The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    question: how to get the best audio out of my NP9170EM

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by IronCladRooster, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. IronCladRooster

    IronCladRooster Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    52
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    So I recently picked up a pair of speakers to hook up to my computer to give me a little sound boost. In conjunction with this I decided to start tinkering around with some of the audio settings on the computer. One of the first places I went to was the THX application that came with the computer.

    Whenever I open up the THX app I am asked what my audio set up is, whether it be smart dialogue, speaker etc, and it doesn't look like it activates until I make my choice. I always just choose speaker as I have plugged in a 2.0 speaker system (see link)

    Amazon.com: Bose Companion 20 Multimedia Speaker System: Computers & Accessories

    I don't REALLY notice a huge difference in sound quality when I select the speaker option. It has a crossover frequency slider which shows up after I pick speaker, but I haven't really played around with it to much.

    So my question is threefold.

    1. Is there any way to automatically have the THX system turn on to the speaker set up as soon as the computer starts up?
    2. What does the crossover frequency slider do and what do you recommend I set it at? Just the default 50?
    3. Any other general tips / tricks to get the most out of my computer's audio? Either in the THX menu, the Realtek menu or anywhere else?

    It's just that I recently got these new speakers and I really want to get the most out of them. I'm not a huge audiophile, but I do want to get my money's worth and learn something new too while I'm at it.

    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. sigbin

    sigbin Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    84
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
  3. Zymphad

    Zymphad Zymphad

    Reputations:
    2,321
    Messages:
    4,165
    Likes Received:
    355
    Trophy Points:
    151
    Wow, no offense, but those speakers are terrible... The input on that speaker is just from 3.5mm audio in from headphone output? Wow... those are some terrible speakers. It doesn't even have RCA input? Good gracious. I suggest buying new speakers.

    Get some real speakers like these instead.
    Amazon.com: Audioengine A5+ Premium Powered Speaker Pair (Black): Electronics

    Or at the very least if you don't want powered speakers, get a pair that can powered by a proper amplifier and external DAC.

    I also own the X-Fi Go!, but for his solution, I definitely cannot recommend them. X-Fi Go! has horrible noise floor, it's got a lot of white noise and hiss. The moronic speakers Bose designed will amplify whatever is being fed into it, so it will amplify the hiss even more with the X-Fi Go!.

    Also the X-Fi Go! Pro only has 16 bit 41.1 khz support, and I know a lot of streaming audio is streaming at 48khz. So that's another bummer.

    Instead I'd recommend the Asus Xonar U3, it's about as silent, black background as I can expect from a USB dongle. And it has 48khz support unlike the X-Fi Go! Pro.
     
  4. hackness

    hackness Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,237
    Messages:
    2,367
    Likes Received:
    429
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Don't bother enabling speaker/crossover frequency if your speaker doesn't come with a Center/subwoofer jack, what it does is it takes away the frequency below the given crossover frequency and sends it to subwoofer instead of sending them to front/rear/surround speakers. It's only for 5.1/7.1 systems.
     
  5. 0xsergy

    0xsergy Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I've got another way to get decent sound quality using the onboard card. Mind you THX software MUST be uninstalled for this to work(if it's installed you won't be able to have custom equalizer settings AFAIK). I messed with the settings switching between this laptop and my other until this one sounded as close as I could get it. What I do is just open this in the windows photo viewer and alt tab between this image and the Realtek settings page to match up the bars. If someone knows the reg key that this info is stored in then I'll get that key and upload it but until then this works pretty decent.

    Audio Settings 2.jpg
    Audio settings 1.jpg
     
  6. Tornator

    Tornator Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    70
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I have ASUS Xonar U3 and I recommend it for its excellent sound quality for such a low price.. Xonar U3 eats Realtec ALC892 (stock p1x0em soundcard) for breakfast :tongue:
     
  7. hackness

    hackness Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,237
    Messages:
    2,367
    Likes Received:
    429
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Only over 2.0 :D. ALC892 really does a good job when on 5.1/7.1 mode with THX pro.