# Making My Music Louder (headphones) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-my-music-louder-headphones/84876 "2001-10-02T01:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-my-music-louder-headphones/84876/1 "2001-10-02T01:23:16Z")
On my computer, I like to listen to my music via the headset that I use. Too bad so sad, I’ve got no volume control on them. Are there any special programs that would allow me to buff up the output volume on the headphones (on a windows system). I’ve already looked at the sound control and everything seems to be at the highest point it can be set to. Please help I need my music! - D12 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-my-music-louder-headphones/84876/2 "2001-10-02T01:37:12Z")
You need to either 1: Get a more sensitive pair of headphones. Sound card line level output is not always going to be high enough for a high quality pair of head phones. 2 Take the line level output to a receiver line input and use the headphone level output from the receiver. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-my-music-louder-headphones/84876/3 "2001-10-02T02:34:00Z")
I am partially deaf, so I feel your pain. On my MP3 (MusicMatch) recorder, I set the Normalization to 120% to boost the level of the input signal. I wouldn’t recommend going any higher than that because of distortion. I bought an Intel MP3 player - it’s got a nice amp on it. I also have Sound Cancelling headphones, which do 2 things: 1. They cancel out external noise, which not surprisingly, makes listening better. 2. They have a slight booster amp as well. I got a pair of them (Aiwa HP-CN5) for about $40. I’ve been looking at others as well, since these are a little bulky. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-my-music-louder-headphones/84876/4 "2001-10-02T02:45:53Z")
Another option, although a little spendy would be to get a headphone amp. Samson makes one that’s about $130. Other than that, astro’s idea makes the most sense if you have a receiver nearby.