Macbook Sound and Volume

Same issue here (seems to be a trend here).

Just taken delivery of a new MacBook and volume is terrible. At highest volume its as loud as the sound emitting from my ipod headphones. Not good, considering we're trying to use this for simple AV capture and replay.

Interestingly the audio output on the USB (a logitech mic/headphhones set) is absolutely fine.

Audio output gremlin?

I have noticed that some content plays louder than other. Example some dvd's play very loud as does some internet wmv files. I guess in part it depends on the level the material is recorded. Oh well it is truly hit and miss...

There are people who use their's in a very quiet environment and not notice the problem. But I noticed this in day one and have been searching for a solution to no avil!! Any volume set to 1/2 or less is basically not audible. Even my mobile phone can play louder mp3s!

The internal speakers sounds good for a laptop but volume is way too low when set to max. I also notice it resets the headphone volume to mid when you jack in. Given the output is so low, I almost thought my external AMP was not working!

Anyway, the speakers can pump significantly more volume. I'm listening to Keane - Under The Iron Sea, in iTunes, ripped from my own CD. Volume is fine at max, but the speakers can handle much more volume by giving it pre-amp gain in equaliser. Disable the pre-amp, lower the master volume to 1/2, quiet room, can't even hear the singer. So there you go, it is a stupid software limitation in either the firmware or OSX.

I've seen enough references to weak speakers on various sites/forums to know this is a WELL DOCUMENTED problem! Apple, please fix it! What is the point of having 1/2 of the volume bar at virtually inaudible levels? It is clear to me that a new setting can re-map a new lowest level to around 35% of current seting (6/16 bars), while a new max level is more appropiate at around 150% of current max.

I have this problem as well, though I still need to try the fixes listed here. I tried to watch a movie with the volume turned to max, and had to turn on subtitles.

Edit: Tried both fixes. I had both types of volume at max already. The MIDI one made it dead silent; putting both bars to the far right made it as loud as possible.

I hadn't brought any settings over from prior Macs; I switched from a PC. The max volume on my MacBook is OK for background music in a quiet room, but it's inadequate for if I really want to hear the music well, if I want to watch a movie, or if I want to use it with any background noise around at all. It's great with speakers or earphones, though.

Sound on my MacBook Pro is just as horrible and I have noticed it from the beginning. The sound that is played when changing the system volume can barely be heard when you are at the 50% level. Whereas my clunky old Dell 12" laptop with just a single tiny hole for a speaker makes MUCH more sound.

I hope this is adjusted some day because it's a pretty major disappointment.

can't agree more - this is my first mac in ~13 years and I don't know if I'll go for another one if this type of problem is common. It's actually embarassing when playing it around any other Windows laptop.
Please fix this Steve.

Mine is very silent too, it doesnt bother me though, music on laptop speakers sound really bad, I prefere to use my earphones. Anyways, when I have its volume level to de middle I can hear ok if the environment is not loud.