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Help RAZR HD MAXX volume problem with Bose Soundlink

Methos1979

Android Enthusiast
Jun 27, 2012
620
129
Third rock from the Sun
I just wanted to start this thread so if anyone else has this problem they can easily find a thread about it with a search. There's another one already in the regular RAZR / RAZR MAXX area.

I have noted this problem with both these phones - the RAZR MAXX and now the RAZR HD MAXX. If you own and use the Bose Soundlink bluetooth speaker system the volume rocker on your phone does very little to control the volume on the Bose. It goes up and down a little bit, but not much, and not enough.

It's critical to be able to raise the volume from the phone smoothly and throughout the entire volume range, especially in work situations when I stream music all night long. There is no problem with the volume control through regular headphones so I'm not sure what the deal is with the Bose. I have not tried it with other bluetooth speaker systems.

I did not have this problem with my iPhone and since when I googled the issue I came up with very few hits, I'm assuming this is a problem with only this phone. I'm going to try contacting both Bose and Motorola to at least get the complaint on record so they are aware. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with a firmware update.

Chime in if you have noted this problem, or if you have heard anything about it - especially a fix!!!
 
I bought the LG 730 stereo bluetooth headset and the volume is WAY too high even at the lowest possible setting. I contacted LG and they told me it was a Motorola issue which initially annoyed me (sure, just point the finger at someone else). But your post has me thinking maybe they are right and there IS something not quite right with the Motorola Bluetooth stack.
 
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I called both Motorola and Bose today. Bose (predictably) said that since my speakers worked with the other phone that the problem is on Motorola's end. They did do a search of their database and there were no other reported problems.

Motorola said they also were not aware of this issue and opened up a case number for it and will look into it. So hopefully its something they can fix with a firmware upgrade down the line. So if any of you who found this thread by searching for this issue because you actually have it, please contact Motorola and file the complaint. One guy is not going to cause a big rush to fix an issue but more might!

Also, I went in and played with the sound equalizer settings (tried different ones and also turning it off) but that did not affect the problem with Bose so it's not that.
 
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I am seeing the exact same problem with my Razr Max. I have very little volume control with the Bose Soundlink, but the Jawbone Big Jambox bluetooth speaker has no volume control issues. Therefore, it is only with the Bose and the Razr Maxx paired.

I just wanted to start this thread so if anyone else has this problem they can easily find a thread about it with a search. There's another one already in the regular RAZR / RAZR MAXX area.

I have noted this problem with both these phones - the RAZR MAXX and now the RAZR HD MAXX. If you own and use the Bose Soundlink bluetooth speaker system the volume rocker on your phone does very little to control the volume on the Bose. It goes up and down a little bit, but not much, and not enough.

It's critical to be able to raise the volume from the phone smoothly and throughout the entire volume range, especially in work situations when I stream music all night long. There is no problem with the volume control through regular headphones so I'm not sure what the deal is with the Bose. I have not tried it with other bluetooth speaker systems.

I did not have this problem with my iPhone and since when I googled the issue I came up with very few hits, I'm assuming this is a problem with only this phone. I'm going to try contacting both Bose and Motorola to at least get the complaint on record so they are aware. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with a firmware update.

Chime in if you have noted this problem, or if you have heard anything about it - especially a fix!!!
 
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I just got my Razr Maxx HD yesterday and paired it for the first time just a few minutes ago to my LG HBS 730 Bluetooth headset. This worked great with my X but with this new phone I cannot adjust volume levels worth a @#$. The volume rocker on the headset is adjusting Bluetooth volume on the phone, and the volume rocker on the phone goes from 0 / Mute to unbearably loud with just one click.

I'll post here if I figure out a solution.

I have a feeling this will require a Bluetooth setting change which may not be possible. Obviously if there was an analog volume control or even a digital dial volume control it wouldn't be noticed. However when something like this is controlled with a rocker type control, the Bluetooth programming is telling the unit to adjust X amount with each click. I think the phone is set to 20% increments. Much less precise than it should be.
 
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Just got a soundlink II today. Volume works great with my iPad mini but with my razr maxx I'm having the same issue you guys are. Volume on the phone goes down to mute but one click up and it's almost full blast from the soundlink II. This needs to get fixed by Motorola ASAP... Oh and my phone got jelly bean today..
 
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Just downloaded power amp as some else suggested and now all is good using that!!

