Author Topic: A good tool for adjusting system vs. player volume  (Read 2850 times)

sveakul

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There is a school of thought that for maximum audio quality the volume control of MusicBee (and other players) should be set to 100%, and resultant output be adjusted by changing the Windows system volume instead. The logic is that this supplies the signal from the player at its maximum bit resolution.

A less esoteric reason why this can be a good idea is that it's simple to keep the same volume level between players for the same source, which I appreciate.

I found that for me it's easiest to do this using the freeware "Volume2" application, a replacement for the Windows system volume control that does the same thing (change the system volume) but with a whole lot of options that make it faster and more flexible.  Now to adjust volume for MB or anything else I just mouse down to the taskbar (anywhere) and use the mouse wheel--no clicking, no pull-out GUI to invoke, no "one spot" to hit first, etc.--and see a fixed numerical indicator in the tray respond to the level.  If desired you can also choose to use hotkeys instead, or a pop-up OSD, or other methods, all while retaining the native Windows volume control icon and its use if desired.  Flexibility is a good thing--just ask any MusicBee fan :)

I mention Volume2 because I've been very happy with it and it doesn't get a lot of press.  The author's download site is at http://irzyxa.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html ; very little (as in none!) illustrations can be found there, but Google it and you'll see examples of its rich options screens.  Don't let the Russian language home page intimidate you, the application installs and displays its options in a variety of selectable languages.  Both installer and portable versions are offered.