Alienware M15x Audio Tearing/Crackling/Distorting

Hi there, i'm new to these forums and have already seen multiple topics about the audio tearing/crackling/distorting issue on the Alienware m15x's. I bought my laptop in May last year, and since the warranty has ran out. Just as I discovered this problem. I started using some pairs of headphones on the laptop and noticed some horrific audio tearing and distortion problems. As I make music and edit videos on this computer, it would be nice to be able to hear the sound clear and relatively high volume levels.

Here is what is happening for me:

When using Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones:

1. The sound becomes horrifically distorted near the top volume levels, however, the volume is not actually loud. Bass frequencies are much more distorted.

2. Using the inbuilt IDT interface, adjusting some EQ levels reduces the distortion a bit, but also makes the sound sound horrible.



When using slightly higher powered headphones such as the Skullcandy HESH headphones, the distortion is much less prominant, but at the same time is still there when music is not loud at all.

When plugged into a much higher powered 2.1 stereo system (Tevion subwoofer/amplifier and JBL Control One speakers) the distortion is gone, and the volume levels can be turned up to maximum on the laptop and adjusted on the 2.1 system with no distortion or tearing at all.

This distortion is not present when playing music at the maximum levels on the laptop through it's inbuilt speakers.


With this in mind, it has lead me to believe a few things:

Maybe the headphone output jacks are much more higher powered than some pairs of headphones, and therefore even though the sound is not very loud, the power output of the jack causes the sound to tear. I believe this because when plugged into the higher powered headphones, and then the even higher power 2.1 system, the distortion is exponentially less.

When looking at the IDT interface, the graphic EQ appears to be much louder than the sound itself, with extremely high peaks ad medium volume levels.

Is this a driver problem, build problem or are the jacks just too monstrous for conventional headphones? As I said before I have seen many topics on this problem, all of which have not been solved. Hopefully we can sort this out once and for all.

My Alienware was bought direct from Dell with the Intel i7 720QM processor, nVidia GTX 260m Graphics card and 4 Gig of ram. If you need any other specs don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks so much in advance,
John Clayton

 

Oh, also, i'll add that when the laptop arrived, none of the games would play without horrendous levels of lag, even at the lowest settings. I had to manually go into the graphics card settings and turn things down and off (not the game graphics settings, the actual card settings) however now games run fine at rather high settings. This may be completely unrelated to the audio problem but I just thought i'd let you know

 

The games problem was probably due to Stealth Mode being on. The audio problem has been thoroughly discussed in another thread, a simple search would have brought it up, just some advise for next time.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/495553-audio-crackling-15x-discussion-thread.html

 

Stealth mode doesn't seem to affect the sound. It crackles with and without it being on. Did you read the whole post? I stated that I've been though the other topics about this problem on this site and none of them have a clear solution.

 

For high quality sound, remove the IDT drivers. Then restart your system. Windows will install its generic drivers, which is basically just WASAPI.

The crackling problem can only be remedied by replacing the audio board.

The audio tearing problem can be solved by having alien FX on.

I've done a lot of testing with the audio, and the cause of sudden (but very brief) stops in audio, which I assume is what you're referring to, is caused by Alien FX being off (I've mentioned previously that I believe this is caused by a power management problem, but I'm not an engineer so cannot confirm that).

 

Hmm, I haven't been experiencing the brief stopping, just the crackling and tearing when the volume levels are relatively high. With what you said about replacing the audio board, does this mean that Alienware have generally installed a crappy board? I've seen loads of people are getting this problem, and i'm very annoyed that my other (£50 worth) laptop has superior audio quality as opposed to the £1500 worth Alienware "Super Computer". That is extremely annoying.

I don't really want to have to be paying even more for this computer to fix things that really shouldn't be broken. But if that is really the only solution, do you know if I can get any better quality sound boards that I can replace the natively crap one with? And if so how much would one be?

 

The audio board isn't crap, it just seems to be suffering interference from the motherboard (that's what I think it is anyway). I had my board replaced, and crackling ceased to exist.

 

Fair enough then! I followed your instructions and removed the IDT drivers, which has significantly improved the volume capabilities of the inbuilt speakers and has majorly capped the crackling. How would I go about replacing the sound board then? Bearing in mind that my laptop is not within it's warranty. (I'm still kicking myself for not reporting it sooner.)

 

You'd probably be best purchasing one from Dell. However, due to its location inside the system, you might need someone to install it for you (unless you are confident enough to do it yourself of course).

The part number for the audio board is 8206w.

Costs about $45 from online shops, such as: http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=7630