Audio quality

Hey guys
I was thinking about buying a Sager NP9170 but I've heard(from xoticpc's review in youtube )that the audio quality isn't great(worse than likes of GT 70)which worries me a bit because I spent most of the time watching vids/gaming.
So I decided to ask the guys who own it. Are you satisfied with the auido quality through both speakers and headphones ?

 

In my opinion, the audio quality is alright from the laptop speaker and external speaker... but it's terrible when using headphones ... but you can get an external sound card ..

 

I set THX Pro to external speaker when using headphones. It makes a huge difference. I'm using both the Sennheiser hd555 and Audio Technica m50.. And the sound is pretty good to me.

 

Guess I'm going with an external sound then. Don't want to ruin my PC 350's quality

 

My laptop speakers are ok better than other laptops I've had , and if you want good sound quality on headphones you have to take off the surround sound in the Realtek options .

 

I find my NP8130 has pretty thin sound on headphones. Little to no bass, so I have to use an EQ with it.

Can't really figure out why I have to do that, all other laptops I have work fine.

 

its because you need to set it to external speaker in thx, it seperates the bass out of the audio to send it to the subwoofer on the bottom when you have it on the internal speaker settings, just change it and it works great.

 

First of all, the MSI GT70 has some of the best mobile speakers on the market so most everything in comparison to that is gonna look flawed. Honestly, the speakers are not AMAZING but they aren't bad either. They're very loud and I've honestly gotten used to their tone.

Also, I'd like to add that I was debating between the GT70 and the NP9170 because I'm very critical about my sound, as well. (I do music production and listen to a lot of music) But I decided that I would rather get the better machine, even if the sound isn't as good as the MSI. I'm very pleased with my choice and I'm sure you will be too.

 

well any music production being done that is professional will be done using a program like protools, that requires an external DAC in order to operate. so as far as im concerned you could use anything you want.

 

I would have to say that the MSI GT series laptops have some of the best audio speakers in any laptop, hands down. Those DynAudio speakers are simply amazing. Little known fact, DynAudio actually provides the speakers for the Bugatti Veyron Dynaudio's Puccini Sound System For The New Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport something I didn't even know until recently.

Any rate, to say that another audio system for a laptop is inferior to the DynAudio is a given. But Onkyo provides decent speakers for the Sager NP9170/9150, also factor in the THX software and it is actually pretty decent for a laptop.

 

I want to listen to music on my future laptop. I've been racking my brain to find the best sounding one, without use of any external speakers nor headphones. I will not do any gaming with it. Of course want a great looking screen.

 

i believe the onkyo speakers are good but just the amp not good

 

Which Sagers come with the Onkyo speakers?
Onkyo has been producing quality audio equipment for decades.

Do they have a good sound mixers?

Dynaudio has been the audio supplier to Volvo & Volkswagen as well.
Regarding DynAudio's MSI's speakers.

 

Laptop speakers are absolutely worthless, even if it's DynAudio. For speakers, use real monitors.

If on the go, use headphones. Never use laptop speakers, hideous sound. For on the go, I use X-Fi Go.

 

Sager has a remarkably crappy headphone amp too, so that's no escape from the issue. It was on the complaint list for the last gen model, same problem with this gen...

I realize many do not care about audio, but sager is definitely losing customers over their inferior audio

 

I highly doubt they are losing customers over it. You can get a USB dongle for $24 from TurtleBeach. If these customers can't do that, then so be it. The dongle would be better than the headphone output of any laptop anyway. So it's a good upgrade to begin with.

I agree, the headphone output is terrible and should be better, but it's definitely not a deal breaker.

 

The NP9150 and NP9170 use the Onkyo speakers.


As with all notebook speakers you do have to consider they are only about an inch in diameter. You're never get the same quality of sound externals or a good set of headphones will produce. When comparing them to a nice $200-300 pair of headphones those will always sound better as the quality of speakers are much better. The fact is, the speakers that are in the computer aren't on that level or anywhere close, if they were then the computer would also cost $200-300 more.

