iPod iPod classic 160GB (UK) volume too low

[Sesshi]

Depends what you call loud.

To respond to your first piece of 'evidence', the EU ipods don't reach 110-120 decibel range. Maybe if you could turn them up to just under this level people would be happy with the volume.

2nd piece - "68% of the group do not realize that listening to at loud volume can cause permanent damage." That's fine but irrelevant.

“A generation ago we would see people going deaf in their sixties or seventies, but we’re now seeing more people going deaf in their forties, which is very worrying,”

They 'see', do they? Great, thanks for the figures.

3rd piece - one person (in the US) has filed a lawsuit. And...?



Of course listening to music at a certain level will damage your hearing, but a little more personal choice with regards to the EU ipod would be welcome.




Years of listening to a Walkman, years of listening to an ipod. As far as I can see (my girlfriend keeps telling me to turn the TV up) my hearing is fine, thanks.

Yeah, I think in-ear headphones will help people a wee bit. Mine do.

It a) still may not be enough for some (including me) and b) why should people have to spend more money for a pleasant listening experience?

What we are simply saying is that in our opinion the EU cap is too low. I'm guessing we'd be happy with the US ipods. So, we're looking for a way to increase the maximum volume. In ear headphones - one option with weaknesses, certainly worth a mention though. Let's hope a foolproof option pops up soon.

As a matter of curiosity, what in-ears are we talking about?

If you have actually isolating earphones, you will a) experience the music better (so it is worth spending money on for a pleasant / better listening experience) and you will experience rather a lot more than 'a wee bit' of help.

 

[assscat]

I was excited to see some more activity in this thread - has a method been found to remove the volume cap on EU iPods so I can hear my music on the Tube?

No... it's another "don't play your music too loud" debate.

What a disappointment.

Anyway, in the meantime I've swapped my Apple earbuds for a pair of in-ear Sony's (uncomfortable, didn't get on with them); a pair of iGrados (absolutely fantastic sound but they're the on-ear 'open' type and let in too much ambient noise); and finally a cheap pair of Sennheiser MX-450 earbuds that have half the impedance of Apple's and are therefore a little louder. Sound quality's not very hot, but at least I can hear my music on the Tube a little better than before...

Really, something to get rid of the bloomin' volume cap must be just around the corner...

(And does anyone know how I can stop this ringing in my ears...)

 

[Alican]

I too am extremely frustrated by the volume limit.

I am wondering if this would help

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=117493&doy=7m12

 

[SneakerFreak]

Unforunately the only solution for me was to purchase isolating earphones.

Ultimate ears 5 pro in my case (£110) and now they are plenty loud enough on 3/4 volume.

 

[Alican]

I've just bought one from Maplin and they are extremely effective. A little crude but they work very well. Nice to be able to give a middle finger salute to the EU nannies

 

[qualar]

Wonder if someone could find the key in the firmware like they did for the old ipods. See below

This is a simple ten steps procedure to manually patch 5.5G Video iPods under Windows using HxD as hexadecimal editor:

1. First, plug the iPod to the USB port of your computer, after that wait for iTunes to come up (if configured to autostart) and quit it WITHOUT ejecting the iPod.
2. Start HxD (latest version is 1.6.1.0), click on the "Open Disk" button (you can find it just below the "View" menu).
3. You should see a "Removable Disk 1", select it, uncheck "Open as Readonly" and click "OK".
4. Click "OK" to skip the warning message.
5. Now click Search->Find (Ctrl+F) to open the search panel.
6. Type this in the "Search for" text line: 08009fe5940090e5
7. Select datatype "Hex-values" and click "OK".
8. The first string found IS NOT the one we're looking for, push F3 to find next...
9. FOUND! At the end of the selected string you will find the two magic bytes in "capped" position (01 00). Swap them (00 01).
10. Save (Ctrl+S), close (Ctrl+F4) and eject the iPod from the tray bar icon.

The iPod should now reboot. Go to Settings->Volume Limit and raise the volume bar to the max.

Now your iPod volume has been boosted.

 

[assscat]

I've no idea what that means, but hopefully it will spur someone on to figure out a fix… What a nice Christmas present that would be!

