Sager NP9150 Audio Quality Problems. Turtle Beach Micro II or Fiio E6?

Hey all,

After purchasing the Sager NP9150, I came to the sad realization that the quality of the audio passing through the headphone jack is poor, really poor. There is no bass that passes through and the highs are so crisp that listening to music through the jack can induce a headache.

I decided to do some extensive research, however extensive "Googling" the issue can be, and found two external hardware solutions to the issue. Because, unfortunately, there is no software fix. So, the hardware solutions are the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II, an external USB sound card, and the Fiio E6, an external amplifier.

My question is this, which is better? I know that the external sound card will give me better audio quality than the onboard headphone jack, but will it still lack bass and be restricted by the computer's audio drivers? Also, though the Fiio E6 will satisfy the lack of bass, is it still going to carry the audio quality of the headphone jack? Both the devices are around the same price, so price isn't an issue to take into consideration.

All help and advice is welcome!

 

I would go for the Turtle Beach USB sound card instead, amplifying the already poor quality stereo sound source coming from the onboard sound card doesn't seem viable.

 

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. If absolutely necessary, I could probably purchase the external sound card and attach the amp to it. It kind of sucks that I am going to be paying over $50 additional bucks to get decent headphone sound quality on a $1570 laptop.

Thanks for the reply

 

What do you do for audio on the Sager?

 

I have the NP9170 and we suffer from the same issues. In the meantime you could try this:
In the Realtek Sound Manager set the Speaker Config to 7.1


That provided some bass and leveled out the audio. Not really a fix but it helps.

 

I use discrete 5.1 speaker headset instead (Tritton PC510 HDA), and this onboard sound card performs fairly decent in 5.1 mode compared to stereo mode. Do need to enable the speaker mode and adjust the crossover frequency in the THX panel a bit, otherwise the bass is too strong (I'm using 40Hz). The only problem is that if I want to use the mic on my headset I have to unplug the center/sub jack as that jack is sharing with the mic function on the P150EM.

 

Unfortunately, I am stuck with my Audio Technica ATH-AD700 cans that do not support 5.1 surround sound. Funny that the bass is "too strong," most people report the opposite effect with stereo sound. I have a friend with a 5.1 Razer headphone setup, I might try it to see if the difference is major enough to justify the purchase of a new pair of cans.

 

Yes the bass was way too strong when using with 5.1 headsets But that's with analog 5.1 headset, 4 analog jacks plus USB power.

 

Sorry, this is an accidental post.

 

Thanks, big props for that. It seriously helps with the lacking bass and somewhat with the overall quality. I will tweak some of the speaker settings there and see what else I can do. This does have issues, though. It makes the sound muffled in my Google Group chats, which is necessary when I work remotely. But, as you said, it isn't a fix but it definitely helps.

 

The bass is tinny, the sound is crackling, and I honestly wish I could find a Asus Xonar U3 around here, as I don't trust Creative products and they are in abundance in this place. Maybe I'll be forced to order it.

And yeah, don't try enhancing this stuff. I have this heavy duty fellow:
Amazon.com: Pro-Ject: Head Box II Headphone Amplifier - Silver: Electronics
And all it does is boost the crappiness to the maximum

I'm far from being an audiophile, but this is really the worst sound I've heard in the last few years, and I've heard some really lousy MP3 players + cheap headphones in my day. Clevo should really be ashamed of themselves pairing such a low end device to such a monster of a laptop.

 

i think this may help you to get a better sound quality

 

Actually the poor quality sound only happens with stereo earphones on the P150EM, I can confirm that

 

From what I have read, the audio on the generation's models is better than the previous one's. TBH, if the audio was any worse, I would be RMA'ing the device thinking there was a problem. Thanks for the information about the amp. I will avoid buying one for now. I did look for the Asus Xonar 3, but I couldn't find any on sale for cheap online.

Furthermore, I totally agree with you about the audio issues. I have a friend with the MSI GT70, and the audio quality is par-none, something one would expect from an expensive gaming/performance laptop. I can't believe that a company dedicated to making gaming/performance computers would design a laptop with audio quality worse than my Lenovo x120e's (and that's a netbook) and that none of the published reviews I read mentioned anything about the issue.

 

While I did notice an obvious change when switching from the stereo mode to 7.1 or even 5.1, the audio quality was still sub-par IMO. This could be due to the fact the I currently lack a true 5.1/7.1 sound system or headphones, though.

 

Thanks, but this basically does what the THX driver does - put a gold ring in a pig's snout. Still not good enough

 

Not sure if by reviews you mean any discussions on NBR, because I see a mention of the poor audio quality every other day since I started lurking here while researching.

 

Yes, the only way to have the P150EM onboard card shine with its original software is to use a true 5.1/7.1 system or a true 5.1/7.1 headphone with discrete speakers.

