Does anyone here have a Z & an S.R. who can comment on speaker quality difference?

Also, does this Z actually have 1600x900? That review & amason say 1366 x 768 , b&h and buy.com say it's 1600x900, and frys says "WXGA 1600x900" (L.O.L. that's not even what WXGA is Frys)!

But I'm mainly concerned about the speakers- I had a 13.3" s vaio years ago, so i do understand you're just not going to be getting a hi-fi sound system in something so small, but even compared to that one, I couldn't even enjoy talk radio on the S.R. Voices sounded too tinny, I think worse than this $6 one-speaker radio from wal mart. The Z is smaller, but hopefully better speakers or internal amplifier than the S.R.? It is entirely possible there was just a problem with my particular unit.

Otherwise everything seems like an upgrade except "32-bit Vista Business with X.P. downgrade"? My S.R. had "64-bit Vista Home Premium" with no X.P. downgrade A.F.A.I.K. I also like anti-glossy displays, so that's good.


But any experiences with the sound difference especially would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

there are 2 versions of the Z. one comes with 1600x900 and the other, 1366 x 768

I cant comment on Z sound quality, but I have a SR290 and the speakers are absolutely abysmal. the laptop works fine with headphones or hdmi out, but the built in speaker sound quality is poor and worse yet, the volume is terrible. just to be able to hear sound normally you have to keep the volume between 85-100% in windows. If I watch a hulu video while sitting in a quiet room i have to have the volume at 100% to hear it, and that's with the laptop sitting 30" away from me (and I don't have any hearing problems).

imo thats the only downside of the SR line.

 

I'd rank the three Sony laptops I've had as follows, in terms of sound quality, clarity and volume:

1 - SZ791N/X (the best by a country mile, actually)
2 - Z610Y/B (tinny and no mid-range)
3 - SR390J (muffled, tinny, AND no mid-range)

 

S. Prime, under Audio enhancement, there is a option about something Sound Correction or something. (Room Correction I think]. Click that and ur volume will be better.

 

I use my headphones whenever I can when watching movies, and I never listen to music without my headphones. Also, I do think that I have better than average hearing.

Given that, the speakers on my Z have no bass at all. I could barely hear cello part of the duet when I was listening to Johan Halvorsen's Passacaglia (it was in fact written for violin and viola, but there are people performing the piece with violin and cello). However, the mid and the high are clear. It's not the loudest speaker I've seen on a laptop, but it is by no means tiny (in fact, it is far from being "tiny"). The speakers are fine for a casual movies with a friend or some youtube videos. I can hear the conversation in movies comfortably well at around 35-50% volume. I've never cranked the volume to more than 60% except when I'm connecting the Z with my amp.

It is quite impressive how long(sorry, typo, meant loud) they are given that the speaker holes are just 2 slits of opening on either side, no longer than a letter key on the keyboard.

 

This was mentioned briefly here before, no one actually clarified. B2B Sony also lists it as 1600x900. If you decide to buy it, be sure to let us know.

 

Speakers in Z are not long, they are exactly round, about half an inch in diameter (if I remember it correctly from the last disassembly).

 

Well tHat's weird it's kind of a mystery even here, but I think SONY themselves should qualify as the most trusted source vs. retailers & reviewers. Thanks M.H. Maybe someone with that specific model will chime in & confirm for certain. (B.T.W. it is model number vgn-z620n/b, I didn't mention in the O.P. just linked it).

Thanks to all for the input on speakers. I looked at a (different) Z model in frys today, but couldn't make any kind of evaluation because it was too loud in there. And the problem with the S.R. now that J.P. mentions it was probably bass, because the voices were so tinny. But I.D.K. how other small notebooks manage to do it. Maybe they didn't & I am just remembering fondly, because I am actually used to a 15.0" currently, so that's not a fair comparison because they have more speaker space. So maybe my old S 13.3" was just as bad. I wish I could use headphones, but often I need to be able to hear my environment.

B.T.W. is there any kind of stipulation about open boxes, if bought from authorized retailers? Does Sony care if someone had bought it, returned it, then someone else bought that same unit? I'm thinking about warrantly mostly, but any other concerns buying an open box/return I might not be thinking about, so long as it works.

 

For more volume in your speakers, use the default Vista HD audio driver. But you will loose some functionality like automatic headphone jack switching.

 

Thank you, I will check it out.

I'll be installing win7, so I see if there is a difference.

 

In Win 7 (64-bit) even auto jack switching is enabled with the default audio driver.

 

O.k. I went to another Frys that had that particular configuration on display & it is definitely 1600x900.

You know now that I think about it the S.R.'s speakers were actually plenty loud, for me- because I used it in a quiet place & didn't even need to turn it up all the way. It's hard to describe, but at ANY volume things just sounded wrong. I could make it louder, but it didn't make voices sound any better no matter how loud or quiet. I realize it's a nit-pick if that for most people (who can use headphones, external speakers etc.), but that Z does look awesome. It's amazing that while everthing's faster in there- hard drive, processor, dedicated graphics etc.- but cooler. Because my S.R. even made my left palm sweat a little just idling, typing a document. O.T.O.H. 2x as much dough!

 

Do you know if the internal structure of the SR is somehow different than the Z? Because the Z does get hot around the "W" key and above the air vent in SPEED mode when I'm running Unreal Tournament 3, which is the probably the most graphic intensive game the Z can handle smoothly. The only thing that's under the left palmrest of the Z is a HDD/SDD, so the hottest it gets is around 30-35 degrees.

However, I do agree that the Z is a wonderful little machine that's got some pretty serious processing power. Also, the underside of the laptop never gets hot, probably due to the carbon reinforced plastic used for the structure.

 

Right-click audio taskbar icon >> Playback Devices >> Speakers >> Enhancement Tab >> Check in Loudness Equalization.

That should increase your volume a bit. It was not room correction, sorry. =[

 

No I.D.K. that for certain, just allowing for that possibility. It might be purely about the lower watt processor in the case of my comparison, but I'd be more surprised if their cooling systems were exactly the same than not. I don't do anything so intensive as V.G. tournaments, but either way I'll be sure to pay particular attention to that area you pointed out by "W". Because it's funny, I can usually just go around and feel the left side of them & rule most models out(mainly other brands.)- most of the demo models just sitting there IDLING are way too hot for me. Usually right there under the left palm is what bothers me.



B.T.W. thanks for the loudness adjustment tips C.G. & Qeuque!

 

I haven't had time to try that out on vista because I had installed win7 and just now got around to installing the sony drivers. the volume is much better on win7, so I guess you were correct - its not a hardware issue, just a driver / settings problem.