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Industrial
Asked: 2011-02-12 02:04:52 +0800 CST

Deactivate volume amplification?

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I would like to deactivate the amplification feature on my sound volume slider. Using any amplification makes the sound really bad with clipping sounds taking over.

It's really annoying to have to worry about where the amplification starts/stops when adjusting the slider from my keyboard or through the Gnome panel (sound thingy). I have to open the "Sound preferences" after each time adjusting the volume and ensure that the level is set to 100% unamplified.

So can I do this someway easy in Ubuntu 10.10?

10.10

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Actually, you CAN slide all the way up: when using the indicator applet icon, the max slider IS 100% unamplified

    To raise it ABOVE 100% (ie, to use amplified levels), you must go Sound Preferences.

    So, when using the applet icont, go ahead and dont worry, it wont be amplified.

    You can check this yourself: open the Sound Preferences window, and leave it open, visible on the desktop

    Now access the indicator apllet icon, and slide up and down the volume level. Compare them (both will slide at the same time), and you will see that, using the applet, you can only go as far as 100% unamplified.

    Hope that helps!

    (i also had the same concern when i started using Ubuntu.. its a huge relief when you realize you dont have to open Sound Preferences anymore to "adjust" it ;)

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  2. On Ubuntu 16.04, whether the Sound Settings control panel volume slider allows setting the volume above 100% is controlled by the following dconf key. Run the following command to disallow setting the volume above 100%. Change takes effect immediately.

    gsettings set com.ubuntu.sound allow-amplified-volume false
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  3. I always install the pulse audio volume control its official name is "pavucontrol", available in the software centre. With Music player playing adjust the playback volume. I find 80% improves the sound as it appears most players, always set their outputs at 100% and this distorts on my laptop. Note this is independent of your volume control.

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  4. PulseAudio sets 100% to what the driver of your sound card reports as "100%, unamplified". If the driver reports incorrect values to PulseAudio, there is no way for PulseAudio to know there is something wrong, and you will get distorted sound when playing loud sounds at 100% (or when the error is in the other direction, you get sound that is not loud enough).

    You will have to report a bug against the driver for your sound card, which you can do by executing ubuntu-bug audio, answering the questions, and explaining in your bug report on Launchpad what your problem is. Do not just add your comments to another bug of somebody with the same or a similar problem but report your own bug; there are several driver/hardware combinations with this issue and each might need a different patch/workaround in the driver, and the 'ubuntu-bug' command attaches all necessary hardware-information to the bug report.

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  5. Sound preferences (gnome-volume-control) only shows the master PulseAudio volume slider. What you are looking for are in the alsa mixer controls. I recommend that you install the package gnome-alsamixer 

    sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer

    and then start the application by the same name. This should allow you to tweak your sound card setting including disabling amplification.

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  6. If you have a nice hifi system (like I do), then your best option is to get rid of pulseaudio completely and use hardware volume control from alsa directly. It makes a BIG difference. just apt-get remove pulseaudio You will lose a bit of flexibility (like playing lots of sounds simultaneously), but it will really make for much better sound experience.

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