Do all Studio XPS 16 have unbalanced left and right speakers?

Is there any Studio XPS 1640 users out there who gets perfectly balanced sounds from their left and right speakers?

My right speaker's volume is louder by default. Yes, I can adjust the balance using one of Windows' sound configuration screen, but it's annoying to have it reconfigured back whenever I plug a headphones.

 

bump..........

 

I'm pretty sure mine is balanced, I haven't done any specific tests but if one was louder than the other I would have noticed it

I haven't listened to a lot of audio though so I'll give you a definite answer later

 

I would immediately assume it's broke.

 

A quick test I do is I put my head pretty close to the center of the keyboard while playing some music.

 

It definitely is unbalanced, a hassle yes, but something that didn't worry me immediately when I figured it out.

 

You can change the balance in the control panel.

 

Do you also have this unbalanced speaker issue on your 1640, StudioXPS16?

 

I did, but of the other problems that I had with my 1640, it was one of the less bothersome things.

 

Yes, there is definitely a right speaker bias.

The other problem I am having is that when playing music from a USB drive, I got drop outs and crackling once in a while. Anybody with this issue?

 

Playing some random song from my drive, doesn't seem like it's having any issues.

 

Thanks for checking. Mine is off an external USB drive, but it shouldn't have any issues since I can play movies off of it just fine. I am also using Media Center to play the music, will try Media Player.

Edit: Just copied the song onto my hard drive and it still drops out once in a while -- it must be some software running in the background, which is not much. Weird.

 

This turned out to be my CD rip. I ripped this a couple of years ago on an XP machine and now on playback on Vista, there are these (decoding?) errors. Never had a problem when playing these back before. Very strange.

I played these same tracks on my MP3 player, my phone and never an issue. Now with Vista, there is an issue. Go figure.

 

Q: Do all Studio XPS 16 have unbalanced left and right speakers?
A: YES

Simply by tweaking the balance adjustment does not fix the problem correctly.

I performed some additional tests and here are my conclusions:

I used Alan Parsons Sound Quality "Soundcheck" CD. I performed these tests at 50% volume. When I played a "pink noise" generated tone, the left and right speaker each recorded a 107 db level with each channel isolated.

When I played 1 khz reference tone at the same 50% volume, I recorded 107 db for the left speaker and 115 db for the right.

So, there is a 8 db differential.

Due to the sound problem and potential heat problem, I have since returned my XPS Studio 1640.

I am currently thinking about the Lenovo Y650, Y550, or Y450.

Good Luck,
Thraak

 

ive been googling around and it looks like this problem occurs on other computers as well. its not a problem with the speakers but with the location of the subwoofer. it comes off as a third speaker rather than delivering just bass.

have a look at this thread about the lenova thinkpad y510, having the same problems:
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=ideaPad&message.id=7724

i still have no idea how to fix it.

 

I guess you're right, metroline.

I tried to put out the sound of the right speaker completely (using Windows sound control panel), and when I played a song, I can still here some music leaking from the right side of the laptop but not exactly from the right speaker.

 

ive noticed a few things that might be important. first, my must is not problematic. i have balanced speakers and no distortion when listening to mp3s in windows media player, vlc player, winamp or itunes.

i hear the unbalanced audio and distorted sound when over 50% volume while listening to SOME youtube, or other flash based audio. i am trying to isolate the cause, maybe it is a specific audio codec problem.