 

[SXR]

I think I'm having the most problems with this. Since I never play my iPod on max , and no in-ear type of phones work with me..

I sometimes get the feeling that my iPod is turned of in a crowded room..

 

[DMFAN78]

I just got a iPod Classic last week, and it was only last night when I had it sitting on my iPod HiFi that I noticed I had the volume up to full. Now, I had the volume limit set to the exact same limit I have on my 5G iPod.
I never have my 5G on full volume while it's docked on my HiFi as it's way too loud, as I was surprised I got both iPods, put on the exact same track on each iPod and swapped back and forth. There was no competition, the old iPod kicked the classics a***. I found this to be a HUGE disappointment as my old iPod was full which is why I upgraded in the first place.

I live in Australia... does this mean we have the same volume cap also?

I've tested all kinds of settings and the classic is just plain soft. Even on my bose headphones the sound (especially old CD's I had manually adjusted the volume of) are so much quieter when the volume is set to the same as the old iPod.

I no longer consider this iPod to be any good at all - sound is 'the most important thing' and in this case it's a let down.

 

[SHIVERINGGOAT]

Help!

Just been reading this thread....

I bought a 160gb Classic from London where I live a few months ago and as my friend is here from New York for Xmas I aksed him to get me another one from NYC, I got it yesterday and I cannot believe how much louder it is compared to the one I bought in the UK - I too travel on public transport and the one I bought in London is SO low -

I also tried go pod and ipod volume boost but I had to do a full restore the next time I plugged it in to my mac - and I have 130gb of music so it took ages...really frustrating

Does anyone know a good reliable USA website that does reasonable shipping to the UK (I tried amazon.com but they wouldn't process it due to the shipping address) because there is no way I am going to buy another from the UK.

Merry Christmas, I'm hoping to be deaf by Easter!

BAAAAHHHH!!!

 

[billl]

Wasted purchase

As someone above did, I too got excited when I saw all the new activity here, but unfortunately nothing that solves the problem.

I bought new classic for around £230 in London just after it came out...loaded it up and listened to it for no more than 10 mins before putting it down. Haven't picked it up since...what a waste of money. My old 80gb still sounds fantastic but ran out of space even before I started transferring all my old vinyl.

Apple, you should be ashamed....other mp3 player manufacturers aren't inflicting this sort of rubbish on their customers. Shame they don't seem capable of building a decent capacity product though or I would defect in a flash.

 

[SHIVERINGGOAT]

As someone above did, I too got excited when I saw all the new activity here, but unfortunately nothing that solves the problem.

I bought new classic for around £230 in London just after it came out...loaded it up and listened to it for no more than 10 mins before putting it down. Haven't picked it up since...what a waste of money. My old 80gb still sounds fantastic but ran out of space even before I started transferring all my old vinyl.

Apple, you should be ashamed....other mp3 player manufacturers aren't inflicting this sort of rubbish on their customers. Shame they don't seem capable of building a decent capacity product though or I would defect in a flash.

Bill The best thing to do is to buy a USA one off ebay - I have done my homework and there are some reliable sellers on there - I too have transferred all my vinyl and I have 129gb of music 19,000 tracks and I am still shocked how much louder the USA one I got a couple of weeks ago, compared to the UK one I also paid £229 for.
I am using this one in a dock as my main hifi source in my living room and use the loud one to travel with.

Good luck

 

[mosx]

As someone above did, I too got excited when I saw all the new activity here, but unfortunately nothing that solves the problem.

I bought new classic for around £230 in London just after it came out...loaded it up and listened to it for no more than 10 mins before putting it down. Haven't picked it up since...what a waste of money. My old 80gb still sounds fantastic but ran out of space even before I started transferring all my old vinyl.

Apple, you should be ashamed....other mp3 player manufacturers aren't inflicting this sort of rubbish on their customers. Shame they don't seem capable of building a decent capacity product though or I would defect in a flash.

I just want to say thats absolutely not true.

The volume cap is an EU law. Therefore, all manufacturers have to abide by it.

Look at Sony's players as an example. Instead of the usual 5mw+5mw into 16Ohms they're usually rated at, the EU models at rated at 1.5mw+1.5mw into 16Ohms.

