Low volume

[HammerBot]

Years ago, I had a very cheap Turtle beach soundcard. The main problem with it was low line out signal. So I had to set my speakers almost to full volume resulting in significant background noise. The sound card was replaced with a Creative Soundblaster live 5.1 which has a significant louder output. So I was happy.
Now, I have just completed a new PC that has integrated audio (CMEDIA 8738), and the problem is back. Becoming a bit technical, I think its because the mobo has the audio output directly from the chip, whereas the the creative card has some ekstra components which could be some additional gain.

Has anybody had similar problems? Why is the output to low? Is there anything I can do to improve this?

 

[Crashman]

You know that little icon in your tray that looks like a speaker? Use it! Turn every setting up to around 80%. This seems to be the highest setting you'll find with most audio outputs without causing clipping.

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[HammerBot]

I have all settings at around 90%, and still the output is significantly lower than with my Soundblaster.

 

[Crashman]

Are you using amplified speakers?

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[HammerBot]

Yes, I am. And I have no problems with those using the Soundblaster.

 

[Crashman]

While I've seen that some cards have more signal amplification than others, I've never experienced the problem you're having. My speakers put out a very high sound level at 1/2 volume on my current card. Anything higher exceeds the level the speakers can tolerate. I've had quiet cards that would allow my to turn the volume up to 3/4 before they reached that level, but that is still below the threshhold of where the amplifier starts producing noticable noise.

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