 

No, I did not mean the forum reviews on NBR. I didn't see those till after I had already purchased the laptop. In fact, the NRB member reviews seem to be more thorough and better written than most others I see online by people paid to review laptops

 

OK, it has gone far enough for me to stand this horrible, ridiculous sound to wait for a delivery, so I was forced to purchase the Creative X-Fi Go! Pro.

Despite being a Creative product, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. And even though they still implement the THX software that Clevo been using, their tiny USB with surround sound and large speaker software emulation + my ATH-M50 headphones sound surprisingly good. My games finally sound as good as they look.

 

Since like I'll have to use my ps3 headset to have a correct sound.
Does anyone have this ?

Ear Force DP11

I'll do a review when my Np9150 will arrive

 

To be honest, I don't. But I do intend to get a pair of 5.1 or 7.1 headphones to compensate for the bad sound and give my wife my Audio Technica pair. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what what 5.1 or 7.1 headphones I should purchase?

 

Also, it seems to me that the only solutions to this issue would be:

1) Purchase an external sound card that connects via USB, and not a an amp. Connect 2.0 headphones/speakers to the external sound card.
2) Use an audio enhancement software and switch the sound to be either 5.1 or 7.1 while using a 2.0 headset. This solutions seems mediocre but is the cheapest route and still provides "Okay" sound quality.
3) Purchase a 2.1/5.1/7.1 speakers or headphones.
4) Use USB connected headphones.

Anyone else have any solutions to add?

 

I've used Turtle Beach Z6A/Tritton PC510 HDa/Psyko Carbon, they are all true 5.1 headsets.

Turtle beach and Tritton both sound great however Tritton's bass level is much much stronger, both headsets have a hissy noise in the background because the power source came from USB. To fix that you have to lower the Master volume of the headset amp until you can't hear the noise. This is a typical problem with USB powered headset.

For durability between Turtle Beach and Tritton, Tritton is much more durable. Turtle Beach's connector between the headset and the amp became loose only after 5 months usage due to the small pins inside the connector, now I can't hear anything coming out from the front left speaker from the Turtle Beach Z6A because the pin isn't properly attached. It's also why I bought Tritton headset, and the amp connector's pins in Tritton's are much larger than Turtle beach's. I have had the Tritton PC510 HDa for 7 months now and it's still rock solid.

For Psyko Carbon, the way it works is slightly different to normal true 5.1 headsets, the speakers are placed inside the headband and the sound is lead to your ears through plastic tubes. It's purely designed for surround sound gaming experience, so you can't expect the sound quality to be good, however after extensive tweaking (took me 2 weeks), the sound quality has become decent but it's still no where near the Turtle Beach Z6A and the Tritton PC510 HDa. However the biggest plus of the Psyko carbon is that there's no hissy sound in the background as it's powered by an amp with AC adater.

Personally I prefer Tritton PC510 HDa as it's the most comfortable one to wear and it's light. Psyko Carbon's surround sound experience is the best from those 3 but it's really heavy on top of my head, the top of my head starts to hurt after 2 hours usage. For Turtle Beach Z6A the weight is very light like the Trittons however the headband of the Z6A doesn't have any padding, the top of my head starts to hurt after about 2 hours usage too.

Edit: I haven't tried true 7.1 headset though, Razer has released a Razer Tiamat 7.1 headset back in march, it's the first true 7.1 headset, but the price is kinda high. I read some reviews regarding to it and it seems like the Razer Tiamat 7.1 headset still has the hissy sound in the background (Powered by USB like the Turtle Beach/Tritton). But those reviews all mentioned 1 thing, it's very comfortable to wear for long term usage.

 

Thanks for this. I'm likely in the market so I appreciate getting me going.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

The tiamat says 5 3.5mm jacks so I'm guessing no good with 9150 right?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

The 5th jack is for microphone, the thing with the P150EM onboard is that you either choose 5.1/7.1 or stereo + mic-in as the mic-in jack is shared with center/sub jack.

 

Ah right right didn't think about that. Cheers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

I've been using the same, didn't want to waste time trying to make the crappy sound card a little better.

The X-fi Go! is about the size of a thumb drive and definitively worth it.

 

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the Tritton pair already and I read similar reviews. Still, it is great to get a first hand opinion on these things. I might go for the Z6A, however, due to the fact that I normally won't be playing games for over two hours at a time.

 

If you go for Z6A make sure you don't disconnect the connector between the Headset and the amp too often, once it becomes loose it's kinda hard to fix. The pins on the Tritton amp connector are thicker so don't need to worry about disconnecting the connector too often.

 

I would like to buy the P150EM as well but would not like to have to buy a separate usb. I've also had similar issue on my current MSI GX700.

