Using broadband sonar SOUND to get distance information is a ridiculous tactic in DW, the volume of the sound has nothing to do with the distance to a unit. There are many factors that come into play. Volume setting in the options screen, etc.

However if you're in a sub with a wide aperture array, you can use broadband to get instant ranging information if the signal is strong enough. WAA Range is quite accurate and you can pretty reliably make perfect TMA solutions with just the WAA range and broadband bearing.

It is, but who said it would work?
Wasn't it mentioned in regards of classification only?

Speed150 mentioned that he tries to guess the range of the target ship by listening in on the broadband sonar.

It doesn't work in DW. DW does not handle the broadband sounds very well, in fact it doesn't handle sounds well in general, the sound code was kind of kludged together as an afterthought so there are a lot of unusual problems, pops and clicks, bad loops, random volume problems etc.

Also I don't think the wav files used for the sounds were normalized correctly, so that means that the base volume for some sounds is high, while the base volume for other sounds is low. Makes it absolutely useless for gauging the range of an object by sound.

A better way is to look at the strength and thickness of the contact on the broadband. A thick, bright bar (or spike, in the russian subs) means it's either very noisy or it's very close. Ditto with DEMON bars. Using DEMON in combination with the quality of the broadband signal you can start making range estimates to help speed up your TMA.

But in any case, you can get a target's range within 4 minutes by simply taking a bearing, changing course and taking another bearing 2 minutes later. Once more and you'll have a perfect TMA solution even if the target is moving. Good enough to hit with any kind of homing torpedo.

With a sub, the frigate or the P3 Orion?

I want to clarify a few things.

First when I said options, I wasn't talking about which platform has more detection capabilities, I'm referring to the number of options you have, as a submarine captain, to identify a surface target vs a submerged target.

Secondly, I did not mean to give you the idea that I can accurately determine range from broadband sound. In the first critical seconds of a mission, or in the quickplay mission, to see which ships are close and which are far. And in dw many merchants make a diffent sound then warships, and submarines have a very different sound then surface ships.

This gives me an idea of what ships to prioritize in the first seconds. You have to understand that a lot of my play comes from quick missions in RA, which sometimes will put you less then a mile from a hostile sub or ship. Seeing that you have a sub that close that definately heard you in 5 seconds vs 50 seconds means that you can begin setting up a snap shot and preparing evasive maneuvers before the torpedo in the water warning comes vs after. This is a survival mechanism. After I have made sure that there are no immediate threats close aboard, I can use my narrowband and TMA to classify and gain accurate solutions against confirmed warships.