How To Make Headphones Louder? (7 Possible Ways)

Headphones are a great device to immerse yourself in the virtual world fully. With its over-the-ear design and padding, these devices always provide some sort of noise cancellation. This offers users the ability to have a great sound experience.

But did you know that manufacturers lower the maximum sound limit to headphones? It is done so that the components inside the headphones do not cause malfunction due to extreme hardware performance. Your headphones may also have suffered from issues where the audio is low even when the volume is at maximum.

No matter the case, you can perform several methods to make headphones louder.

How to Make Headphones Louder?

You can use a third-party application or tweak Windows settings to make your headphones louder. However, depending on your device, the methods explained below may or may not work for you. 

Headphones over time will collect dust and if the components that produce sound is covered with dust, the intensity of the sound will be low. Therefore, before we start with the solution, make sure that the speaker part on headphone is clean.

Equalizer APO

Equalizer APO allows you to increase the maximum limit of your headphones. By tweaking its config file and changing the settings, your headphones will also sound much louder and clearer. 

Your headphones may not be able to exceed the maximum volume limit. Therefore, if you set the decibel too high, components inside the headphones may damage. Therefore, only increase the limit by 5dB at a time.

1. Download Equalizer APO.
2. Install the application. During installation, make sure to remember the application installed location.
3. Now, go to the config folder inside the installation folder location. If you have not changed the installation folder location, it’s C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config.
4. Here, open config.txt file.
   
5. Delete the content inside config.txt and replace it with Preamp: +5dB.
   
6. Save the file and restart the PC.

Again, only perform increments of 5dB at a time to prevent the headphones from any damage.

Set Volume for Specific Application

A volume mixer allows you to set a dedicated sound level for different applications. If you find that some application sound is low while others are high, it can be the fault of the volume mixer. Follow the steps below to change the sound level using the volume mixer.

1. Press Windows + I key to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Sound > Volume Mixer.
   
3. Under Apps, you can set volumes to any application that can produce sound.

Enable Loudness Equalization

Loud Equalization is a feature that may not be available in your settings, depending on the type of headphones you use. Loudness equalization levels the highs and lows of the audio part. It increases lower-sounding audio and lowers higher-sounding audio sound. So if you are having issues hearing the sounds with low frequency, you can enable this feature.

Follow the steps mentioned below to enable Loudness Equalization.

1. Connect the headphones to the PC
2. Press Windows + R to open Run.
3. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter to open the Sound window. Here, make sure the green tick mark is on the headphones. 
4. Double-click on Headphones to open Headphones Properties.
   
5. Go to the Enhancement tab.
6. Here check Loudness Equalization.
   
7. Click Apply, then OK to save changes.

Set High-Quality Sound Format

The sample rate and bit depth also determine how a headphone sounds. A lower sampling rate means the PC will not sample the audio as quickly compared to a higher sampling rate. This means audio with a lower sampling rate gives us a low-quality sound. 

To set the sound format for your headphones,

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter to open the Sound Window.
3. Double-click on headphones to open Headphone Properties.
   
4. Go to the Advanced tab.
5. Under Default Format, set the drop-down menu to the maximum value.
   
6. Click Apply, then OK, to save changes.

Disable Audio Enhancement

If you find that the sound on your headphones and mic sounds muffled, it can be that the Audio Enhancement option in Sound settings is enabled. Although audio enhancement on PC is made available to improve sound quality, PC users in most online forums have reported that this setting lowers the sound quality. And therefore, disabling it gives you improved and louder audio.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter to open the Sound Window.
3. Double click on Headphones.
   
4. Go to the Advanced tab.
5. Under Signal Enhancements, uncheck Enable audio enhancement.
   

Turn on Spatial Audio

Spatial audio uses a specific algorithm that allows headphones to sound like a surround sound room, although having only two channels. It also makes your video games sound much more realistic and loud with pinpoint accuracy.

Follow the steps below to turn on Spatial audio.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter to open the Sound Window.
3. Double click on Headphones.
4. Go to the Spatial sound tab.
5. Change the item on the drop-down menu to change Spatial sound format.
   

Adjust Equalizer

Adjusting the Equalizer to the right settings can set a certain sound type by adjusting the frequency. This can either boost or lower the audio from a source, in our case, the headphone. Windows may offer a feature to adjust the Equalizer depending on the type of sound card being used. 

1. Open Run, type mmsys.cpl, and press enter to open the Sound Window.
2. Double click on Headphones.
3. Go to the Enhancements tab.
4. Check the Equalizer and click on the three horizontal dots on Settings. A Graphics EQ window will open.
   
5. Here, adjust the mixer so that the audio sounds maximum.

Note: Adjusting the Equalizer is completely subjective, and optimal settings depend on the headphones and the user.

If you cannot find the settings, you can download a third-party application to tweak equalizer settings.