 

This really is a deal breaker for me. I was all set to place my order when last night I saw a review of the laptop that spoke about the horrible audio quality when using headphones. The actual speakers didn't bother me but when you get poor sound from headphones thats inexcusable. I'd spend 90% of my time with headphones on when using it

 

Guess you could get a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II which has the S/PDIF digital optical output.

 

I was also annoyed at being forced to buy an external USB sound card to hear proper sound out of a P170HM. A miniature 25$ Tutle beach USB audio device and 6 dB attenuator on the 3.5mm jack (at least for headphones) blows the integrated audio into outer space... My integrated "realtek" audio is disabled.

 

Hmmm this is a tough one. I have been trying to decide btwn a GT60 and an NP1950. I really want to merge some features of both onto another machine! I guess that it comes down to build quality and price - I may just have to toss a coin lol.

 

What I did is set the speaker setup to 7.1 channel in the Realtek HD Audio Manager and set the speaker setup inside THX True Studio Pro to Headphone mode, the sound stage is nicely presented with headphones and feels like using a 7.1 system but for the sound quality you do need to tweak a bit to get a satisfying result (Including room correction).

 

Hi - can u pls give me a link to this 6dB attenuator you are talking about? Will I be able to connect 3.5mm jack headphone and turtle beach card directly to this device or will I need any other accessories?

 

I should point out that I'm not recommending the Turtle Beach micro as if it's the best solution. I just wanted to emphasize that it doesn't take much to toss out Clevo's integrated chipset. I currently use the TB micro because it was just kicking-around in a junk bin. I had purchased it in rush a long time ago to get some sound out of a Dell desktop PC I was using at work at the time (which had the absolute worst possible integrated audio).

The TB micro is a good device, but I'm sure there's better out there if you want high-quality audio (probably not in that price range however). The harmonic distortion can be quite noticeable at times, and it seems to be a bit senstive to load impedance.

The reason I came to use an attenuator in the first place was to normalize the output levels of a particular setup I had at one point, when switching between an external sound system and my in-ear noise isolating earphones. However, the reason I still use the attenuator now is primarily due to an unexpected result. The attenuator essentially cleared-up a lot of distortion artifacts when driving my earphones, with seemingly no impact on the frequency response. I also use it to maintain good dynamic range when listening at very low volume. So depending on your use, and the impedance of your gear, you may not need an attenuator.

The attenuator I use is just a modified airline adapter that I think came from an old pair of sony earphones. I can't remember if I modified the impedance network from what it was originally but at the moment it simply has 120 Ohm resistors in line with each channel, and it just works. It looked exactly like this one:
Airline Adapter for QuietComfort 3 Headphones

If I needed one now, I would probably just go for variable attenuator like this one though:
Amazon.com: Shure EAADPT-KIT Adapter Kit (Combines 1/4" Adapter, Airline Adapter, Attachable Volume Control): Electronics

 

I just want to point out that audio quality with headphones is perfect for me.

 

Just get the TB USB dongle, as arg8 has. It's small, and it's perfect for on the go. It will sound much better than using an attenuator.

Unfortunately it's really the ONLY option, bypass the internal audio, Clevo speakers and headphone output are atrocious. Even the speakers on my G73JH as significantly better and I don't consider them to be good. I don't think any laptop speaker is even considered to be decent or adequate. Clevo audio is just garbage.

When you've listened to your headphones with an external DAC and Amp, come back and let me know if you still feel that way, or you need new headphones

 

Well I'm certainly not an audiophile, and the only times I really care about sound is when I play BF3. But the sound quality sounds the exact same on my laptop as it does on my desktop. May be that the headphones are low quality, but they sound nice enough to me

 

If you are satisfied, that's awesome. Personally I much prefer my desktop monitors over what Clevo offers, infinitely.

 

Seriously, how hard is it for these guys to put in some half decent speakers and audio outputs in these fairly expensive machines? What would it cost them, $10 in parts? Seems like a shortsighted move in my eyes.

