HP Envy 17" 3XXX blown tweater, over-amplifying headphone signal

Hello everyone,

Has anyone had sound issues since they got their new 17 3XXX Envy? For me, I turned the beats volume dial all the way up to full bars, and the notebook blew the front left tweeter, which now makes a buzzing sound. Also, when I plug in headphones, I can only have the volume dial set to 1 or 2 bars or otherwise it will blow my headphones even at 75% volume in any application that I would be using. On top of all of this, the sound quality is the poorest I have ever had in a notebook. Static and artifacts galore in all sound, including music both browser based and mp3s. Even worse in videogames, sound cuts in and out and is reproduced terribly.

As far as I am concerned, this is very wrong. There is no way the notebook should be pushing this amount of power to a pair of earbuds, headphones, or speakers. It is a recipe for disaster and I have never had this kind of issue with a sound card before. Is anyone else having issues with this "Beats Audio" BS soundcard?

 

And you did that because?

No problems here, but I have BEATS completely disabled. I would also never max out ANY amplifier/speaker combination without first knowing at what point clipping begins.

There is no excessive amount of power in this setup. All amplifiers will clip when pushed too far, which sends DC current through the voice coil of the speakers. This heats them up and burns them out.

 

Actually this would be great news for anyone with quality headphones that require a high impedence.

As for any IEM (In Ear Monitor) this would be too much. Even with my Envy 14 I require an inverter to lower impedence.

Still, think about what's being advertised. High quality audio. Yes, Beats is a marketing scheme but if the onboard chip can output sound that high than it is a great mobile sound card. The Beats "BS" is just software much like on the HTC devices. This sound chip is geared for the high end market.

 

There was no clipping before the tweeter blew. Also, at full volume, the stock notebook speakers should not blow. If the speakers can't handle that kind of power, then they should have cut it down before reaching them. That's a defect.

 

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD555s that have never had under-powering issues. The SQ is not great at all, I get lots of artifacts. Anyways, I am trying to figure out if I have a buggy soundcard or if its legitimately supposed to blow the stock speakers at max vol and overpower earbuds.

 

Note: Similar thread from another user, complaining of the same issues.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/640515-audio-has-static-envy-17-a.html