Sony Walkman Volume Frustration

Arpa

Don't know if this is the right place for this - mods please move is there is a more suitable place.

I have a Sony MP3 player NWZ -B142 about two years old. Love this little gadget, fit's in my pocket about the size of a lighter and prefer it to lugging around an iPod.

Problem is the volume is so low. The max volume is 30 and when I'm on the Luas or whatever it's barely audible. I have the AVLS turned off.
I can't access the equalizer menu it says, "Cannot Exceute". It is fine when indoors but I need an extra boost or something when outdoors.

I have heard that there is a cap on volume levels in EU. Is this true? If so can I remove the cap by hacking the device and if so how?

Anybody had this issue, or have any ideas, it's frustrating. Sony support just keep redirecting me to online forum which is useless.

Thanks guys.

Iomega Man

Hi Arpa,

Just wondering is this a problem that has developed or has it always been like that?
Also, baffled by why you can't access the EQ.
Anyway, sounds like you probably need proper noise cancelling headphones to effectively eliminate background noise.

IM

Arpa

Thanks IM, it was always like that to the best of my knowledge. I think the firmware must be corrupt and not allowing me to access EQ.

As for noise cancelling headphones I find them too cumbersome when I'm on the move so earbuds are my only option.

If I could, I'd like to try hack the player and see can I make an improvement because I have a sneaky feeling it's some EU directive for acceptable levels etc.

Arpa

I managed to access EQ, was something to do with having Bass boost enabled when trying to access EQ.

After setting customised Mhz parameters, the volume improved somewhat but at sound quality loss. Guess I'm just gonna have to shop around next time and not buy a capped volume device.

godfrey

The problem is most likely the impedance of your headphones. Most mobile devices are best used with headphones and earpieces of around 32 ohms. It's a limitation of the low battery voltage therun on. Higher impedance 'cans' will result in dramatically lower volume.

Have a noodle around some shops for something designed for a mobile device.

g

Arpa

Thanks mate will do...hopefully I can find some better earbuds following your recommendations