Have any 8760/8690 Owners tried SRS Soundbox to improve sound quality?

Question to all you 8760/8690 owners

Have any of you guys (gals) tried SRS Labs Soundbox PC?

It’s an audio processing program that I just tried on my Asus G1 and I have to say WOW! It made a big difference in the sound quality (which sucks on this laptop). There is a demo version that lasts 14 days then you have to buy it for $25.

EDIT:Just a heads up that SRS Soundbox is no longer available, it was replaced by HD Audio Lab, or HAL. I haven’t tried it yet myself.

Here is the link:
https://www.srslabs.com/store/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=38&idCat=51

Give this a try and report back your thoughts. I am hoping this is a keeper!

 

I just tried this on my W860CU and all I can say is.... well exactly what you have just said. The difference in sound is huge. I am playing GTA IV right now and immediately noticed the sound improvement before the game had even begun.

I will trial trial this for longer but it looks like a definite keeper for me.

Thanks for sharing.

 

a simple software like that can make a huge difference in sound quality? Wow then i have to try that on my W860CU once it arrives...

 

Does it start automatically when you boot up?

 

You have the option of making it start automatically at boot as well as different sound profiles depending on what you are doing. This software has solved the issue I had in GTA IV with the music on the radio never being loud enough no matter what setting, in comparison to all other sound effects.

 

I was amazed at how much it changes the quality of sound. It adds significant "clarity" to music and gets rid of the muffled sound in games.

I have been thinking about how to help make the sound better on this laptop, and after studying the schematics, it was staring me in the face. Sager probably doesn't "stuff" the SRS processor, which would make a big difference in the sound quality. So the next best thing would be an SRS DSP in software. At that point it took a few minutes to find SRS Labs Sound Box.

Surprised hardly anybody is actually showing interest in this. I know a bunch of people have at least read the post. Not a lot of feedback though. Come on guys!

 

Is SRS in the W860CU?

 

Well I don't know for sure if either laptop has the processor "stuffed" (installed), The drawings show the ability to stuff or bypass the SRS chip. If it was installed, it would seem like the sound would be better and they would probably advertise it as a selling feature. An example of that is MSI has the SRS logo in the advertising of the 1727.

 

It's completely subjective. It depends on what you enjoy, natural sound, or tweaked output. At the end of the day SRS It's just fancy equalier that's all - You could call it 'improving' sound quality, though all it does, is to presents the music differently specifically engineered for certain hardware or environment. Yes, you might prefer the tweaked settion, or perhaps you might not. The problem with laptops, generally are their poor speakers, in this case having the app might help just so slightly - the result won't be earth shattering simply because the speakers themselve remain the bottleneck.

Though ultimately, with SRS the output isn't necessarily going to be faithful reproduction of the original media. I've tried SRS before on desktop and a M1730, the difference was definitely there, however the problem is that the pc periodically locked up. Really annoyed me into completely uninstalling the software.

It's down to a matter of taste really. I'm an audio purist, I hate EQ, or anything that messes with the source personally. On decent setup, I run away from these apps, but on Thinkpads, for e.g. I'd have to make do, to compensate for the tinny sound.

 

this sounds great, cant wait to try it out

 

I tried it out and to me I don't notice a huge difference compared to the Realtek if you spend time speaking the settings in there. Clarity wise it is close to the same except it is louder now and has more of a surround sound effect. I do like how you can lower or raise the sound field though that is neat.

Which setting do you guys prefer? I think WoWHD makes the sound almost too synthetic where as the TrueSurround is the most neutral but you lose some "pop".

 

This is very true. And I have come to the same conclusion after using SRS premium sound on my Asus G72. At first SRS seems to improve sound, but what it really does is amplify the low frequencies you would not normally hear on a average audio equipment but it is extremely fatiguing after 20mins.

 

Did you guys get the program or just the free trial ?

