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Increasing the volume over 100% on Linux

Volume & Balance Potentiometer

Incerase Your Volume Beyond 100

I have been listening to many videos on YouTube, Facebook, etc. that have a really low volume. This is generally rather annoying since in the end I cannot hear a lot of the audio track.

There is actually a way to increase the volume over the normal 100% limit.

There are several features that offer such a feature, but the one that worked for me is a Volume Control application called pavucontrol.

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol
pavucontrol

It looks like various systems offer various ways to do that, but at least that one works for me under Linux in Ubuntu Unity.

Source: https://superuser.com/questions/300178/can-i-increase-the-sound-volume-above-100-in-linux

Improvement in 2020

As a side note, I wanted to mention that my old headphones finally gave up. The right side would not play any more sound.

So as a result I needed a new set of headphones and I bought 4 total. All four ar too tight, although the last one is bearable for one or two hours.

That being said, all of them had incredibly louder sound. Where I used a volume level of 30 for radio and often 100 or more to listen to Youtube videos, now I have to use 2 or 3 for radio and no more than 10 for Youtube videos.

I think this is due to the fact that newer speakers need much less power to function.

OneOdio HeadphonesFirst I tried the OneOdio headphones.

These were actually really good in terms of sound but I could not even wear them for 5 min. Super tight.

The system allows you to have just one headphone as you can turn the other in all sorts of way... but I'm not too sure how that's really supposed to hold on your head that way.

I liked the color and generally style. But like all the headphone I've found so far, no horizontal adjustment so no way to make it fit better...

I like the idea of having a cable that connects on the headset too. Most headphones have one or two cables coming directly in the speakers and when those break, you're done. With a cable you connect, it may last longer. I'll see... my new headset is like that (yeah... another one!)

Sony White HeadsetThe next one I've got is a simple white Sony Headset. From the picture, this looked very close to what I had before.

This was nearly true. The movement of the headphones themselves was not as lose as my old headset.

The cushion is not as comfortable as my old ones. These felt more list plastic.

The sound is decent for the price and the fact that you can elongate the headset gives some flexibility, but since there is again not horizontal adjustment, it was too tight. That being said, I could support those for more time... like 30 min. or so.

So that was a failure too as far as I'm concerned. I did not mind anything else. Just the fact that it's too tight.

Logitech HeadsetSince I was not yet satisfied, I decided to try the next possible one that maybe would work.

My son has one of these and when I tried his on, it seemed to be okay.

The fact is that his are probably widened for long term use. So they fit okay, but these new ones, again, too tight. These may have worked okay with I wasn't wearing glaces, though. Because the cushion pushes hard on the glaces legs.

This one also includes a microphone and a potentiometer for the volume. Again, I was really surprised how much control is given over the volume for a headset. Technilogy has come a really long way!

Although these do not come with specific anti-noise cancelation, the cushion is such that it already cancels a lot of it. If you are in a noisy room, chances are you won't notice it as much with these on your head.

Sony Noise Cancellation Wired & Wireless WH-XB900X HeadsetSo after all those infructuous attempts, I forced myself to go to BestBuy to get my next headphones. Just the 4th one... (the 4th be with you!)

Testing around, I found very similar terrible headphones that would squish my ears, temples, glaces legs... until I tried this Sony and the model up.

Both were wonderful in terms of sound and somehow large enough for my head (yeah, I must have a really wide head or something...)

These truly cancel the sound. The cups are actually sucking air out somehow.

One problem I have, though, is that in the summer it's so hot here (over 30°C at my desk during the afternoon, it's between 40°C and 45°C outside...) and I sweat like crazy with those because it's so closed up.

Now... even though are a bit tight, especially on my glaces legs, but that's the only one I've found that is working. Unfortunately, though, it's quite a bit more money...

Note that the package and most ads about these headphones say "wireless" in big. The truth is that you can use them either way: wired, you have to plug a cable on the right side, or wireless.

The wireless feature actually makes use of a lithium battery which you recharge using a USB-C connector. The first time it takes some 12 hours to recharge fully. After that, it will depend on your usage. The battery lasts for a whole day lsitening to music (I haven't tried that, though, after 2h or 3h, I have to remove them... too tight and sooo sweaty!)

So... if you want a recommendation, as I mentioned, all four are great headphones. It will depend mainly on how confortable you're going to feel with one or the other headset. Most will work with the majority of people, I would imagine. The other three, my kids are using them. So it's not like they don't work, it's just that for me they are really uncomfortable...

And in terms of the volume, they all work magic. The Sony White ones are probably the ones that are the least loud. The others are boosted so much... I really don't need that Linux feature anymore.