No amount of complaining to Apple, Sony, etc. can really change this unless a large enough group complains that they can use their corporate muscle (money) to influence lawmakers with threats of lower taxes paid due to lower sales. The best way to change it is to either complain to your lawmakers or start importing from the US or Asia and make local governments lose money on sales taxes and such.

 

[Vixx]

I just want to say thats absolutely not true.

The volume cap is an EU law. Therefore, all manufacturers have to abide by it.

Look at Sony's players as an example. Instead of the usual 5mw+5mw into 16Ohms they're usually rated at, the EU models at rated at 1.5mw+1.5mw into 16Ohms.

No amount of complaining to Apple, Sony, etc. can really change this unless a large enough group complains that they can use their corporate muscle (money) to influence lawmakers with threats of lower taxes paid due to lower sales. The best way to change it is to either complain to your lawmakers or start importing from the US or Asia and make local governments lose money on sales taxes and such.

From what I have heard, yes it is a law, but only in France. So Apple decided to make all new EU Ipods with this volume cap, mostly because of the French law, so that they can't buy an Ipod in another EU country and be happy again. There is no such law in any other EU country from what i've read and heard. So there should'nt be a problem for the Apple store in the other countries without the law to remove the cap we might think. But that's just me..
I also got this problem that should'nt even exsist, I think it's so stupid and retarded of Apple to let us down like this, just because of France (If that now is true). I've tried to turn back my Ipod and get my cash to buy a US one, but I ordered mine in Sweden from the net, and then you could choose a random text to be written on the back of the Ipod, without any extra cost. So I did that, and now they say that I can't turn it back just because of that. Now how stupid is'nt that? Really pissed me of, and I think that they tricked me. So to the garbage with my new Ipod classic 80gig..

 

[Eraserhead]

The volume cap is an EU law. Therefore, all manufacturers have to abide by it.

No its a French law. Go Pod gets around it, also you can raise the volume of your songs in iTunes. Select the relevant songs and increase the volume adjustment.

 

[Vixx]

also you can raise the volume of your songs in iTunes. Select the relevant songs and increase the volume adjustment.

Wich reduces the quallity on the songs, and I belive that everyone here already have done that. And it's still far from high enought.

 

[Eraserhead]

Wich reduces the quallity on the songs.

Its purely a software volume raise, it doesn't change the MP3's themselves like other programs do.

I belive that everyone here already have done that. And it's still far from high enought.

My songs are on +60% and its plenty loud enough to hear over the London tube (which is really loud) on my iPod Touch.

 

[billl]

SHIVERINGGOAT, thanks very much for the advice....I feel slightly miffed at the idea of buying essentially the same thing twice, but I'm going to...appreciated.

mosx - thanks, but I think you might be wrong in practice, if not theory. Whether of not the limit is imposed by the EU or just by France, it is true that the latest Zen Vision has the same volume as previous Zens. I work in an office full of Zen lovers who mock my preference for iPod so have first-hand evidence.

I used the euPod volume boost application which the developer said doesn't work with the Classic and as someone else found, after running it then using the restore function to return to the previous status, it had a) made my old and much loved 80gb ridiculously loud, and b) very slightly increased the volume on the new Classic. Not sure why I mention this, but might be of some interest to someone.

Finally, have you noticed the huge number of views this thread gets? Depsite the well intentioned messages telling us that it's not a problem and is for our own good and we shouldn't really be complaining, I think this amount of interest suggests that a large amount of people DO think it is a real problem and are actively seeking a solution.

billl

 

[Bunches McGinty]

I bought an 80GB iPod Classic very shortly after release, and was disappointed with how quiet it was. I mainly use mine in my car, where I connect it to my head unit via a simple line cable. I have to turn the radio up quite high to get a decent volume from the iPod - the level is almost twice that of what is sufficient for playing CDs.

I'm also disappointed that the thread is filled with people on their high horses, claiming that we shouldn't listen to music so loud anyway and all that. Thing is, not everyone uses their iPod as a personal music player. I've been looking on Google for news on a volume hack, and each time I've checked the progress of this thread (which still appears to be the most helpful resource), and still, no luck

I hope something appears soon, because if the restriction is merely a software one, then us poor folk in the UK aren't getting the most from the hardware.

