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

thanks. going to look into this

 

Still rockin' the Creative X-Fi Go! Pro. It has been working flawlessly, and the sound quality is extremely good compared to the laptop's built in audio.

 

Don't know if this is any help to anyone but I've got Beats Solo headphones and I tried them on my P150EM but the bass was almost non existent, after a while I messed around with the Realtek audio settings and found that changing the speak configuration to quadraphonic brought the bass back and made it sound like it should, I'm not really sure why this fixed it, my only guess is that it's something to do with the dual speaker configuration in these headphones (not even sure if it's implemented in the solos) but it definitely seems to work for me, might be worth trying especially if you're using headphones that aren't stereo

 

Already posted this in the owners forum but if anyone wants better audio for their gaming headset, get the asus xonar u3. I have it paired with an astro mixamp and the a40s and it sounds awesome. With the xonar u3, you can get Dolby digital live though spdif. For some reason you can't do that with the spdif on the 9150.

 

Apparently the old Creative Xifi Go sounds a lot better than the new Xifi Go Pro.
Creative SB1100 USB 2.0 Sound Blaster X-Fi Go Audio System: Amazon.ca: Electronics

 

But you don't have the astro mix amp connected to the u3 do you? USB right?

 

I have the xonar hooked to the mixamp through spdif. That's the only way to get Dolby digital live. Cool thing is the xonar comes with an adaptor for the toslink mini to reg optical

 

The FiiO E10 is far superior than anything Creative produces.

 

Seems like Im the only one happy with his onboard audio.

 

Please give us your direct comparison between the FiiO E10 and the X-Fi Go! Pro.

 

You are not alone mate.

 

I read somewhere that the audio is bad only because the bass gets passed to the subwoofer so you don't hear it on your headphones. Someone said that disabling all the THX options fixed the problem, although I can't confirm any of this, still expecting my np9170 in a week or so

 

Two different setups. I think it's stupid to compare the two. X-Fi Go is a dongle that provides a noticeably improved audio over the on-board. It's small, and connects directly via USB. It's great for on the Go! It's called X-Fi Go! for a reason.

The E10 is a desktop solution. And it's decent for the money, I think there are better solutions now. If you want something great, take a look at the JDS Labs - O2+ODAC Combo

That O2+DAC is currently the best value on the market. It's a simple design using the best D/A on the market right now and it will achieve sound quality no doubt than even $2000 solutions. It's a no frill, no bs, true sound.

Save your money, keep the X-Fi Go! That thing does a great job for what it was designed to do. If you want a desktop solution, get the O2+DAC then, skip the E10 FiiO. FiiO certainly got a nice following for their cheap solutions, but their more expensive desktop ones, I say naaah, waste of money. Too expensive for cheap, get the O2+DAC instead. That is one serious, very serious solution. And you won't need anything else either, that thing is beast.

If you want to read up more about it, here is the designer/engineer's blog:
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/o2-headphone-amp.html

FYI he was banned from Head-Fi, because he is awesome. Head-Fi is just a massive shill for their sponsors.

 

I can't give you a direct comparison, I can, however, talk from my personal experience:

I didn't like the onboard sound one bit using my ATH M50, as it was like playing with an 80's PC speaker with those set of cans. Since I was hard pressed to get a fix straight away, I went for the X-Fi Go! Pro, as I could grab it from a nearby store. What can I say - the sound was a huge step up! Finally I could hear everything, the sound was crisp and I kinda liked the virtual surround feature.

Then the troubles started. At first it was crackle I could notice here and there, then an annoying buzzing sound, then an issue here and an issue there. The sound was just right, mind you, but it was like eating the perfect sandwich with a little bit of moldy spot: it just wasn't as much fun. The last straw for me was after I installed Win 8, as Creative's drivers are notoriously amateurish, getting stuck on max volume all of a sudden (turning me half deaf in the process), and only a full reinstallation of the drivers fixed that, and sometimes not at all.

So I had enough and got the FiiO E10. I won't lie, it wasn't that much of a sound improvement over the X-Fi Go! Pro (but I'm no audiophile, so what do I know?) and I lost the virtual sound feature, but the FiiO E10 doesn't require drivers to work, has no crackles whatsoever, the sound is clean and crisp and to top it all, it has a volume knob right on top of the unit, so I don't have to deal with changing volumes during a game. It has a nice bass boost button, which I keep constantly on because I use it for gaming and it kinda enhances the experience, and that's about it.

