Can software amplification of sound damage soundcard?

[avg123]

I am using a Windows 10 laptop. I recently installed Equalizer APO with Peace Equalizer. The equalizer has "Pre Amplification" slider that goes from -30dB to +30dB with the default being set at 0. If I set it to +30dB, it greatly increases the sound output.

 

I was wondering how it amplifies the sound. Does it amplifies the sound by pumping more voltage? would it damage the soundcard?

[WereCatf]

No, apps like that have zero control over the voltages and currents passing through the soundcard.

[avg123]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

No, apps like that have zero control over the voltages and currents passing through the soundcard.

So how does it amplify the sound? It makes a big difference when I set it to +30dB gain

[Enderman]

It increases the amplitude of the audio signal going to the sound card.

That's why it's pre-amplification.

It's probably also clipping your audio which is bad for audio quality and your sound card and speakers/headphones.

[WereCatf]

I don't know how to explain it in easy terms, if you don't know what audio waveforms look like on a computer, sorry. Grab e.g. Audacity and some wav-file and see how the waveform changes when you increase the file's volume in Audacity -- your app basically does the same thing, just in real-time.

[avg123]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

It's probably also clipping your audio which is bad for audio quality and your sound card and speakers/headphones.

So it damages the sound card?

 

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, avg123 said:

So it damages the sound card?

 

I would suggest doing a bit of research on sound clipping and why it's not good to "boost" your audio with software solutions.

[avg123]

Just now, WereCatf said:

I don't know how to explain it in easy terms, if you don't know what audio waveforms look like on a computer, sorry. Grab e.g. Audacity and some wav-file and see how the waveform changes when you increase the file's volume in Audacity -- your app basically does the same thing, just in real-time.

Like so it decreases dynamic range? But why cant I raise the volume to same level using the windows volume slider?

[WereCatf]

Just now, avg123 said:

Like so it decreases dynamic range? But why cant I raise the volume to same level using the windows volume slider?

Yes, the higher you boost the volume, the lower the dynamic range, simply because digital audio has an upper limit. As for Windows, the Windows volume-slider tries to avoid clipping sound to some degree, so that's why it doesn't go as high. Also, have you noticed that there is one slider for the app that's playing audio and another for Windows in general -- if you crank only one of the sliders up, audio won't be as loud as if you cranked both sliders up.

[avg123]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

Yes, the higher you boost the volume, the lower the dynamic range, simply because digital audio has an upper limit. As for Windows, the Windows volume-slider tries to avoid clipping sound to some degree, so that's why it doesn't go as high. Also, have you noticed that there is one slider for the app that's playing audio and another for Windows in general -- if you crank only one of the sliders up, audio won't be as loud as if you cranked both sliders up.

Thank you. I am only using this while using the laptop speakers which are absolute shit quality and are not loud enough. So I dont really care about sound quality. I have ordered some external speakers but they are taking too long to arrive, hence the desperation