 

What THX settings have you guys been using to get good sound? I feel like the sound on the headphone amp has been so altered that the sound doesn't even come out natural... Damn, I thought my Dell laptop was crappy, the sager is pretty bad too.

 

I have an ATH-M50 earphones, so this thread causes me some hesitations with going Clevo. I have a heavy-duty headphones' amp, perhaps this will help alleviate the issue somewhat, but I was hoping to avoid using it. Darn it...

 

Just to clarify: I use the attenator with the TB micro USB dongle as it improves the sound quality with my particular earphones:

Laptop USB port > TB Micro USB dongle > 3.5mm Attenuator adapter > 3.5mm earphones.

Generally, an attenuator shouldn't make it sound any better or any worse. It only reduces the volume and may allow the TB micro to operate at its volume "sweet spot".

 

I was also disappointed by the sound quality I was receiving with my Sennheiser 595hd. I decided to try Xonar U3 since it was relatively cheap and I must say I am truly surprised by the difference the little card makes! I was hoping for a minor improvement but it certainly beats my desktop onboard audio that I previously deemed very good. I am no hc audiophile, but I do pay attention to sound quality, especially when listening to music. The thing is cheap, small and worth every cent

 

i search Xonar U3 and it seems cute. how much you bought?

 

35,something euros

 

actually there is just one word to describe the sound quality: awful!!

Even though there is supposed to be a subwoofer in the chassis it's like it's non-existant.. The speakers really don't deserve any brand name - among the least Onkyo. They're just bad.. I used to have a 4 year old Acer 5920G before and that produced some pretty decent sound in comparison.. But it gets even worse when you try plugging in headphones!! i don't know why but there is no bass either - really like none at all! The THX (doesn't that brand stand for quality as well?!!) software helps just a little - it's still terrible though. I wish they had installed a Xonar chipset and some good speakers - at least i would have paid 50€ more...

 

i believe it is not the speaker units problem it is just the chipset or maybe the amp section.

 

Indeed! Poor chipset, extremely poor integration by Clevo. You can have the best speakers, but if you feed crap in, you get crap out. Beware of brand-name stickers...

 

clevo's chipset is probably the worst audio quality I have heard in a laptop. i guess i will be taking my fiio e17 everywhere i go.

 

For headphones without LFE jack (2.0), you won't find much options to tweak, however if your headphone does have LFE jack (2.1/5.1/7.1), you can adjust the crossover frequency and also lift the subwoofer output level from realtek audio panel and also from the THX pane, can add up to 10dB from Realtek in headphone mode panel and 15dB from THX panel in external speaker mode. The headphones with LFE jacks are usually those 5.1/7.1 headphones that come with discrete speakers. The support for 2.0 headphones is pretty bad from a Clevo.

 

Changings settings in THX causes no differences in the sound in the speakers and headphones. What am I doing wrong?

 

Picked up my ASUS Xonar U3 today and I have to say it absolutely rocks.

Best sound I've heard coming out of a laptop.

 

Indeed. Like I said before, its worth every cent. I like the mixer too . Btw, can I use thing while using the speakers as it seems to turn them off automatically?

 

How does the Xonar U3 compare to the Turtle Beach Micro II?

Edit: How do they compare as USB Sound Cards? The Xonar looks nice but it sticks out straight from the USB port...an accident waiting to happen. The Turtle Beach has a flexible cable built into the device allowing flexible mic locations while still being small like the Xonar.

 

This might be a bit misleading for some. The sound is not coming out of the laptop. It is instead coming out of the Xonar U3. The Xonar U3 becomes the "sound card"; at which point you will most likely want to disable your integrated realtek audio and let your internal speakers rest in perpertual silence.

Something that might be interesting to try though is to patch the output of the Xonar U3 back into the line-in jack of the laptop to see if it's possible to get better sound out of the internal speakers. There should be a way to set the "Recording" settings and "Playback" settings to feed the line input directly to the integrated speakers. However, I suspect everything will still be muddled through the integrated Realtek audio chipset, and the spectrum will be beaten beyond recognition before it hits the speakers. But maybe there's an analog bypass channel for such a setup? Something to try...