the volume intervals smaller. The only negative effect is that you won't get as much sound out of your speakers without headphones unless you change back the PCM settings in alsamixer again.

I can't guarantee that this will work on your system, but it did work nicely on mine.

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