audio Low sound via headphones

[Odom Member]

Hi,

 

my mainboard is a ASUS Maximus VI Hero and I have been using the onboard sound card to hook up my Logitech Z2200 speakers. I also use a Sennheiser TD180 every now and then. I noticed that when I connect the headphones to the front audio out jack I need to turn the sound on the PC much higher up than when using the speakers. This in itself is not a problem. However sometimes I have the sound all the way up and it is still too low to properly play a game or watch a video.

 

Would this have something to do with the onboard sound? I don't understand much about the impedance and ohms, and that. Is this the part that comes into play when you read about sound cards that they have a special thingy for when using headphones?

The Sennheiser headphones have an atenuator switch at the back that I can flick between -8db and 0db. When I change it to 0db the sound gets a bit louder. But I also hook up the heandphones to my AV Receiver, an Onkyo TX-NR708, and then the sound gets too loud. I then have to turn it way down, and back up again when not using the headphones.

 

Would anyone have any tips on what to do? Or is this just the way it is and I have to live with it? Would a dedicated sound card help in this case?

 

Many thanks!!

 

Odom

[Odom Member]

Hi Riva,

 

thanks for your reply, and sorry for my late one. I've had a lot of work the past two days and only made it back late at night.

 

I tried switching to the back of the PC but there was no difference in the volume.

 

What audio settings should I be configuring? I went through the Playback Properties of the Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) but I didn't see anything that I could adjust the output volume, apart from the Speaker volume. The Enhancements I have turned off. I was watching movies through my AV Receiver and with them turned on the sound of the movies was often very loud and then very low (you could hear the sound going loud or low, as it something was automatically compensating). Turning this off kind of solved the problem for that.

In Advanced I have 24bit, 192000Hz (Studio Quality) set.

 

In the Realtek HD Manager application I see no other settings, apart from the standard speaker volume and the additional effects (for bathroom, arena, etc...) They are all off.