XPS 9520 Sound volume too low

The weird thing is that DCU offers to install 2 Realtek driver versions. Top one is 6.0.9285.1, A00 and  6.0.9369.1, A01 below.

After installation and reboot was completed I found that even both drivers were installed currently running version is 6.0.9285.1, A00. So I manually install 6.0.9369.1, A01 which uninstalled the previous one, rebooted, installed latest one, rebooted and now I have 100% volume as it should have, loud and clear.

But Windows 10 volume issue still exist.

Experimenting with Windows 10 and different driver versions I found that all driver versions below 6.0.9285.1 give max volume without ability to adjust it. It's either 100% or 0%. I tried 6.0.9228.1 \ 6.0.9247.1 \ 6.0.9261.1 - same behavior.

Driver version 6.0.9285.1 and 6.0.9369.1 give the ability to adjust the volume but even at 100% it's quiet.

Sounds like you've already done diagnostics in BIOS and they passed. Have you done diagnostics in SupportAssist? Have you tried to update the drivers using SupportAssist instead of Dell Update or Windows update?

I can and I used. It's 6.0.9369.1. Installing it in w10 gives low volume. In w11 it gives normal volume. I mentioned this in my 2nd reply above.

You cannot use the W11 driver that works properly on W10?

I tried, same result.

Installed windows 11 again. Right after installation it was High Definition driver and it was possible to change volume, but it was in "quiet" mode, like windows 10 with latest driver. After few minutes it was automatically updated to Realtek audio 6.0.9285.1 and volume became constantly max regardless slider position. Next step was to manually update through DCU to the latest 6.0.9369.1, reboot and we have nice volume and normal reaction to the slider position. Long story short, using w11 for now

But I will be glad to hear if anyone has the same problem with w10 and found how to fix it.

That's very interesting considering people are reporting a lot of sound issues etc with W11. If you feel that you've found a solution for your problem, consider marking your message as the solution. Considering now that W11 is the new Windows sadly I don't think any care will be given to the fact that audio does not work correctly in W10.

Same problem here. The laptop's sound is too low at windows 10, maybe a bit better or windows 11 but not so loud. I hope the dell can fix it.

just in case

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/xps-9520-w10-low-sound-volume.299780/

who knows where we get the answer

Wow, at some point I thought problem fixed!!
Tonight I decided to connect my Marshall Minor II after OS was reinstalled last time. Once device became paired I switched sound to it and tested how it sounds. Something was wrong, it was to clear, more high frequencies than usually. While I was testing different songs I decided shortly to switch back to laptop speakers and miracle!! They sounds loud as they should. Even at 50% of volume it's loud. While I was playing with switching back and forth within1-2 minutes everything normalized to the state it was before and volume dropped to the pre-pairing level. Slowly, but I think I am getting closer...

...Getting closer.

2h later rebooting my laptop system log showed some stupid records from OED source:

FX module is not supported in BIOS: {***4db**-****-****-****-************} from \??\C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\intcoed_oemlibpath.inf_amd64_e906a43b9ff8ff95\adl_rtksep481_lib.bin.

Library is not supported in BIOS: \??\C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\intcoed_oemlibpath.inf_amd64_e906a43b9ff8ff95\adl_rtksep481_lib.bin, status = The request is not supported..

and 6 more .bin fin files were not supported by BIOS and not loaded except these 3:

Loaded DSP FW library: Libs\dsp_lib_intel_wov_adl_release.bin, status = STATUS_SUCCESS.

Loaded DSP FW library: Libs\dsp_lib_whm_adl_release.bin, status = STATUS_SUCCESS.

Loaded DSP FW library: \??\C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\intcoed_oemlibpath.inf_amd64_e906a43b9ff8ff95\adl_maxx_audio_pro.bin, status = STATUS_SUCCESS.

So it tried to load some kind of sound card\effects FW asking UEFI what's allowed and finally chose adl_maxx_audio_pro.bin

Ok, f**k this $h*t let's go to EOD source. Visited device manager under system devices I found:

Intel® Smart Sound Technology OED which depends on Intel® Smart Sound Technology BUS.

Disabling Intel® Smart Sound Technology OED gives us very familiar behavior where volume becomes very loud like it should be at 100%, but it doesn't follow volume slider, it's always stays max!

After reboot there is no sound until I enabled beck that stupid EOD driver. And it's quiet again.

Guys I need your help. Please download soundvolumeview from NirSoft and tell me what is your "Min Vol db"? I believe it should be around -90 so at 0 it will be good loud sound. Mine is -65 -__-

Ok, I checked another xps 93xx laptops where volume is loud and it shows the same -65db. Time to die cry ;(

 I suggest a couple of tests.

1. Plug in headphones to see if the problem is just in the speakers, or the headphone jack too.

2. If the volume level is too low in headphones, make the volume level is turned up.

3. Test the audio driver by switching between the Realtek driver and the Windows native audio driver.

1.    Open the Device Manager (find it in the Control Panel, or type devmgmt.msc into the search box).
2.    Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers" and right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio".
3.    Select to "Update Driver Software".
4.    Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5.    Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6.    Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked.
7.    In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8.    Click "Next".
9.    On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10.    Restart the laptop if prompted. If not prompted, sometimes you have to restart, sometimes not.
[To get back to the Realtek driver, do it again but reverse the names in steps 2 and 7.]

If the volume is excessively low with both drivers, then it could be hardware failure.