Low volume -- tried everything

[djlewis]

I installed Winamp full/free (Windoze XP Pro) and am having problems with low volume. There isn't enough to really drive either my speakers or Grado SR60 headset at a satisfactory listening level, and the Sony in-the-ear just barely. The bass also sounds very thin, but this might just be overall low volume.

Both Winamp and system master volume sliders are at their max.

This goes for .mp3, .flac and direct from CD. I tried the two choices for output plug-ins (DirectSound and waveOut) and that made no difference.

I compared it to Real Player for .mp3 and CD, and it was clear that Winamp's volume was a lot lower all around.

I tried disabling output volume control for both waveOut and DirectSound and that does not fix it (maybe helps a little, not sure, but still not satisfactory).

I also tried the "alt setting mode" for waveout, and that gives better volume, but crappy bass. Upping the equalizer helps, but seems to mess up the sound with all kinds of quirks. Also, disabling Winamp's volume slider is not exactly a satisfactory solution in the end.

The only thing that helps, for CDs only, is to set the "General Preferences > Playback > Adjustment for files without Replay Gain" slider to the max (+6.0db). But that does not help for the .mp3 and .flac files.

Help?! Why is this so hard? Why doesn't Winamp do the right thing out of the box. AFAICT, mine is a pretty vanilla installation.

Thanks. --David.

[Rocker]

works fine for me.

did you try turning up winamp's volume? and the wav volume control in the windows volume control.

if you have windows xp use directsound and reset everything to default values inside directsound config.

tried turning off the equilizer? the preamp gain control makes things very quiet.(usually the first bar)

[djlewis]

> did you try turning up winamp's volume? and the wav volume
> control in the windows volume control.

Both were already at max.

> if you have windows xp use directsound and reset everything
> to default values inside directsound config.

Did that. Seems to do the trick, but...

> tried turning off the equilizer? the preamp gain control
> makes things very quiet.(usually the first bar)

Toggling the equalizer on/off seems to make no differences. But when I did the above DirectSound default fix, the volume became OK, but bass on Winamp seemed to suffer by comparison with Real. So I used the Winamp equalizer. Is it a matter of bass being boosted by default in Real, or de-boosted in Winamp, or what?

As for my original troubles, I guess I just got lost in the welter of "fixes." I no longer remember what the default output plug-in was, but it could have been waveOut. Would that have explained it? If so, then is there a way for Winamp to "do the right thing" by default on Windoze?

Thanks. --David.