This is VERY interesting. You are correct - the issue is not there with PowerAmp which means that the issue is software based and not hardware based! So that means that the other players out there (PlayerPro, Rhapsody, etc.) can theoretically fix their players.

I wonder if PowerAmp just figured out a work around. The funny thing is that while it works better than all the others, it is still not very linear. In fact, it's almost the opposite of the other players. From about the 'halfway' point on the device volume the music volume gets very low to almost un-hearable in that direction. It's not until you get up past the halfway mark on the device volume that the music get loud fast. It's certainly much better than the others and makes the phone's volume itself useful once again as it's own remote but it's still not nearly as good as it was on my iPhone which was a complete linear volume throughout the whole scale on the device.

But hey, like I said, better than nothing. I just wish I had know this BEFORE I paid for the full version of PlayerPro! I'm going to have to egg them on now. The other issue for me is that the vast majority of my listening at work (the bulk of my Bose SoundLink use) is streaming from Rhapsody. So this fix only helps me a little bit in that it is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for posting this though.
 
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More interesting news. I went in checking out all the little menus and found something called 'Direct Volume Control' in the Advanced Tweaks menu that was checked on. When I unchecked this box the player resorted to the old volume scheme. So apparently this Direct Volume Control or DVC as it's called, is some sort of alternate volume control software mechanism that is something used by other devices (although not all are supported, according to the message that popped up when I reactivated it) to "Greatly improves volume and equalizer/tone dynamic range."
 
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PowerAmp is good for playing my MP3s but Pandora has the volume issue since it uses the default phones volume control. This still needs to be fixed...

Agreed - I'm in the same boat. Motorola/Google had better fix or I'll be off to something else for my next phone. We need to make as much noise about this issue as possible. Make sure you register your complaint with Motorola. I have several times.
 
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This whole "blame it on the other guy" routine is so annoying.

However, it is worth noting that I was able to linearly control the volume on a Jawbone Jambox. The sound quality and portability of the Soundlink was just far superior though so I had to go with it.

I'm still pretty sure Motorola is the screw-up here, but it is interesting that Jawbone was able to make hardware that works with the Razr Maxx.
 
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I just wanted to start this thread so if anyone else has this problem they can easily find a thread about it with a search. There's another one already in the regular RAZR / RAZR MAXX area.

I have noted this problem with both these phones - the RAZR MAXX and now the RAZR HD MAXX. If you own and use the Bose Soundlink bluetooth speaker system the volume rocker on your phone does very little to control the volume on the Bose. It goes up and down a little bit, but not much, and not enough.

It's critical to be able to raise the volume from the phone smoothly and throughout the entire volume range, especially in work situations when I stream music all night long. There is no problem with the volume control through regular headphones so I'm not sure what the deal is with the Bose. I have not tried it with other bluetooth speaker systems.

I did not have this problem with my iPhone and since when I googled the issue I came up with very few hits, I'm assuming this is a problem with only this phone. I'm going to try contacting both Bose and Motorola to at least get the complaint on record so they are aware. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with a firmware update.

Chime in if you have noted this problem, or if you have heard anything about it - especially a fix!!!

Well, if you don't mind doing a little extra work, there IS a solution, but it does require flashing your Razr HD to a new ROM. I used PACman ROM, and I gotta say it's the sweetest ROM I've ever used, and I've flashed a LOT of ROMs over the last few years, for quite a few different phones. Motorola makes their flash process a little trickier than most, but it's well worth the effort once your done.

As a side note, I did not flash this ROM with the intention of fixing this BT problem. I just noticed that my BT volume control actually works now, and remembered this thread. Knowing how annoying the problem is, I came back here to share this info for anyone that may want to try this solution.

Note to mod: I know I'm not supposed to use a link as my first post, but quite simply the only reason I even registered here was to try offering a helpful solution to this post, so if perhaps a mod wants to 'fix' this link, I can only assume it might be appreciated by the OP:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=43617706&postcount=253

Edit: Fixed Link
 
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"Fine Volume Control V2 works to control bluetooth speaker volume". After endless hours of trying to control the JBL Charge bluetooth speaker volume with the volume control on the Motorola Razr Maxx HD, I finally found an app that can contol the volume from the cell phone. The app is "Fine Volume Control V2. It works on all media, Music Players, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, etc. You can set the app in setting to only can on when playing media. The more familiar you get with the setting the better it gets for ones needs. This app also works on the Bose bluetooth speakers also. App works on other Motorola cell phones with same bluetooth volume control issues.
 
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