Thanks for adding to the thread.
This is interesting.
- Home PC running XP SP2 MCE 2005 and with a Sound Blaster Audigy SE 24 bit sound card
- Work Lenovo T61 laptop running XP Pro SP2 with onbord SoundMax
Although Soundblaster changes the look and feel of the Master Volume panel and adds some tabs with things like surround sound, on both machines this panel contains Master volume and sources for Wave, MIDI, CD, line in, and Microphone. To this, Soundbaster adds What U Hear and S/PDIF-In but these are irrelevant here.
On both machines, sliding Wave or CD (or both) influences output volume of music played from CD, and this level is then used as the baseline for master volume. In other words, when playing a CD the maximum volume obtainable with the volume slider is influenced by both the CD and Wave sliders. Set either or both of CD and Wave "low", and output with the volume slider on "max" will be quiet. Slide the volume level down, and the output goes from quiet to whisper quiet. Set either or both of CD and Wave to a high level and output with the volume slider on max is very loud. Slide the volume level down and the final step from minimum level to silence is now large. I don't believe both sound cards are incorrectly configured, so I guess it all comes down to whatever a Wave device is (or MIDI for that matter). I have no idea. Time to Google.
Cheers,
XV105