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The sound volume in my headphones is too low. I have set all Windows volume controls to the max. With that setting, I can understand speech, but the sound is somewhat distorted, as one expects when turning the volume to max. (The distortion makes music not sound good.) Max volume should be painful to hear, but this is just OK.

My headphones are wired earbuds, plugged in to the headphone jack in the back of a new HP desktop running Windows 10.

I don't use speakers on my desktop. I only get sound through the headphones.

I have plugged the same headphones into a laptop, and the sound becomes painful with the Windows volume at 33% - so the headphones are not broken.

What should I look for / how can I troubleshoot this?

radumanolescu
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  • Does the headphone connector have 3 or 4 rings? – Mokubai Sep 17 '19 at 06:20
  • Possible duplicate (depending on your reply): [Bad sound quality of 3.5mm headphone with mic on laptop](https://superuser.com/questions/271943/bad-sound-quality-of-3-5mm-headphone-with-mic-on-laptop) – Mokubai Sep 17 '19 at 07:24
  • The headphone jack looks like the one on the left in the image at https://superuser.com/questions/271943/bad-sound-quality-of-3-5mm-headphone-with-mic-on-laptop, i.e.: TRS: two insulation rings and two channels (tip, insulation, channel, insulation, sleeve for ground). I have plugged the headphones in the front panel (as opposed to the back panel) and the volume is much higher. Please add your suggestion as an answer so I can accept it. – radumanolescu Sep 17 '19 at 23:16

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All credit goes to @Mokubai for pointing me in the right direction.

It turns out the volume is much louder (i.e.: normal) if I plug into the front panel, as opposed to the back panel.

The connector for my headphones is TRS; this might have something to do with it.

radumanolescu
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