The solution was to select the 5.1 (in this case 7.1) Speaker configuration and UNTICK all Optional Speakers (since only stereo is available in headphones) in the Realtek Audio Manager in order to channel all audio streams to the headphones (including bass).

The Bass Management options yield different results in different laptops from my experience so you could try it off then on and see if it makes a difference.

Could someone with the NP150EM try disabling the optional speakers with 7.1 configuration on and report if the headphone sound becomes somewhat acceptable? Thanks in advance.

 

Tried that already. While the result is probably the best that can be attained, it's still unacceptable. If you've never tried an external DAC, you might even be happy with the result. Until you hear the difference, then there's no going back

 

There's another thread regarding sound cards, I suggest you folks read through it, as we cover a lot of what's here.

 

I also have the X-fi Go Pro.

But it could have had more depth and higher SNR output. But oh well... It does what it says. But I didn't liked it that no one tell how much is the original SNR of the card, for me it doesn't seem much high (maybe 96DB SNR?). I wish to know all the specs they hide...
Keep Cool

 

So if you use external speakers with this there wont be any bass coming out of them?

 

If it's 5.1 and 7.1 it will work just fine. The others have no bass.

It's probably missing 2.0 configuration on the software to allow bass to be output on every output depending on what speakers type we have.
Keep Cool

 

Do NOT buy the Turtle Beach, everything they make is garbage marketing material. E6 won't help your problems you need something more along the lines of an E10 or E17, USB DAC + Amp's that would really provide you some improved sound quality.

 

As noted in the thread I mentioned above, this is absolutely correct - the E6 is just an amp and will do nothing to solve the issue, and Turtle Beach is a waste of money. The best options are the Fiio E10 ($64) or Creative X-Fi Go! Pro ($25-$35 YMMV). The E17 is a great product, but overengineered for use solely with a PC.

 

E17 has better sound quality than the E10, overall, if you can afford the $130 that's the best to get IMO, I don't know however if it supports Dolby Headphone, you might need something like a Mixamp in order to get that, which is roughly the same price. Dolby Headphone is GREAT in games, absolutely wonderful.

 

I prefer 2.0 speakers because I am kinda limited on space on this pretty small desk. With built in subs that is.
I can hear where gunfire is coming from in bf3 with a good set of 2.0 speakers in front of me. I did a base test on youtube and my speakers although not meant for base(they crackle though not meant for base) do pick up on the base and can hear it.

 

I don't understand why Clevo would put crappy sound card on a $1,200-2,000 machines. For a price like that, they should have put premium audio but no they have to cheapen it up.

 

D/A on the machine is fine, I suspect it's the opamps that suck. The Realtek is used on many different laptops and the sound is fine, so it's not likely that. Could be that Clevo just screwed something up implementing it.

 

I was wondering if the Creative Labs X-Fi Go Pro USB Sound Card-
Amazon.com: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Go! Pro USB Audio System with THX SB1290: Electronics

-would block both of the USB ports on the left-hand side of the NP9170?
http://www.sagernotebook.com/images/products/9170_5.jpg


If it blocks both USB ports then I would consider the Turtle Beach Micro II USB sound card (or is it just an adapter?). I realize that Turtle Beach audio products are low quality, but will it at least sound better than the Sager NP9170 default 3.5mm headphone jack?

 

From my experience, so far the best laptop DAC chip would be Realtek ALC269 (found on my clevo w370et).

 

---bump---

 

It wont block both ports if you use an USB Hub.

And both turtle beach and the cretive cards are low-budget and low-mid range quality, compared to the audiophile stuff.
The only two DACs that Ive used are the HERCULES DEEJAY TRIM 4&6 audio interface (features a Wolfson 106db SNR DAC) and a Behringer Xenyx 302USB.

The hercules performed like a champ, with strong, hiss-free and correct audio playback. I loved it. Not portable, though.
The Behringer is good Id say, it has a british 2-band EQ (physical EQ, not software). But you dont need that if.

So, Id say go with Creative. At least they've got some nice software features and sound decently nice. For 90% of gamers - its the best out there.

 

I don't know much about audio at all so tell me if this is a stupid question. Would using a usb set of headphones help with this?

 

You will get better sounds then the built in speakers but are still having the built in sound card do the processing. A USB sound card will improve on that.

 

It's been 6 months now, I'm still feeling satisfied with the 5.1 channel sound quality coming out from my P150EM on-board sound chip though. The setup was Tritton PC510HDA 5.1 + Foobar2000's Matrix Mixer Plugin but a lot of tweaks were applied to THX, Realtek and Matrix Mixer and headset's volume control to achieve the current result. But indeed when it comes to 2.0/2.1 this on-board sound chip is one of the worst.