[Bill Mac]

I just bought a Sony NWZ-728 which it is the first MP3 player I have owned. After a morning of learning I have it up and running. One question I have is the volume level at max is not as loud as I would like. I do like to listen to music at fairly high volumes so I am somewhat disappointed. The volume level is set for normal.

Maybe the volume is set as to not cause any hearing damage for guys like me

. Are there ways to increase the volume level (hidden menu) and still keep everything portable? Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

Bill

 

[synaesthetic]

uh...

I can't push it past 20/30 without seriously hurting my ears. Maybe your headphones are low-sensitivity? You may need to add a portable amp to boost the volume a bit.

 

[Bill Mac]

synaesthetic,

I was using the ear buds that came with the A728 which are not too good and then tryed a cheap pair of no-name portable open headphones which were better. Not sure on the sensitivity on either of these.

I see you mention you do not push the volume past 20/30. Is this percent or a volume setting on the Sony? I see no volume scale on the A728, I looked in the menu but did not see a volume scale setting. I ordered a pair of Sennheiser PX-100 headphones which should give me much better SQ over the two headphones I have now.

Pardon my noob questions but MP3 players are all new to me. I have been a A/V enthusiast for over 25 years and have a fairly complex home theater system. But setting up the A728 really challenged my already poor computer skills! Thanks for your help.

Bill

 

[Pikachoa]

Are you listening to them in a quiet room? When it's silent around me, I can't turn it up past 16-17 without it starting to bother my ears.

You should perform the germanium/kramer mod on the stock buds, it does wonders for them.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/son...thread-193464/

In short, remove the eartip, cut out the paper guard in the canal, and then block out the three big holes on the side of the body. In my experience, it really let the highs and mids show up more without affecting the bass. This made the headphone also seem louder. I went from listening at volumes 12-14 to 8-9 in quiet places.

 

[synaesthetic]

I typically listen in the range of 14-17 using my ER-4P. They're not the most sensitive IEMs in the world and they have 27 ohms impedance, compared to the usual 16 ohms of most in-ears.

I do not use the normalizer setting, as it mucks up the sound.

@Bill Mac: The max volume on the A720 series is 30, so when I say 20/30 I mean 20 out of 30 total. For even my most cool-mastered albums, 20 is often too loud.

 

[berniebennybernard]

Using my Super.Fi's, I listened using 5-6, 3 for quieter areas.

For the ER6i/Q-JAYs, I had to bump it up to 8-10.

 

[synaesthetic]

Not too surprising. The UE universals are waaaay sensitive. I plugged my old ER-6i into the player and the levels I use for my ER-4P are too high for it as well.

 

[Steveco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Mac /img/forum/go_quote.gif synaesthetic, I see you mention you do not push the volume past 20/30. Is this percent or a volume setting on the Sony? I see no volume scale on the A728, I looked in the menu but did not see a volume scale setting. Bill

I picked up a 728 last week. There was no volume or battery level display. I reset it with the reset button & they both are displaying now.

 

[shigzeo]

ive never set mine higher than about 14 or so

 

[Bill Mac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steveco /img/forum/go_quote.gif I picked up a 728 last week. There was no volume or battery level display. I reset it with the reset button & they both are displaying now.

Steve,

Thanks for the reset tip! I reset and now have the volume, battery and elapsed track time display. I have the volume at close to 30 so either I am going deaf or need more efficent headphones.

Thanks everyone else for your advice as well. I will do some more reading here on the forum. As I said earlier I ordered the Sennheiser PX-100s but might chance to the PX-200s. I will do some more research on both to which would be best for me.

Bill

 

[nageeb]

is there anyway to increase the mp3 volume beyond 30? i would like to listen to my music at higher volume, not concerned about fututre problem to my ears, can you help! i understand there is software to download, which uncap the volume limit. can you name this software please. thank you