49 Posts
0
6010
XPS 9520 Sound volume too low
XPS 15 9520
Windows 10:
Once windows installed it automatically installs "Realtek® Audio" driver ver. 6.0.9285.1. It does not matter where you move the volume slider it always plays sound at 100% volume and it's very loud. Using Dell Command Update I upgraded audio driver to the latest available version 6.0.9369.1. I am able to choose volume I want, but when I select 100% it play sounds at 50% of volume it was before I updated the driver. And it's really quiet. Uninstalling the latest driver gives 100% of loudness again without any options to choose less volume. Installing back the latest driver gives 50% loudness when slider moved to 100%. If I slide volume to 50% I barely hear sounds.
Windows 11:
With default driver after windows was installed the sound is quiet. After using Dell Command Update I upgraded audio driver to the latest available version 6.0.9369.1 and it becomes a bit louder, but not that as it should be. For example, if you run dell UEFI diagnostics it plays sounds very loud.
I read through https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/coreaudio/audio-tapered-volume-controls so, I believe, there should be an .inf file section which describes min and max voltage or idk.
Who knows how to fix it?
demonru
49 Posts
0
October 20th, 2022 04:00
1) 32 Omh vs 250 Omh headphones? I got your point, but in this case it will be useless to compare headphones vs internal speaker volume. Also, WaveMaxx steps here adjusting its algorithms.
2) It's more complicated case here with this cheap old RTL289 soundchip inside then we think and it all routes through the wavemaxx I believe, even if you disable its components in device manager and stop services. I'm pretty sure there should be some registry settings responsible for sound amplification, because the same version of Realtek drv for windows 11 gives me a rich loud sound.
In this particular case you will not find HDA under "Sound, video & game controllers", but you will find it under "System Settings". Once changed to HDA Controller driver the sound becomes loud as I expect, but there is no chance to change volume. It basically doesn't follow the volume slider. From 0 to 100% it always plays sound at max volume.
One thing I can't understand. Windows 11 and 10 use the same driver, the same .inf file which doesn't have different sections for each OS version. So both OSes us the same information from .inf file to copy files and setup drivers and services. But what's wrong with it then?
demonru
49 Posts
0
October 25th, 2022 10:00
So far there's only one solution in windows 10 how to get a full loud volume is to replace "Intel SST BUS" driver with "HDA Controller" driver.
It gives a full sounds volume, the same loudness as you have when testing speakers using Dell's internal UEFI hardware testing software before OS boot.
But issue with using HDA Controller driver is that it eliminates the ability to change the sound volume. It doesn't matter where I move windows volume slider it sounds like always 100%, very loud.
demonru
49 Posts
0
November 6th, 2022 04:00
Dell support replied with:
"Unfortunately, there is nothing more that we can do for the audio issue. While you can use Windows 10 on this system, it's optimized for Windows 11. The drivers on the website are for Windows 11. We do not have driver packs for Windows 10 in relation to this issue. So again, Windows 10 can be used, but there may be issues like this."
I gave up and jumped to windows 11. Sound volume is adjustable and very loud on max as it should be.
If someone will find solution how to fix it on windows 10 please update this topic -__-
demonru
49 Posts
0
November 10th, 2022 07:00
I spent 2 days on windows 11 since than and jumped back to win10 again.
1) this stupid bottom-right 3-icons panel. Requires more actions to connect or see vpn connectivity stuff. Sound icon opens Settings instead of control panel app.
2) Big disappointment is combined taskbar app icons. I hate it, If I have 5 excel app opened I need to see 5 icons on the taskbar instead of 1.
3) Right click menu, I don't even want to say anything *facepalm*
Windows 11 just forces you to do more additional actions to do what what needs to be done in 1 click.
But sound volume is good ))) Anyway, comparing pros and cons I switched back to Windows 10
ps. I exported registry keys from W11 audio render settings, maybe I can find out what is the difference between w10 settings.
frankiscott
1 Message
0
November 10th, 2022 07:00
I too am experiencing this problem - Disappointed to hear this reply from Dell -My employer requires Win10 at the moment, so I'm stuck without being able to run win11.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
November 10th, 2022 20:00
1) Just reconfig it to always show more of them
2) You click Excel icon once, and you will see all 5 (then, just pick one)
3) There is a little Registry hack to make Properties act like Windows-10 .
And in general ... In 22H2, things might work a bit different than they did in 21H2.
demonru
49 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2022 04:00
Thanks for reply, but:
1) I did not find a way to see a list of wifi networks along with vpn connections in one place. In order to get there I need to do additional clicks. Just a simple question, who was that a$$ smart and creative to replace old wifi+vpn sliding menu with this stupid new windows?
2) That's the old stuff, but I don't need combined icons, not in w10 not in w11. I hate combined icons, again steps needed to achieve the same result.
3) With w11 it takes to much registry hacks and gpo modifications to make it more private and convenient to use.
4) w11 with all drivers and software consumes around 7-8GB of RAM vs 3GB with w10. That's insane!! I made the comparison on purpose. *facepalm*
demonru
49 Posts
0
November 25th, 2022 15:00
WOW, finally! They fixed it. Sound is very loud now as it suppose to be. I'm glad that I can keep windows 10 for a bit longer.