 

[winkymacuser]

My Canadian 160GB is fine

I have a 160GB classic I bought here in BC. The volume is fine, same as my older 80GB as best I can tell. I use Shure in-ear (4Cs?) phones and use nowhere near max volume anywhere, including planes and even the infamous London tube. Good luck with finding a cure. Sounds like some EU (or French) OTT meddling going on eh? Strange in some ways...often-times Europe (or France) seems to let people just get on with their lives and take responsibility for their own actions in ways that Nth America sometimes doesn't.

 

[nanbillx]

I had the same problem and found that Sound Check was enabled. I turned it off and voila! It was great.

Cheers.

I also just went to sound check, it was on. Turned it off and volume instantly increased.

 

[samwise666]

Firmware??

The Volume on my U.K. Ipod classic (80gb) is also ridiculous,

is it the firmware or something else.

if it is just the firmware is it possible for somebody to send me U.S.A. firmware with instructions on how to put it on my U.K. ipod?

 

[Wills]

iPod classic 80GB (UK) volume solution

I also bought an Ipod classic 80 gb from the UK after I had an american one and was dissapointed from the volume cap :-(
Tonight reading the forum and looking for solution I also tried couple of things using iTunes. And I managed to make it sound louder!!!

1. First look at you iPod settings and SOUND CHECK must be ON and the volume limit must be set to maximum.
2. I connected the ipod to my laptop and waited until iTunes show up on my screen
3. I clicked on EDIT and choose the PREFERENCE option (last one)
4. After second window was open I clicked on PLAYBACK and choose the SOUND CHECK option on. SOUND ENHANCER was already set to HIGH.
5. Then I clicked OK and waited until all my songs were adjusted.
6. I disconnected the iPod from my laptop
7. Then I changed the SOUND CHECK option on my Ipod to OFF.
8. Now you can try is the volume different You can also fiddle a bit with the EQ settings and choose the best for you. I prefer R&B.

It definitely worked on my iPod.

 

[0488568]

Wonder if someone could find the key in the firmware like they did for the old ipods. See below

This is a simple ten steps procedure to manually patch 5.5G Video iPods under Windows using HxD as hexadecimal editor:

1. First, plug the iPod to the USB port of your computer, after that wait for iTunes to come up (if configured to autostart) and quit it WITHOUT ejecting the iPod.
2. Start HxD (latest version is 1.6.1.0), click on the "Open Disk" button (you can find it just below the "View" menu).
3. You should see a "Removable Disk 1", select it, uncheck "Open as Readonly" and click "OK".
4. Click "OK" to skip the warning message.
5. Now click Search->Find (Ctrl+F) to open the search panel.
6. Type this in the "Search for" text line: 08009fe5940090e5
7. Select datatype "Hex-values" and click "OK".
8. The first string found IS NOT the one we're looking for, push F3 to find next...
9. FOUND! At the end of the selected string you will find the two magic bytes in "capped" position (01 00). Swap them (00 01).
10. Save (Ctrl+S), close (Ctrl+F4) and eject the iPod from the tray bar icon.

The iPod should now reboot. Go to Settings->Volume Limit and raise the volume bar to the max.

Now your iPod volume has been boosted.

Has anyone tried this? I'm in Madrid, Spain and bought an Ipod Classic on Saturday. I have never owned any mp3 portable device but I can tell the volume in this thing is too low.

 

[Merkuryy]

sad.
this is my teory
all ipods are made by poor china people (they do it for a half pound of rice/day) ... no matter where it gonna be sell.
on oldest ipods there was small hidden partition - and there was the cap.
program Gopod was eresing that partition - i was read source code.
on my ipod i was trying removo almost all hidden and not hidden files, and restarting ipod. THIS ONE SOLVES MY PROBLEM... really.

Really? My house in Shanghai is just 30 miles away from the factories which product the iPod and MB, and I should say that they are paid in money cash, there are poor people but these guys can't even touch an iPod.

My iPod Classic 80G also have the volume problem, but sometimes it suddenly turn to be louder which I couldn't explain, may be there is something wrong with the plug of the earbud and the main board