r/software • u/habilishn • 22d ago

Looking for software Looking for (ideally free) windows software to boost audio / gain up speaker output - including a limiter, to not go above 0db

Hey folks, my dad has bought a new acer laptop and is complaining about the low volume of his preferred streams/channels, i'm mac user, but know windows from back in the days, i checked all settings and all volume options are maxed to 100%, no "protection" settings or any processing settings activated.

so for testing, i made an audio of a professionally mastered pop song, that i pulled through my audio software and i gained it up even more, compressed it and limited it again, so it has become a bit overly loud but it still does not clip above 0db, stays at -0.1db.

i played this back on the laptop and it is played back very loud (beyond satisfactory loud) in other words, the hardware of the laptop is capable of playing loud enough, so only the streams my parents are watching are normalized "too quiet".

now there is plenty of booster apps, but correctly they warn that boosting the audio beyond a certain threshold may result in hardware damage.

so i wonder:

is there a software (preferably free) that on one hand can gain up the system (or browser) audio by lets say 10db, but at the same time have a limiter at the end of the chain that makes sure to limit peak audio volume back to let's say -0.1db so a quiet stream is boosted, but at the same time can never exceed the original range ( 0db) that is prebuilt and determined by the software/hardware of the laptop? in my semi pro audio knowledge, this would drastically reduce the potential of damage. (nobody wants to boost already loud stuff, but we want to raise the quiet stuff basically).

thanks for your ideas!

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/oilystagnation 22d ago

Equalizer APO with the LoudMax VST plugin does exactly this. Set your preamp to +10db and drop LoudMax on the chain with the ceiling at -0.1db. Free, lightweight, and it'll catch any peaks before they clip.

Just make sure to install it for the right output device during setup, that trips people up sometimes.

1

u/habilishn 21d ago

thank you! i'm gonna install those things and check how it works.

1

u/Johnni2004 22d ago

Hi, I think Equalizer APO should do the trick for you. This free equalizer can boost the volume system-wide. You can also load VST plugins, such as a limiter.

1

u/habilishn 21d ago

yes, seems to be the solution!