SONY Xperia Z3 EU Volume Cap.

[Goldenears2015]

Hi all

I am interested in purchasing the SONY Xperia Z3 & SONY MDR-1RBT Wireless Headphones to listen to High-res audio.

Does the Z3 have the EU volume cap?

[Thommo · Accepted solution]

It comes with a warning when you reach a certain level but you can choose to tick a box to say you understood the warning and turn the volume higher

[Goldenears2015]

Thanks for the reply. In your opinion, does the volume at max sound loud enough? Have you listened to High-Res files with compatible earphones/headphones?

[Oclair]

This problem remains unanswered

[batousan]

It has it imposed without an option to turn it off I'm afriad, I will explain how I know this.

I've just switched back to my iPhone while my cracked Z3 is being sorted, the iPhone 4S is noticeably louder than than my Xperia Z3 which is a lot louder than my Nexus 7. On my iphone there is a "Volume Limit" option which is off, if I turn it to on it becomes about same volume as my Z3.

The EU volume cap is not the annoying volume warning that the other chap mentions, so I assume he doesn't listen to music loud. I know what your referring to is the 85 db limit imposed by these overly zealous safey consious music haters at the EU. 

Having already ruined my hearing courtesy of the late Jim Marshall and a Gibson Les Paul this annoys me greatly that I cannot enjoy good music, loud!

Edit, before someone chimes in with "why would you need it so loud" 1. Its personal preference and should be my choice and 2. More importantly, certain headphones ie. The Seinheisser HD598's I have and even the RHA 350i in ear ones I use need more headphone driving power to reach a desired ideal listening level for just about anyone, not just heavy metal junkies (like myself). The cap imposed limits the power (I assume) which is why these are much quieter than a cheaper set of less power hungry (but inferior sounding) headphones

[Lord_viridis]

Metal sounds better louder, undeniable fact.

[Zaiaku]

Are you f'ing serious.... do we have a way to bypass this? I too am a metal fan and desire it loud. I got the Z3 under the assumption that it was more catered to music fans. At this point, I'm becoming increasingly annoyed at buying this phone. My old Motorola was louder.

[Oclair]

The worst aspect of how Music is handeled by the Z3 is that the audio is compressed so at full volume the quiet sections are loud and the loud sections of music are quiet.  Consider the absurdity of this as Sony is a partner of the largest Music Label in the world Universal Music Group (recording) and Sony/ATV Music Publishing....

[SergioPL1]

Isn't dynamic compression only enabled when dynamic normalizer is on?

[Oclair]

In my experience there is a Compression/Limiter/expander mechanism implimented to reduce volume in conformity with EU regulations.

(Which would be great to simply be informed which system file to modify to deactivate)

The volume level is truly too low, and sadly over complexifying a solution is not really professional.

Purchasing 3rd party headphones with lower ohm resistance also has not been suficent nor satisfactory.

Sony makes a great walkman preamplipfyer.  If I would put a vast sum of money towards a new Sony Walkman™ I would certainly have to ask am I or the product development team at sony lost sense of reality...

Have a nice day