# Headphones volume on Thinkpad



## ProphetOfDoom (Sep 19, 2021)

Hi, first of all sincere apologies to any other users whom I may not have replied to in the past, I'm extremely socially awkward even for a Unix enthusiast...
I just installed FreeBSD on my Thinkpad x220 (it had been running Ubuntu for a few years) and I also got some new Beyerdynamic headphones. Unfortunately they are too quiet, the impedance is 80 Ohm. Just to give you an idea of the levels I'm getting: imagine 0dB is "uncomfortably loud"; well I like to listen at -2dB and my headphones are only providing about -10dB. I'm using the Mate desktop if that's relevant. I tried installing audio/pavucontrol on the suggestion of another thread, but when I try and raise the volume above 100% it immediately snaps back to 100%.
Can anyone help?


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## Deleted member 30996 (Sep 19, 2021)

Have you ran `mixer`?


```
jitte@bakemono:/ $ mixer
Mixer vol      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer pcm      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer speaker  is currently set to 100:100
Mixer mic      is currently set to  50:50
Mixer rec      is currently set to   1:1
Mixer monitor  is currently set to  50:50
Recording source: monitor
jitte@bakemono:/ $
```

You can set each variable independently.


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## ProphetOfDoom (Sep 20, 2021)

Hullo, thanks for your message, it does the same as pavucontrol i.e. it clamps it to 100!


```
~ $ mixer
Mixer vol      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer pcm      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer speaker  is currently set to   0:0
Mixer mic      is currently set to  50:50
Mixer rec      is currently set to   1:1
Mixer monitor  is currently set to   0:0
Recording source: mic
~ $ mixer vol 150
Setting the mixer vol from 100:100 to 100:100.
```


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## matt_k (Sep 20, 2021)

```
~> mixer vol 150
Setting the mixer vol from 100:100 to 100:100.
~>
```

that's normal behavior.

If you want to boost the volume even more, check the _hw.snd.vpc_0db_ sysctl. The lower you set it, the bigger the boost, up to distortion levels.


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## T-Daemon (Sep 20, 2021)

Check which driver the sound card is using: `sysctl -a | grep hda | grep -A1 driver`
Maybe there is a note in the drivers manual about volume, i.g.:
snd_hda(4)

```
Boot-time Configuration
  The following variables are available at boot-time through the
  device.hints(5) file:
              ...
              hint.hdaa.%d.gpio_config
                                           ...  If you have no sound, or sound
                                    volume is not adequate, you may have to
                                    experiment a bit with the GPIO setup to
                                    find the optimal setup for your system.
```


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## ProphetOfDoom (Sep 20, 2021)

Thank-you matt_k that did the job.
It was set to 45 and I changed it to 25.
`sudo sysctl hw.snd.vpc_0db=25`


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## ProphetOfDoom (Sep 20, 2021)

Thanks T-Daemon for your reply - all fixed now!


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