Asus W2V audio - angry customers on the warpath!

I don't know......... but it stems from a realtek problem... if I know one thing, if Asus could have fixed it, they would have. And yet, they're a business and this is far from a defective product and they're just not going to give everyone a new computer... I guess that's the point everyone is trying to get it.

... but then again you have to wonder if all that is worth simple 2 channel audio? I don't understand where and what filtering is being done... but I think if Asus wanted to lie about it, they'd do a much better job of it. Their issue came from trying to pull the lows from the 4 main speakers.... yet allow it to go to the sub. There aren't a lot of systems out there that do that, so there's a good chance Realtek didn't have a perfect option for this... at the time anyway.

 

Well, I left my engineering ambitions behind ten years ago, but still: Virtually every X.1 speaker system in existence does this. If you measure the frequency response from the outputs of a PC subwoofer you'll see that the lows are gone. Crack open the sub an you can probably find where the headphone jack is hooked into the signal causing the amplification and filtering circuitry to be bypassed when something is plugged into the jack. If you configure your receiver setup to use 'small' front speakers the lows will be gone from there as well. Hook your speakers up as passthrough via the subwoofer from an amp without a dedicated sub output: same thing. Crack open a two or three way speaker and you'll see the same kind of circuitry (well, somewhat different because then we're dealing with a more powerful signal) there separating the lows from the midrange from the treble so that each speaker only get to work on frequencies it actually can reliably reproduce..

This is relatively simple circuitry, and it really shouldn't have anything to do with the source of the signal (in this case being the Realtek codec). Redirecting frequencies is not hard at all, but doing it without allowing the jack output to be before the filter could be for design specific reasons (way too little available information there). The idea is laudable because playing back a full frequency signal on notebook speakers usually sound like utter crap. Sending the same filtered signal to the speaker/headphone jack, on the other hand, is either an oversight or a (some would say poor) design decision.

I have no reason to doubt that it can’t be *fixed*, but I do believe that they could possibly be bypassed (killing the subwoofer in the process). I’d have to study the motherboard along with the speaker hookup and the Realtek reference docs to know, and even then you’d probably want someone with less rusty knowledge and less caffeine inhibited hand-eye coordination to attempt any soldering. But hey: Some people hardware mod expensive equipment every day do bypass limitations (or just to see if they can do it), so perhaps someone will pick apart a W2 and have a look…

 

This forum & this thread particularly & it's contributor's experiences has been very informative.

I'm in the market for the new W2J & after having read mostly excellent reviews of the former version - the W2V, I thought my decision to buy one was certain.

However, after having followed this thread I'm not so sure.
I'ved been pretty bummed out for a lot of the posters & by their accounts of the inherent fault with the audio output & the lack of any solution or support.
(Aside from that of PROPortable & his consequent emails to the bigwigs which sounds like it might have swung the changes made to the chipset for the new model!)

But... has anyone actually gotten ahold of & tested the new W2J & it's audio configuration from the front port yet?

Sure it's a different chip so one would think & hope the problem fixed...
but stranger things have happened!
I need to know for sure as there is no way I can access the W2J notebook for a demo before my purchase! (Buying online)

Being both a musician & a music & film lover - the audio performance of the ASUS W2* is a huge deciding factor for my reason to buy - or not.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks in advance & good luck to you all for the future.

 

Dont worry it will be out soon and it will be reviewed quickly im sure. I think the problem should be solved. But again i know its a crappy solution but you can always get a pcmcia sound card thats better than on board. But the W2j should havet that xpress bus thing.