Nexus 7 Volume all the way up and very little sound

fjitb

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I've installed Speaker Boost to help to no avail. Does anyone else have this problem and is there a solution? Thx :)
 

MJKearney

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What sources are you listening to? Does this occur with all apps? Is it both for main audio and notifications? Do you also have the problem when using a headset?
 

mr_nobody

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Speaker boost (and pretty much all volume boosting apps) are broken in 4.2. Still work in 4.1 so if you really care you can downgrade...
 

fjitb

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What sources are you listening to? Does this occur with all apps? Is it both for main audio and notifications? Do you also have the problem when using a headset?
It's everything I listen too, music, games, videos and all notifications. Headphone volume works fine, which I find quite odd.

Speaker boost (and pretty much all volume boosting apps) are broken in 4.2. Still work in 4.1 so if you really care you can downgrade...

I didn't download Speaker Boost until I upgraded to 4.2 because the sound out of the speaker almost completely disappeared. So perhaps this is an issue with 4.2?
 
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Lapse

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Yes, none of the volume booster apps help anymore with 4.2, although different apps that require volume, e.g. Pandora, seem to have been able to modify the built-in volume level for their particular app. There seem to be workaround for those who root.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums
 

fjitb

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I've uninstalled Speaker Boost and I get almost no sound out of my speaker now at full volume. I have to wear headphones to hear sound and that sound is just fine. Hopefully there is a fix coming, thx for all the responses :)
 

MJKearney

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Since this doesn't seem to be a widely reported issue, it's unlikely that the problem is with the OS. If it is a software issue, then I'd suggest performing a factory reset to get your N7 back to its original state. If that doesn't work, then it's possible that the speaker connection has loosened. I've read that others have popped off the back cover and made a better connection with the speaker, solving their audio problem. It's also possible that your speakers or circuitry have become defective, and that it's just coincidence that it occurred around the time of updating to 4.2. In that case, if neither of the above solutions work, you might need to send your unit in for warranty repair service.
 

Lapse

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The suggestions are good, although this issue of low volume has been widely reported with the JB update. Also, people have complained of even worsened volume after trying to augment it with a volume booster app, which may interfere with default settings. So, the factory reset may help clear the app, but still leave relatively low volume from the JB update, as mine is.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums
 

fjitb

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Just did a Factory Reset to no avail, however Google Play is sending me a new device! Thanks again to everyone who responded and your advice!!!

The suggestions are good, although this issue of low volume has been widely reported with the JB update. Also, people have complained of even worsened volume after trying to augment it with a volume booster app, which may interfere with default settings. So, the factory reset may help clear the app, but still leave relatively low volume from the JB update, as mine is.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums
I called Google Play Support and they are shipping me a replacement. Lets hope it doesn't have this volume issue as well :(
 
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Joshua Post

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Was the new unit better? Mine has very low volume as well. Just factory reset mine and no luck. I have to cup my hand behind the speaker to try to be able to hear it in a quiet room.
 

matt3166

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I believe it an issue with Nexus 7 in general. All the reviews I've ever read or watched said they were disappointed in speaker volume.

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Phil Carter

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Will it work if I connect my Nexus 7 tablet's headphone recepticle directly to the microphone recepticle on my Windows 7 laptop, using a male-to-male 3.5mm stereo cable? I tried but I didn't sem to get any throughput, even with volume controls at full on both devices. I want to listen to the stored audio, and streaming radio, on my tablet on my laptop's speakers.
 

fjitb

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I believe it an issue with Nexus 7 in general. All the reviews I've ever read or watched said they were disappointed in speaker volume.

Posted via Android Central App
It wasn't until the 4.2.2 update that the speaker issue came up for me, I wish Google would fix it. Sound is great on my headphones but lousy on the tablet.
 

