Make the lowest volume even quieter?

Question

Level 1

35 points

Make the lowest volume even quieter?

How can I make the lowest volume level on my iMac even quieter than it is at the moment? The volume settings are usually fine for normal use, but sometimes I want to plug in my earphones to the iMac, and have some music playing very quietly in the background while I work. I'd like for the volume to be so low that I can barely hear it, basically.

Is there an app or something that can allow me to do this?

I know that there's a hidden feature where if you put the volume to the lowest level, then hit the mute button, the volume will reach an "ultra-low" volume level, but this is still not low enough for me. Also, I know that it's possible to decrease the volume at quarter-notch intervals, but again that still doesn't do the trick.

Thanks in advance to anyone with an answer to this problem!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3, 4 GB RAM

Posted on Jun 8, 2012 11:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jun 8, 2012 11:37 PM in response to GaryKing

OPT+SHIFT+F11 will do the trick, but you need to be at 10.7.4.

Reply

Answer 2

GaryKing Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 9, 2012 12:12 AM in response to baltwo

Yes I already mentioned I know how to decrease the volume by 1/4-notch intervals. The lowest level is still not quiet enough.

Reply

Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,370 points

Jun 9, 2012 8:30 AM in response to GaryKing

That's the lowest it will go without muting it, have you considered external speakers that have their own volume switch? That's the only method I can think of to get it down even lower.

Reply

Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Jun 9, 2012 11:19 AM in response to GaryKing

Might try this in Terminal, seems some OSX versions have 0 to 100, others 0 to 10, but you can use decimals...

sudo osascript -e "set Volume 0.1"

Or some other value until you find the right level.

Some report sudo isn't needed.

http://osxdaily.com/2007/04/28/change-the-system-volume-from-the-command-line/

Reply

Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jun 9, 2012 11:31 AM in response to GaryKing

You posted that you were running 10.7.2 and AFAIK that wasn't restored until 10.7.4.

Reply

Answer 6

GaryKing Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 9, 2012 1:11 PM in response to baltwo

That was my mistake; I don't update my Apple profile all that often. I have the latest version.

I don't want to use external speakers because I want to plug earphones directly into the audio jack from the iMac. The speakers I currently have, at least, and I'm sure this is the case for others, it has a buzzing sound for earphones plugged into it.

Reply

Answer 7

GaryKing Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 14, 2012 1:11 PM in response to BDAqua

Seems like a decent solution. I was hoping to find a solution that wouldn't require that I set my volume to 0.5 out of 10, though, and instead have a piece of software or something that would shift the 0-to-1 volume range to be the new 0-to-10 range.

Reply

Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Jun 14, 2012 1:42 PM in response to GaryKing

Hi Gary, not quite sure what difference it would make, if volume works by 0.1 on 0 to 10, or by 1.0 on 0 to 100!?

Reply

Answer 9

GaryKing Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 15, 2012 6:04 PM in response to BDAqua

I want to use the volume buttons on my Mac keyboard to control the volume, but using the Console to modify the volume does not allow me to do that, since the keyboard changes the volume at intervals of 1.

Reply