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Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

(jamesbvaughan.com)
287 points jamesbvaughan | 2 comments | 25 Jul 24 15:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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rectang ◴[27 Jul 24 01:24 UTC] No.41083828[source]▶
> Those methods either give me a tiny slider that I can only use 10% of or about 15 steps where the jump from step 3 to step 4 takes the speakers from “a bit too quiet” to “definitely bothering the neighbors” levels.

Volume controls need to be logarithmic, not linear.

To a first degree approximation, everybody gets this wrong.

replies(4): >>41083930 #>>41084547 #>>41084715 #>>41085319 #
1. nox101 ◴[27 Jul 24 08:54 UTC] No.41085319[source]▶
Even friggen Apple, who seem to have a rep for caring about such things. I'd say I'd need at least 5 more levels between off and the lowest volume on my iPhone. It's way too loud to use in a quiet room. I have to try to cover the speaker.
replies(1): >>41091900 #
2. lostlogin ◴[28 Jul 24 08:09 UTC] No.41091900[source]▶
I use Sonos speakers.

They let me set the maximum volume (about 50% of actual max). The increments in iOS then get smaller.