 

I tried it just to compare with my X-Fi, and I still prefer my X-Fi. I don't know I think it has more..."umph" in the bass

 

I will have to see how it effects the sound on my 8760 when it comes in. If I didn't buy the Sager and my Asus was going to be my main computer long term, I would be buying it for sure. Not to diss the audio purists, but I hear what I hear and without the added audio post processing the SRS soundbox provides the sound is outright crap on my Asus. I have been mainly listening to my MP3's and I can say It sounds more like the original with the processing than without.
If they have a multi license deal I might go for that.

 

Like I said its all related to what audio gear you are using. If you plug in a decent pair of headphones you can immediately tell that with SRS, it sounds "fake". But of course with notebook speakers, it will sound better since they cannot compare with a decent pair of headphones.

 

ok so i've been trying it and while there's definitely a difference to be heard, my sound keeps crashing all together (happened 2 times already in 2 days) where nothing with sound outputs, and going into sound in control panel just freezes, making you reboot

so im going to keep tinkering around since the sound is a bit better, but if it keeps freezing and cutting the sound...in the refuse bin it goes

 

That is very strange since I have the same laptop model as you with similar specs and have been running the SRS Sound Box automatically at Windows start up since I saw it mentioned in this thread with not even a single crash. I wonder what is causing that.

 

The audio gear I am going to be using is the laptop speakers only. Nowhere do I mention the use of headphones in any of my posts. This is strictly a discussion on a perceived improvement in the sound from the speakers, I am not interested in headphone sound or whether it sounds fake or not, Also it's a moot point on headphones do to the botched nature of the lineout/headphone jack on the 8670.

Try and describe in more detail what it is your doing, also what type of sound source are you listening to? MP3's, games, video's? I have been playing with this software for several days now and have not had a single glitch.

 

Having said that, I do listen through some Sony earphones on my laptop and have found that SRS Audio Sandbox also improves the sound in that a lot too. I have already purchased this one and have no regrets at all.

 

IMO on crap speakers, it will make it sound half-decent. On good speakers, it will sound bloated.

 

I've been using it for years now. I'm surprised that almost noone knows about it by now. Or very little. I never had any problems with it.

There is also another enhancer, I tried it but I think SRS is better. DFX 9 Audio Enhancer

Try uninstalling sound card drivers and SRS, and then install all again. It could help.

 

Well after I installed it early in the afternoon it was working fine for the rest of the day, until I left to go out and came back later in the evening to use my laptop again. Upon trying to listen to Winamp, the program would freeze, and clicking on it again would grey it out like this:



This exact same thing happened to any browser I used if I tried to play a youtube video for example - greyed out window and frozen.

I don't know if I'm actually doing something to make it freeze like this as it will work and then when I'll come back later to use my laptop again throughout the day it will not be working, leaving me no option but to reset.

I'll try that other program to see if I have better luck.

 

Did you check what does it says when you "View problem details"?

I'm assuming that you have, acctually SRS is having a conflict with the sound card driver. What sound card do you have?

 

Cool! that's good to know. Glad your enjoying the software and that you find it helpful, I think it's a good find. I was a bit discouraged by some of the responses.

I looked at that as well, but it's only a plugin for audio players, unlike the SRS software which works on all sound sources. I even downloaded and fiddled a bit with it.

destrukt: What driver are you using for sound, realtek or microsoft? what driver version? Others are using this software without problems so something is different on your machine. Like grbac said view problem details. Let try and figure this out so we all can know what's going on, and hopefully avoid the same issue

 

For integrated sound cards, I think that your sound card must support the post processing feature. Heres what my SRS control panel looks like on my Asus G72. And whats kind of cool is that every Asus notebook comes with the SRS Premium Sound app. And if it doesn't come with it preinstalled, it can be installed by downloading it from the Asus support site.

 

Des - Had the same issue after reboot. Disable the default Realtek speaker device in the sound control panel and make sure the SRS is the only one enabled. Click on properties>do not use this device (drop down button) for the realtek to disable it.

That should solve your problem.

 

I downloaded SRS from Asus website, It installed ok and it seems like it is processing the sound, but I can't get any change in sound when I adjust the settings. No matter where I set them the sound is the same. The volume meter is jumping up and down with the sound, so the sound is going through it. I disabled the realtek driver, still a no go. I have a feeling the software is looking for a machine Id and using that to enable it's use, and mine being older may not be able to use it. Too bad it was free.

