Volume Boost

[rajamohan1974]

Hi Dev, can you implement a volume boost options like night mode, specific db level as a global setting for us simple souls using bluetooth 2 channel stereo, this will tremendously improve our experience. I think of all the streaming apps I've used so far this is the fastest be it initial loading, home screen, details page, finding Streams everything, the only big issue I've is lot of the streams volume is hardly enough. Hope you can accommodate.

[ProdigyV21]

Implemented and will ship in v1.9.8.

The feature

Landed in #134 (merged to main). New setting under General → Audio → Volume Boost that cycles through 0 / +3 / +6 / +9 / +12 / +15 dB. 0 dB is the default (no effect, zero overhead). Above 0 dB, the player attaches an Android LoudnessEnhancer to the ExoPlayer audio session and applies the target gain.

Useful for content whose source audio is very quiet relative to your TV/speaker setup — comparable to the volume boost in Debrify TV that you referenced.

Cap at +15 dB

Higher values tend to introduce audible distortion on already-compressed streaming audio, so the UI only goes up to +15 dB even though the underlying API supports more.

HDMI passthrough caveat

Some Android TV devices route audio through HDMI passthrough (especially for DTS/AC3) and reject audio-session effects entirely. The fix wraps the LoudnessEnhancer creation in try/catch and fails silently if the device refuses — you'll get unboosted audio but playback still works. If your device does this, the easiest workaround is to toggle passthrough off for the affected audio formats.

Requires reopening the player

The setting is loaded once when the player starts a new session. If you change the boost while in Settings, the next video you open will use the new value. Changing it during active playback won't apply until the next session (this is a scope limitation I noted in the PR — could be improved in a follow-up).

Testing

Please verify on v1.9.8:

1. Open Settings → General, scroll down to the new Audio section, tap Volume Boost a few times to cycle through the steps.
2. Play a movie or episode with quiet dialogue.
3. Confirm the audio is noticeably louder compared to the 0 dB baseline.
4. Cycle back to 0 dB for comparison.

If volume boost doesn't work on your device on 1.9.8, please open a new issue with:

• Your device (Android TV box / Fire Stick / phone / etc.)
• Whether you have HDMI passthrough enabled for DTS/AC3
• logcat output at the moment you start playback (adb logcat -s PlayerScreen)

Closing as implemented. Thanks for the clear use-case description — this was one of the quickest wins on our list.