Carlos Gutierrez R

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What sources are you listening to? Does this occur with all apps? Is it both for main audio and notifications? Do you also have the problem when using a headset?
I have no sound on the speakers on apps / media / video games, but I do have sound on Alarm and Notifications... with headset all sound is good... any suggestion, I did Factory Reset, reboots, all sound booters and no luck... any idea? I have 4.2.2 on Nexus 7
 

bebevideo

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I have this problem too. Bought the Nexus 7 the first week it came out. Didn't notice any sound problems then. That was originally Jelly Bean 4.0 I believe. Then the system updated to 4.1 and finally to 4.2.2 which I have now. Then I noticed a big sound problem. Low volume both through the built in speaker and the headsets. With headsets, I couldn't hear the music above the ambient room noise. Since the warranty was about to run out in 1 week, I called ASUS. They didn't offer any solutions but they did issue an RMA to send it in for warranty repair. The RMA form required me to agree to let them reset my tablet which would delete all information. I don't have anything critical on my tablet so why not? But I decided I might as well do that myself instead of paying shipping charges to Grapevine, Texas where the warranty facility is located. I went ahead and uninstalled all the apps I added also. Well what do you know...it fixed the sound problem. NOTE: I failed to mention that when I would start the music player, it would have normal volume for the 1st few seconds before it dropped low, not to recover. Since the system restart, the volume is good now. I've been playing it for a few days now and the sound has stayed consistent.

I post this realizing that many of you have tried a system reset and it didn't fix your problem. After reading several comments like that, I wasn't even going to try doing so on mine. But since ASUS was going to do it, I figured I had nothing to lose. So I recommend that if you have a sound problem, you give a system reset a try. It won't fix everyone but since it did fix mine, I know it will help others who had the same issue as me. In my situation, it is possible that one of the apps I installed didn't play well with JB 4.2.2 and caused sound problems or maybe even it was just Jelly Bean itself. But resetting the system and uninstalling all my apps did fix this aggravating problem that has been going on too long. I will reinstall apps only one at a time and wait several days to make sure it wasn't one of them causing the problem.

Also note that on my system, sound for games was normal and good. It was only the sound for media (music, video) that was low.
 

mr_nobody

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I have this problem too. Bought the Nexus 7 the first week it came out. Didn't notice any sound problems then. That was originally Jelly Bean 4.0 I believe. Then the system updated to 4.1 and finally to 4.2.2 which I have now. Then I noticed a big sound problem. Low volume both through the built in speaker and the headsets. With headsets, I couldn't hear the music above the ambient room noise. Since the warranty was about to run out in 1 week, I called ASUS. They didn't offer any solutions but they did issue an RMA to send it in for warranty repair. The RMA form required me to agree to let them reset my tablet which would delete all information. I don't have anything critical on my tablet so why not? But I decided I might as well do that myself instead of paying shipping charges to Grapevine, Texas where the warranty facility is located. I went ahead and uninstalled all the apps I added also. Well what do you know...it fixed the sound problem. NOTE: I failed to mention that when I would start the music player, it would have normal volume for the 1st few seconds before it dropped low, not to recover. Since the system restart, the volume is good now. I've been playing it for a few days now and the sound has stayed consistent.

I post this realizing that many of you have tried a system reset and it didn't fix your problem. After reading several comments like that, I wasn't even going to try doing so on mine. But since ASUS was going to do it, I figured I had nothing to lose. So I recommend that if you have a sound problem, you give a system reset a try. It won't fix everyone but since it did fix mine, I know it will help others who had the same issue as me. In my situation, it is possible that one of the apps I installed didn't play well with JB 4.2.2 and caused sound problems or maybe even it was just Jelly Bean itself. But resetting the system and uninstalling all my apps did fix this aggravating problem that has been going on too long. I will reinstall apps only one at a time and wait several days to make sure it wasn't one of them causing the problem.

Also note that on my system, sound for games was normal and good. It was only the sound for media (music, video) that was low.

When you first noticed the low volume, did you ever install a volume boosting app? These have been known to actually _lower_ the volume on 4.2.2. A factory reset would remove such apps restoring the volume to its usual state (which is too quiet for many people).
 

odd1ne

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I think the speaker is pretty poor it always has been I find it useless in most situations my note easily overpowers it and it shouldn't really.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
 

Bazza1

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While I appreciate there's a challenge to where everything needs to fit on a mobile device, you've got to wonder who was the bright industrial engineer at ASUS who thought putting the speaker on the back of a tablet was acceptable? For a format whose raison d'etre is to be mobile multimedia device, to place speakers in a location almost certainly muffled is bizarre. Not at the bottom (like iOS devices) or the front (like the HTC One - and that with the bonus of digitally-enhanced sound) - and combined with poor quality speakers, its bad engineering.

Bad, bad ASUS / Google. They need to partly remediate this lapse on the current 7 with enhanced volume / equalizer software compatible the speakers soonest within an OS upgrade, while the next 7 needs to have the speakers moved.