[Problem]: Low Volume on Raspberry Pi 4

[thePipester]

What happened?

I am having the issue on both a Zero W and a 4 Rev1.5.

When I select the Shairport output on my iPhone I have to have full volume on my phone to hear anything. I have the mixer volume set to 100 on the Pi.

Relevant log output

System Information.

Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) using the built in headphone jack.

Configuration Information.

>> Display Config Start.

From "uname -a":
 Linux Shairport-Sync1 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.47-1+rpt1 (2025-09-16) aarch64 GNU/Linux

From /etc/os-release:
 Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)

From /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model:
 Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.5

Shairport Sync Version String:
 4.3.7-5-g3c8ceb7c-AirPlay2-smi10-OpenSSL-Avahi-ALSA-soxr-sysconfdir:/etc

Command Line:
 shairport-sync --displayConfig

Configuration File:
 /etc/shairport-sync.conf

Configuration File Settings:
 general :
 {
   name = "Shairport Pi 4";
 };
 alsa :
 {
   output_device = "hw:Headphones";
   mixer_control_name = "PCM";
 };
 pw :
 {
 };

>> Display Config End.
>> Goodbye!

PulseAudio or PipeWire installed?

• Check if your system uses a Sound Server.

How did you install Shairport Sync?

Built from source

Check previous issues

• Confirm

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the post, and apologies for the delay.

It's worth checking that changing the AirPlay volume while Shairport Sync is playing does affect the PCM mixer level -- you can see it using alsamixer. If it is doing so, and you can set the PCM output to the highest value, the problem lies outside Shairport Sync. Is it possible your headphones are a bit more demanding?

[thePipester]

All good on the delay!

I verified that the volume levels are up and operate separately. I have this Pi connected to a Bose Sounddock.

[mikebrady]

Thanks. If the mixer levels are at maximum and the levels are still too low, then unfortunately it’s not something that can be influenced by Shairport Sync.