Audio quality related "AUDIOPHILE" question regarding M18XR1 vs M18XR2

So, im very sensitive when comes to laptop audio, and I may be wrong but I feel that the M18XR1 (sandy-bridge older version) has either better speakers or better audio chip.

Here I have tried both laptops side by side, and the M18XR1 sounded better. the M18xR1 has IDT-Audio chip, where the M18XR2 has Recon3Di chip.

I have simply went and did clean windows setup on both machines, installed all and everything and made sure all audio enhancements/effects were all switched off/disabled and no equalizer was engaged on any players of these machines (Used WinAmp 5.666).

I have played same song on both machines at the same time simultaneously or separately and will tell you what, M18XR1 sounded cleared, more crisp and louder. It wasn't that much of a difference, but I dare say ~ 10% of total loudness difference when at max volume. The M18XR2 sounded more muffled.

I have double and triple checked everything everywhere possible and have found no difference between audio output settings, and so my conclusion is its either IDT-Audio chip used in R1 is of a better quality vs Recon3Di, or maybe its to be blamed at the speakers...

Also, I have tried to compare them with all the possible configurations of audio enhancements but the R1 still wins in volume quality and loudness hands down... just so I thought I will mention. Its like R2 gets this "like volume loudness equalization" or something like that if I try to crank up all the necessary settings try to match the R1 sound output quality. And yes, I did check for the loudness equalization to be off in sound device manager trough windows settings too. IT was always off.

So if anyone who had same experience as me, maybe Im not the only one noticing this, or maybe Im wrong, let me know please...

Also maybe anyone is in possession of both of these machines - M18XR1 and M18XR2 and could do same audio comparison for me?

(also using Windows 7)

Thanks

 

You're right about this believe it or not.

I've dealt with an Alienware m14xR1 and R2. The R1 had better sound quality all around. The speakers (at least on the m14x) were changed from the R1 to the R2. I believe the same was done with the M18x. Also the software (maxx vs sound blaster) plays a good role as well. I found the maxx wave software to produce better results than the sound blaster software with the newer models.

So yes the M18xR1 does have better sound quality. Same goes for the M14xR1. I think the same would hold true for the M17xR3. The speakers and software just were better.

I'm not sure about the newer models. The AW17 has decent sound but lacks bass completely. I haven't played with a AW14 or AW18.

 

hmmm, conclusion makes me try swap speakers from R1 to R2 and see if sound quaality will improve, but I kinda sense its down to software/driver as the sound on R2 feels like its dipping at the areas where R1 would hold it all at one level when on max or not, kinda R1 giver a speakers a real beating in terms of speakers load. I will see if time allows I will try the speaker swap and will report... also really interesting if swapping sound chips (resolder) would be an option, if the sound circuit changed on the boards from R1 to R2 or its still the same physical components layout etc etc.... maybe just sound processor could be swapped ... good theory must check PCB terminals and components layout

 

I think That The problem is The Software, I turned It off on my M18 and it sound way better!

 

I found the waves maxx software to do a much better job than sound blaster so yes software does play a key role.

I've swapped the palm rest on my m14x r1 with a r2 palm rest and the r1 speakers looked to be better. The m18xR2 still has good sound, I can only imagine how an R1 sounds. :thumbsup:

 

were you able to run waves maxx utility on m18xR2? and if so - how? I cant seem to be able to launch it ...

 

This is where external DAC/AMPs come in to play. My recent delve into audiophile stuff has taught me this. If you want a good sound and still play games the new Sound Blaster e5 or x7 (I have the x7 simply amazing and the best thing Creative Labs has produced in years) will give you great in game sound and music at a audiophile level. I am exploring amps with tubes now, fun stuff.

