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I dualboot Slackware64 and Windows 7.

The volume under Linux when maxed seems a lot lower than when it is maxed on Windows.

My soundcard chip is Realtek ALC662. Volume is set to 100% for PCM and Master in alsamixer and in whatever application I am playing sound with.

Is there anything further I can do to get the volume as loud as it is in Windows?

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If you don't mind switching your player, vlc seems to be able to increase the volume tremendously... maybe other players can do that, too? – sr_ Apr 20 '12 at 8:27
@sr_ that isn't really a solution to me, since it can damage speakers and isn't application wide. – thx1139 May 5 '12 at 16:47

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

This is probably an issue with your ALSA sound level settings. There are two main volume settings: PCM and Master. Usually only one of them is controlled via desktop GUI settings (you can select which one that is in your audio settings).

If you run alsamixer in your terminal, check the volume levels for both of them. If you can't find the system setting to select the default volume control mechanism, try this:

  • open up alsamixer in your terminal
  • change the volume using your desktop controls and notice, which alsamixer setting is changed
  • in alsamixer, increase the level of the other volume control (i.e. If "PCM" was changed while you changed volume from the GUI, then increase "Master" in alsamixer).

Note: You exit alsamixer using the Esc key.

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This is definitely not the case. PCM and Master are both set to 100%, as I mentioned in the question. – thx1139 May 5 '12 at 16:24
@thx1139 Sorry - I overlooked this. This could be some weird driver issue then... Or broken ALSA configuration. Could you add the output of lsmod | grep snd to your description? – rozcietrzewiacz May 11 '12 at 9:40
up vote 1 down vote

In alsamixer try increasing everything which is not "mic" or "line in". Do it while playing some sound so you will know which channel is responsible. If you have a channel named "Front", try increasing that.

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