So to sum it up - the FiiO E10 is like an X-Fi Go! Pro that doesn't suck

 

I only have the E10 and an X-Fi 5.1 right now. But my experience is pretty close to what amirfoox describes.

With my AIAIAI TMA-1a, the X-Fi is actually fine enough, but with the HiFiMan HE-300s, it's just weak. No body or midrange to the music, no bass, plus I have to turn it up to 100% to get decent volume.

What are you doing? The E10 fits in the palm of your hand and is down to ~$50 at some sellers now. The ODAC is larger and costs nearly $300

Maybe you're confusing the E10 with the FiiO E9.

 

I use a $18 DAC from eBay and it sounds great for me

 

My ASUS Xonar U3 with Dolby Headphone outputs awesome sound for my Etymotics.

Thoroughly recommended.

 

The problem with the ALC892 (which is featured in the whole "P" line of Clevo) is the following:
1.) It sounds muddy
2.) It has low power output (phones are hardly receiving half the power that they should)
3.) By default, the stereo output cuts off the lower frequencies, so bass is almost absent.

To fix the total absence of bass (and maybe crystalize a bit on the sound), use THX.
Set the crossover to 55Hz and set output as External Speakers.
The Headphones setting works too, BUT....it cuts out some of the highs and adds more muddy-ness to the sound (which I dislike).

As I kept saying, I will say it again: not all Clevo models are using that piece of junk card ALC892.
Mine (w370et) is using a stereo dac ALC262, which has A LOT more output power (I'd say its louder than most laptops on the market) and the sound is a lot richer.

So, Clevo, if you want me to buy a high-end laptop with MXM slot again, PLEASE dont put in the 7.1 dac. Its utter crappness.
I'd rather prefer a 2.0 Stereo dac if it has more quality, than a home-theater output of mudd and lack of output signal power.
A nice TI/Burr Brown DAC with 124db SNR would do just fine, please. I know they manufacture everything in China now. How expensive could it be?!

 

I have high hopes for the next flagship models from Clevo, because of the W370ET. Seeing that it's the newest model they've released, we should expect and hope that some of its updated features make it to the new 2013 models.

So I'll be shocked if all of next year's Clevos aren't using at least the ALC262.

 

Yeah, Im also hoping for heavy power in 55W form factor cards from Nvidia. And AMD - get your shhhhh together and crush Nvidia even more with fair pricing and stable drivers!!
I feel its gonna happen, we (the customers) will get the best offers this year, more than ever before.
Thats how I feel and Im sure as hell it will happen.

 

I've read every post here and am still unsure of which to do. I was happy with my old Dell's audio. But cannot stand my current P150EM's audio quality. I want a portable solution. Something I can easily setup with my headphones for listening to anywhere. I'm a college student, hence the portability factor. I like to use my Sennheiser PC 350's mostly in my apartment but also use a more portable Sennheiser CX 275s when on the go studying. I was looking at the Turtle Beach Amigo II, Creative Labs X-Fi Go Pro, and Asus Xonar U3. It seems like the X-Fi is the way to go. However, I'm still not sure. What is said about the Fiio E10 seems good, but it doesn't seem portable enough on top of the 7lbs of laptop I already have and the massive power brick (which I don't always bring with me).

 

If you play games with headphones get the Xonar as Dolby Headphone is far superior to the Creative Surround HRTF.

 

Another thing I forgot to mention, I also like to hook up external speakers into them at times. One of the biggest reasons I hate the onboard sound (so terrible sounding on them). I'm kind of against needing more software, It seems like the Fiio doesn't use any, while the Creative does. Not sure about the Xonar. Also, the Fiio seems smaller than I thought. Realistically I don't want any adapter as it removes portability, anyone that has used the Fiio E10, how is it on the go or is it too big to travel with?

 

I'm using a $18 USB DAC from eBay and I'm very happy with it



FYI, to me, the sound from 2.1 external speakers is fine... no missing bass or whatsoever.