The features of the x7 are very cool. multiple inputs, output to 3.5mm, full size plug headphones up to 600ohms. Also output to high end speakers via terminals and or rya plugs and 3,5mm plugs. But the cool thing is you can pair two bluetooth devices to it. So when I am playing a game I have my phone pairs and playing music via bluetooth at the same time. But for more competitive game play I don't play music so i can hear every footstep and call out. These old tired ears have a hard time these days. The Army didn't help either.

 

Im more concerned of quality audio output at the laptop itself, where are the external audio gear is not something Im concerned about at this point in time, however I will look in to that too..

Interesting thing I have discovered this morning regarding improving audio quality in my r2... I will do more testing tonight and will report results ... *little hush hush for now*

 

I just feed an HDMI cable from my graphics card to my A/V receiver and let the A/V receiver do everything. I had a HT Omega Claro Halo before in my old PC but moved onto a new receiver and decided it was best this way for me to have the sound processed at the receiver instead of the computer. Too much noise with the audio card.

I never got the waves maxx audio working on the r2, although I did try. It would be awesome to get it working and get rid of the sound blaster software.

My Clevo P570WM had bad sound quality for a laptop with six speakers, I spent about an hour tweaking all of the settings in the control panel and it turned out pretty good!

I recommend tweaking with the settings to find a good balance.

 

I have found some audio improvements if I cleaned removed Recon3Di driver completely and made sure it is back to stock windows generic audio driver. I can do some nice adjustments to the subwoofer and some minor effects trough audio device settings in advanced settings panel. Audio quality has improved but it is not as loud or as amplified as in m18xR1... even swapped speakers around made no difference. Odd...

 

You're going to need the audio chipset and the software to make a difference.

 

I give up, call me weird, but I did have this one m18xR2 before that the audio quality was better than the current one I posses right now. I may just stick with R1 for solely standalone Audio quality reasons only.

 

Not every audio chipset and speakers are the same. That may hold true. The Nebula Red M18xR2 I have now seems to have better audio quality than the Space Black M18xR2 I had in 2013.

But yeah I'd do what you did, keep the R1, maybe max it out with a 2920XM dual 780m sli and keep it like that. :thumbsup:

 

Audiophile says shell out $400 for a Sound Blaster X7 and don't worry about crappy built-in audio ever again.

 

I haven't used built-in audio for years now on my desktop, but for a laptop, I don't want to carry a bunch of stuff in addition to my already 18.4" 12lb laptop

 

Weakling. What's another few pounds.

 

LOL that's not a fair comparison, your mac is less than half the weight of my alienware. besides it's bad enough carrying one laptop shoulder bag with my controller, 330w ac adapter, etc.

 

Nah, I don't own a Mac, that's just a random pic I found to show size comparison.

 

I agree.. Honestly UltraGSM, it's a bit stupid to stick to the R1 for this reason considering the R1 is much older.. if you want excellent audio, get an external solution...

 

well, im at this one little project and it will determine which one will I keep, so stay tuned, few more days and I will have little update this would also apply to m17xR3 and R4 audio quality improvement.

r1 and r2 arent this much apart, and for one where sound quality matters, age means nothing. Ive MSI GX660R here with Dynaudio 2.1 built in sound (talk about how old and slow that is LOL, its just super-wimpy i5-540m and ~ 5-6 years old), and boy, this little MSI blows these aliens away in an instant by its speakers loudness, crispness, bass reflex and audio quality... its godlike vs m18xR1 and R2... but its not 18" ... and MSI GT80 Titan would be nice too, but soldered CPU garbage makes me little sick.... but hey, if it would not cost arm and two legs I'd probably like to try it, so far it looks well designed and has really nice audio setup... should really hear some audiophile review about it... but my main goal is to have best audio experience from one piece of hardware w/o having connect anything to the laptop so its at its smallest form factor with best audio-output to my ears

 

The R1 is only a year older than the R2. Performance wise, they can be very similar.

I've always wanted an R1 for some reason. If the audio difference is worth it to you, I'd say go for it. The R1 is an excellent machine.