Apple Headphones Volume Control Gripe

Apple Earpods Earbuds removed from original plastic carton.

Our one BIG gripe about the Apple Headphones Volume Control as it functions on the various generations of the iPod Touch, is that the UP and DOWN increments that the volume control keys generate when pressed are too big. In version 5.1 of the Apple firmware (the latest version supported on our Touch from 2010), you only get 16 steps to go from no volume to full volume.

Apple Headphones Volume Control Gripe

Harder to find good setting with Apple headphones volume control.

This means that for sensitive ears, we often can’t find a pleasing setting. For example, position 6 is too soft while position 7 is too loud. The push-button volume control steps on Apple headphones are thus, too coarse.

You can zero in after a fashion, to the right loudness level by tweaking the built-in equalizer settings. But to extend battery life per charge, we’d rather keep the equalizer off.

Or, you can use the on-screen graphical control for finer volume adjustments.

Onscreen Volume Slider is More Granular

Now the on-screen volume slider has greater granularity (smaller steps). So when I adjust the loudness with that, I can always find “the right” level. But that’s a pain as well, because if you have the screen set to lock (turn off) after some minutes, then to adjust the volume using that touch volume control, you must first UNlock the screen. This requires an extra touch as well as a slide just to get to the volume control to show up again onscreen.

Try Another Headphone Set

One final workaround, is to find a set of headphones that play a bit more softly or loudly for a given volume setting. Earbuds that slightly raise or lower by a small amount, all of the volume output levels may work better. For example, if you found a near-correct setting with the old phones, the new phones might make that setting just right for you. But, we don’t suggest buying a new set of buds just to get the output volume right. There are other, cheaper ways to go.

The best solution depends on Apple changing their iOS firmware a little. We wish they’d rework the volume control interface for higher res control of the volume.