Sound volume is different, even from the same program

Hey folks! One more from me! =p

I noticed I'm having different sound volume levels, even from the same program (browser), and even if they're all maxed out.

For example, when I'm listening to songs on Spotify, I need to lower its volume. Then if I go watch something on Youtube, I need to raise it. Same thing when I hop into my local Plex server, but in this case both sound only (when browsing series) and while playing video, need to be raised. When I watch something on Telegram, sound sometimes is too low when listening to an audio someone sent me (I know this can also be caused by whoever sent the audio) or a video.

Ideas?

AFAIK I haven't messed with anything related to audio since I installed Garuda here.

System:
  Kernel: 6.2.10-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=468e3250-834f-4678-85b1-f50f268e557d rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
    resume=UUID=92d5bc58-440e-4eab-9f01-4fa35d34e02b loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.4 tk: Qt v: 5.15.8 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: G5 5590 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0F3T2G v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.22.0 date: 11/10/2022
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 48.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 48.6/60.0 Wh (81.0%)
    volts: 17.0 min: 15.2 model: SMP DELL JJPFK87 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-9750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 9 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB desc: 6x256 KiB
    L3: 12 MiB desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1250 high: 2600 min/max: 800/4500 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 2600
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 2600 10: 2600 11: 800 12: 800
    bogomips: 62399
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Dell
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
    ports: active: none off: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e9b class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106M [GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile] vendor: Dell
    driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 530.xx+
    status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Turing code: TUxxx
    process: TSMC 12nm FF built: 2018-22 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1f11 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-5:4 chip-ID: 0c45:671f class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau
    alternate: fbdev,intel,nv,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x2160 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 675x570mm (26.57x22.44")
    s-diag: 883mm (34.78")
  Monitor-1: DP-1-0 pos: primary,top res: 2560x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 81
    size: 798x334mm (31.42x13.15") diag: 865mm (34.06") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: HDMI-1-0 pos: bottom res: 2560x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 96
    size: 677x290mm (26.65x11.42") diag: 736mm (29") modes: N/A
  Monitor-3: eDP-1 size-res: N/A modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.2 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL
    GT2) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 1-4.1:5 alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl
    chip-ID: 1b3f:2008 bus-ID: 00:1f.3 class-ID: 0300 chip-ID: 8086:a348
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1
    chip-ID: 10de:10f9 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Generalplus USB Audio Device type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
  Device-4: Realtek USB Audio type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio
    bus-ID: 1-4.5:9 chip-ID: 0bda:4014 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  API: ALSA v: k6.2.10-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.68 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 3c:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:2502
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp60s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 3d:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e class-ID: 0280 temp: 48.0 C
  IF: wlp61s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter type: USB driver: r8152
    bus-ID: 6-1.2:3 chip-ID: 0bda:8153 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
  IF: enp58s0u1u2 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:8
    chip-ID: 0cf3:e007 class-ID: e001
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 541.64 GiB (46.3%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 15.8 Gb/s lanes: 2 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 20240012 temp: 59.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD10SPZX-75Z10T3 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 4514 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 221.19 GiB size: 221.19 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 66.61 GiB (30.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 628 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 221.19 GiB size: 221.19 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 66.61 GiB (30.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 221.19 GiB size: 221.19 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 66.61 GiB (30.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 221.19 GiB size: 221.19 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 66.61 GiB (30.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.43 GiB used: 512 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 16.98 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 78.0 C pch: 78.0 C mobo: 60.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3042 fan-1: 2952
Info:
  Processes: 351 Uptime: 1h 28m wakeups: 3 Memory: 15.43 GiB
  used: 9.91 GiB (64.2%) Init: systemd v: 253 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.1 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1934
  libs: 532 tools: gnome-software,octopi,pamac,paru,yay pm: appimage pkgs: 0
  Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: kitty inxi: 3.3.26
Garuda (2.6.16-1):
  System install date:     2023-04-01
  Last full system update: 2023-04-11
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:            

Do you a volume normalizer is your solution?

I think it could help, but that would be treating the symptom, not the cause… It could be a last resort solution, yes.

Have you tried adjusting each source in Volume Control?

They're all maxed, as I've written on the original post.

And this discrepancy happens no matter which sound output I choose, HDMI display, DP display, or a different external sound output.

My idea was to bring down the levels to the volume of the lowest source...

What about this: If you play the same file in multiple instances of the same app, does each stream have the same volume?

Considering what bothers me the most is different sources/sites within the same app/browser (which didn't happen on Windows or back last year when I was using Pop), nope, I haven't. I'll grab an mp3 later and test this... along with testing the same file in different apps.

1 Like

ok, examples: Chromium's volume is 100%.

image

Audio device being used is at 100%

image

Youtube volume is at 100%

image

Spotify volume is at 100%

image

and then... can I fit a video here..? Ok, I can't.

Here's an unlisted video of it: Garuda + Chromium volume differences - YouTube