My NP9170 has virtually no bass

I got my NP9170 this past Tuesday, and I'm currently loving it: games run very smoothly, programs start up and close fast, etc. However there is a MAJOR issue that needs to be addressed: the lack of bass in the mix on my audio devices.

I am an amateur musician, writing metal, jazz, and electronic, all of which require good mixing with a sound card that does not mess with the sound quality at all. Previously I have been using a 5 year old MacBook and a $300 Acer I had to buy as an emergency; both of these computers, whether my headphones or my desktop audio monitors are plugged in, have a well-balanced mix that is for the most part flat. Both of these used the internal sound card, which sufficed.

Today I decided I would test out the sound by copying a scratch song I made on Ableton on my crappy Acer to the Sager. I opened up Ableton, pressed play, and my headphones turned into a tin can. The audio sounded like it had a bitrate of 96 kbps and was going through a compressor. Not very pleasing to my ears. I exported the song and sent it to my phone so I could listen to it on there on the same headphones I used in the earlier test. The bass was there and wasn't overpowered by the midrange or treble.

"Hmm...maybe I just need to update my RealTek drivers..." So I updated them with the provided CD, to no avail; my sound was still crap.

I am out of options and I have no idea what to do. I don't want to invest in an external sound card yet as I have NEVER needed one. No computer (and I do mean no computer, even my crappy, bottom-of-the-market Acer) I have used has suffered such from such horrible sound quality.

Any help is appreciated.

 

There is no real good solution for the sound on these models, you have the choice between buy a usb audio card or get a refund.

 

weeeeeeeeeeeee

 

It's THX. There's a thread somewhere here with instructions on how to get bass working through headphones. On the normal setup, it sends the bass to the disabled speakers/sub-barker instead of to the headphones like it should.

woof

 

Here you go http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/680221-how-fix-sound-headphones.html

 

and it's optical output also sounds like 96kbps

 

totally agree about the speakers. i cant help with the headphones but if you have a set of 5.1 speakers you can put the green jack in the headphone socket and the yellow jack in the mic in socket (popup box tick speaker out) and you can get front 2,rear 2 and sub running which gives great bass. saves buying a x-fi card but it still doesnt help the headphones much

 

hmm seriously questioning if i want the NP9150 now...

I will probably get a external DAC + AMP for audiophile listening but k... why does the audio on this beast have to be so bad..

 

Agreed. Having some cheap laptop speakers is one thing, but having a lousy internal soundcard in this day and age is unbelievable, especially since these things cost so little nowadays.

Oh, well. These behemoths aren't really too mobile, so I see no harm in lugging another USB sound-card + AMP along with it.

 

You get what you pay for , Sager is a lot cheaper than most gaming laptops for the performance you get. It's just that there are a few... compromises.

 

A lot cheaper than most gaming laptops? Umm... There aren't that many more expensive. There's Alienware and MSi. I suppose you could say ASUS as well, but you're paying for the name brand there as the G75 isn't nearly as good as the NP9170.

 

sorry onkyo clevo have ruined you name

 

I have to agree the sound is really bad. I did 3 things to get it up to just bad. Enable THX. Enable bass boost in Surround Sound. Enable boost in Headphones. It appears that while you have to set it to these outputs to enable the bass boost it retains the boost when you change outputs. I did not verify this. I ended up getting the FIIO E17 which I recommend highly although it is rather pricey. Considering how much these Sagers can run when maxed out it is rather ridiculous they don't at least give you an option of a better integrated sound card. I really do not like having to use an external card to get acceptable sound.

 

as an fps gamer i do infact use virtual 7.1 heasets.... through usb....

 

being a lot cheaper doesn't mean it should have a crap sound card? Having a proper sound card is a prerequisite for any laptop over $800, so you should't be paying more, to get it. Also despite it's price difference from other gaming laptops, it's still a high quality laptop...

 

It does not even have to be that expensive, all they needed is to put in a good DAC, line amp and properly filtered powered supply to it. It won't cost more than 100$ even for higher end components.
Hell, they could've just put more EL capacitors to sound power rails, so you won't hear the sound of GPU working ;-/ But, apparently, at Clevo, no one cares. Just put "Onkyo" label on, marketing guys satisfied, engineers are sound-deaf, problem solved, we good.
I was pretty tempted to write a letter to Onkyo, in case they don't know how their name is being used to promote that poor excuse of an audio output.

 

I was SERIOUSLY hoping that the first response to this post would have been "... We know." and I'd have died laughing. But either way, audiophiles + laptops = no no. I really suggest a USB headset or speakers to get the best sound; as those use their own sound cards and care not for the sound of your system. If you want good USB headsets for music, I can only recommend Astros A40s/A50s (expensive, wireless on the latter) or Corsair Vengeance 1500s/2000s (wireless on the latter). I think the logitechs and Steelseries aren't as good for music.

 

I am pretty casual listener, and I am not trying to get a "best sound".
I simply wish Clevo
a) didn't put in speakers in horribly resonating plastic casing that produces horrible vibration,whistles & distortion at certain frequencies
b) properly designed line output, so you don't hear sound of CPU & GPU working via power rails ground loops. So you don't have to absolutely get USB card *just to hear clean music* on your headphones, and don't have to always take USB sound card with you on trips.

These two things are simply from ABCs of audio-related hardware engineering, and many lot cheaper laptops "somehow"/s manage to get them right. In fact, pretty much every laptop I had before had better sound output than Clevo.

 

You just didn't sound like a casual listener there. You're sounding like a casual audiophile, maybe. I do NOT have a PxxxEM machine to know firsthand how bad the sound is, I always found my D900F was pretty okay, so you might be 100% right in saying that they're some of the worst on the planet or something, but as I said, you aren't looking for a USB sound card, but rather a USB headset or USB speakers.

To my knowledge, USB sound cards will only affect externally plugged in sound devices and do naught for internal speakers, is this wrong?

 

Clevo has very bad electrical noise on the line output jacks. I had Toshiba before that was *noisy*, but it was *white noise* (uniform). In Clevo's case its electrical noise that changes with CPU&GPU workloads, you can hear various "chirps, screech", as they do various work.
You hear bit of same noise on speakers, but not much. But speakers has very bad resonance problems, so they can't put out the normal volume levels without causing terrible vibration sometimes.

You will only think that its normal if you never heard any other laptop maybe, but even if you casual listener you will find it horrible if you just have something to compare to (I mean, seriously, how can you not hearing as GPU screeches in background when you are playing a game).

USB card solves noise problem for headphones, and it allows to use external speakers to solve resonance problem.

 

So you don't want a USB headset or USB speakers, but rather a USB sound card to use multiple analog headsets/speakers as you please?

 

Well, I *want* laptop to have at least a consumer-grade analog line output & speakers that do not vibrate. I could live with lack of bass (not like its possible anyway given size constraints). So I won't have to take sound card with me on trips just to hear some music/play some games via my small pair of headphones.

At my desk I use Sound Blaster Xi-Fi HD USB to get output to HiFi headphones and sound bar on my monitor, so I could live with it... But it does not excuse Clevo much IMO.