 

Laptopnut,

I see you’re the most vocal supporter of SRS so I am curious what settings do you like the most?

I got my machine on Monday, and was able to load and test SRS software. From what little testing I have done, I have to say it makes a definite improvement. I went and bought the software. Will have to wait till tomorrow to get it activated, I screwed up my email address and didn’t realize it was wrong till after buying.

I like the TruesurroundXT settings, it adds a lot of clarity and the most bass to get rid of the tinny sound. The advanced settings I like at close to max on all three settings.

 

I also find the TruSurroundXT to be the best setting for everything and that includes listening to music with earphones, gaming and watching movies. My other settings are a few bars away from max but since I haven't tried them on max yet I will do so and see how it sounds.

 

I've installed the program now and at least from listening to mp3s, all I can say is WOW. It's a vast improvement from before -it's like night and day. The bass is still certainly lacking, but every other sound seems to have been made clearer and louder. Overall, it sounds a lot less tinny.

Unfortunately, I left my headphones at work, so I won't get to test how it sounds with them until the morning. They're pretty decent headphones (Sennheiser HD280), so I hope the output is still decent. Either way, it can't be worse than before.

Thanks again to Othonda and LaptopNut for mentioning this software (+ to you guys!).

 

Note that I had never heard of SRS Audio Sandbox until seeing Othonda mentioning it when he started this thread but thanks for the +. Regarding your Bass still lacking, have you tried changing the Bass settings under the Advanced Controls Slider?

Depending on the settings you have, the sound quality and personality may automatically change depending on what you are doing which isn't always desirable.

 

Cool,

Another user that likes this software. It's hard to imagine that it would make a big difference, but it does. I called and got mine registered. I like how it doesn’t pop up anymore on boot up.

I am definitely glad this makes the sound more than acceptable. I was not looking forward to trying to tell the wife that I just spent a small fortune on a laptop and now I need speakers because these are crappy. To top it off I have my laptop on the kitchen table for use, so having a bigger laptop is not too bad. But adding speakers may cause some consternation with her.

 

Do you need to uninstall the Realtek drivers with this?

 

Nope! you just install it. If you use the demo it pops up every time you boot, then you just minimize it. When you buy the software it boots up in the tray. Also they lowered the price recently to $20.

 

SRS seriously need to give you two commission!

 

Hello Guys, I need some help, I installed SRS recently but when I enabled it on the control panel(disabled realtek drivers)- no sound . Must I uninstall realtek drivers ?

 

No you do not need to uninstall the realtek driver. The SRS control panel has an on/off button to turn the SRS sound on, but that should not effect whether you have basic sound or not. I know I had to fiddle with settings of SRS and of the realtek to get it working at the beginning.

 

Ok got it working somehow, I think I didnt set the output speakers on the options menu for the SRS, thanks for the tip

 

Im having trouble, I try to set the setting to TruSurroundXT but whenever I reboot it always switches back to WoW. Anyone have this problem? Any fixes? HELP MEEEEE!!!!

 

Where it says AutoTech, click on that and then change back to TruSurroundXT.

 

^ ya i can set it as trusurround, its just that it always switches back to wow. ugh

 

It keeps switching back for me as well. Not to mention, I set it so it won't load at startup, but it still does. Oh well...

 

It switches back because you have the Autotech / automatic switch enabled where the program decides what mode you need. That is why I told you to click on Autotech until it has been disabled.

 

^ haha na man Ive clicked that and unclicked it and tried everything, ah well

 

Did you do a reboot to test it each time you changed the setting?

A workaround would be to change the setting to TrusurroundXT and save that as a preset for each different type of content (Movie, Music, Games etc.

 

I am going to bump this up so people with recent interest in these laptops can see this.

 

^yea good move, i just bought a creative usb x-fi sound card, its really awesome, i did that instead of using this as i couldnt figure how to set this SRS soundbox properly.

 

does this help with the weak volume level in the w870cu. High volume seems weake even with headphones.

 

thanks for the bump! reminded me to get the program

So, just get this and it would be enough or a pair of headset is a better investment?