noticed "amplified" headphone output in the new clevo's...

but i can't seem to find ANY info on specs. i am very interested in frequency response and headphone output impedance. most headphone jacks in laptops are lousy. my 5160 is "OK" and i am being nice. nothing that a usb port and dac can't fix though. but it would be very nice to some solid and accurate info because sometimes it is nice and/or convenient to not have to bust out with my headphone amp/dac when i want to listen to something directly from my laptop to tune out the world or not disturb others. it would be awesome to find out there is a flat frequency response and output impedance is <1 ohm but i am not getting my hopes up. i don't think many laptop manufacturers have catered to the music crowd, much less hardcore headphone crowd besides apple. and macbooks, heck anything with an apple logo is out of the question.

 

It's definitely a much needed upgrade. Me and my friend both own P170EM's and think that they have the worst headphone sound quality of any laptop either of us have ever owned.

 

The amplification won't mean squat if the frequency response is all over the place and/or if output impedance is too high.

Sent from my XT1053 using HoFo app.

 

It's a Clevo , so...

 

Meaning what? Usually great CPU/GPU choices and more than adequate cooling and usually reliable depending on if nividia made a competent GPU material choice complemented by sager's outstanding service? Yeah. Never hear great the sound is. My np5160 is OK. Could be better but I actually use it occasionally considering it's not terrible like a 2007 phone.

Sent from my XT1053 using HoFo app.

 

Even a cheap audio codec have good frequency response and reasonably output impedance if the computer manufacturer follows the reference design for the codec. That is if one uses reasonable common headphones, extremely low or high impedance headphones can be a problem.

However sometimes the computer manufacturer thinks they can do better than the reference design but are very wrong - my Asus UX51VZ have a very high output impedance which produces obvious non-linear response in the lower audio range with my Philips Fidelio X1 headphones. It isn't because Asus was cheap - in fact they use more components than the reference design - but they obviously did something wrong.

Sadly most reviews doesn't do even a cursory check of the audio quality, if anything they tend to play some music loud on the internal speakers and if there is any bass at all mark it as good. :/

 

The two things that annoy me about my Clevo the most. Glossy display bezel, and the horrible audio. I'm fine with it when using my earbuds in my sig. But the second I output to my gaming headset or external speakers, I have to use my DAC/AMP or else I cannot stand the audio.

 

Quick question for you, what do you guys use for good headphone audio when the headphone jack outputs crappy audio? I mix audio to my Ultrasone Pro 750's, and at my main music workstation (desktop), it goes through an M-Audio Firewire Pro. I'm looking to purchase a new 8258 and would like to move my music mixing to this computer, but if the headphone jack puts out really crappy audio, I'm going to be bummed - I'd rather not get another DAC and have to hookup a big, awkward, not-very-portable piece of additional hardware just to hear accurate sound through my headphones. So - what do you guys use?

 

dac is the safest way to way to go. i use a jds labs c5d. the headphone output on my sager np5160 is okay. it's not great but it's not terrible. definitely needs an amp minimum. i use my beyer cop's straight headphone jack sometimes. i always use my c5d for my beyer dt770 250's. i use my galaxy note 3 as a dap since i got a moto x. i looked up the supposed sound card the new sager's will carry. it's supposed to be the creative x-fi mb3. whether that is good or not, there are only 2 more better cards available and 3 underneath it. and the x-fi mb3 has a software suite. <--- that right there tells me it's not promising.

 

Thanks, very helpful

 

I know this is a pretty dead thread, but i haven't really seen any other posts on this topic and since Google searching brings this thread up as the top one for searching for info on the clevo/sagers amplified headphone output i figured I should add some input for anyone else who comes along.


I have just gotten into learning about audiophile headphones and bought myself a pretty good pair that weren't too bad in price.

I am running a Sager NP8278-S (Clevo P170SM-A).

So far i have tried it the laptop with a pair of Sennheiser HD 558's which are rated at 50 ohm's of impedance (which is sort of a complicated rating for the power a headphone requires from the output to function at good sound levels).

These headphones sounded amazing on this laptop with gaming and music and movies. Plenty of volume and then some. I cant run it maxed out because it is too loud. The sound quality produced by the Clevo and the headphones is fantastic compared to what i have experienced with other laptops in the past. You might have to tweak the sound settings in the soundblaster X-Fi software a little to get it to your liking. So far I haven't had an opportunity to try headphones that need more power, so I don't know yet how much ohm's on a headphone that the on board sound system can run with satisfaction.

I still haven't managed to dig up any technical specs yet to see what the headphone port can output but if i come across anything I will update my post as well as if i get a chance to try any of the more power hungry headphones out there.

 

Thanks a lot for the info. That is encouraging. Go into device manager and see if you can dig up details if there are any details to be dug up. Almost any headphone up to 80 ohms should be somewhat easy to drive in anything with a half decent output including recent phones. Looking for voltage and output impedance ohms in particular. Ideally the output impedance would 2ohms or less. Even better <1. SNR and THD would be excellent finds also but less important to me personally. You can guesstimate not the numbers but how good are by listening. No hiss, distortion in different extremes of music especially bass and/or volume. I am guessing you don't have access to a lot of headphones but it'd be nice if you got a hold of something 80ohm and 250ohms ± some ohms. If the onboard amp can push 80ohms to jam out OT close to jam out volume on max volume that would be indicative of some very decent specs. And with some 250ohm headphones if it can push them to moderate volume with no artifacts or distortion then it might look really promising on the specs. But again really appreciate the little info you gave. I do wish more people would show interest so sager doesn't take out the feature or out something inferior in the future.

Sent from my SM-N9005

 

Damn. Post got cut off for some reason. I'll try and update it later.

Sent from my SM-N9005

 

Curious what headphones you got.

I have the 8258-S and, like you, I have had great pleasure with the output amp on the laptop with my personal audiophile phones.

I got the V-Moda XS on-ear. It has been absolutely outstanding for me. And the amp has not distorted any sounds that I can identify.

My music of choice tend to be some Lindsey Stirling, Beatles, AC/DC, Queen, Pink Floyd, Cranberries, Styx, Mozart, Bach, Carl Orff, Bing Crosby, Enya, Frank Sinatra, and so forth.

A fairly varied eclectic taste.

Both the amp and the headphones have provided every high, low and mid wonderfully. And as you stated, the laptop output is by far some of the best I've heard from any other system for a laptop.