We need physical audio kill switches
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We need physical audio kill switches
1–10 of 443 posts
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#2you could make the same argument about a lot of things on your PC, or elsewhere. simpler is always better, until you need to do a lot of things.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#3I’ve got a microphone with a physical kill switch and when turned off it still leaks like a sieve. Be careful with those switches.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#4I have accomplished this by using an external audio mixer at my desk. I have physical volume controls for three PC's, two ham radios, and a police scanner. Then there is a master volume control for everything mixed.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#5I’ve got a microphone with a physical kill switch and when turned off it still leaks like a sieve. Be careful with those switches.
If you have two kill switches, one on each wire, would it still leak?
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#6The real design flaw here is not conveniently being able to set the volume per application. Most systems are able to do this, but don't expose that functionality conveniently.
In my opinion the volume keys should only be adjusting the volume for the application/website currently in focus.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#7My old IBM ThinkPads operate exactly as he described, the embedded controller immediately instructs the hardware amplifier to adjust its volume or power down.
My slightly less old Lenovo X201t does everything in software, and while my computer is still groggy after waking from suspend it often takes 10-15 seconds for volume changes to take effect.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#8The 2 seconds would be a bug or maybe a design fault in his computer. I use a big USB volume knob [1] which is also a mute button and it always responds instantaneously as far as I can tell. I just bash it when an unexpected video starts playing. It was hard to find but these things do exist and are refreshingly convenient compared to whatever fiddly volume controls laptops always have.
[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32649442146.html Added link to answer reply question
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#9I agree with him. Also, why is there no microphone mute button (or shortcut) integrated in windows? Seems like a must-have nowadays.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#10The real design flaw here is not conveniently being able to set the volume per application. Most systems are able to do this, but don't expose that functionality conveniently. In my opinion the volume keys should only be adjusting the volume for the application/website currently in focus.
No, the real design flaw is just what he describes. What you're saying, while alleviating some instances of the problem, still fundamentally allows for these kinds of ear-destroying/vicinity-blasting situations. The lack of an unambiguous, direct, easily accessible kill-switch for something such as audio is an oversight no matter the auxiliary convenience.