The raw AWE32 samples are hot and everything plays at full per-source gain, so the mix was loud. Set alListenerf(AL_GAIN) once at device init -- it scales EVERY source (master volume). Default 0.6; override with BT_AUDIO_VOLUME=<0.0..1.0+> (0 = mute, 1 = full, >1 = boost). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>