Petition To Sony: Please Improve Sound/speaker Quality On Vaio Z

I have owned quite a few Vaio's. The sound quality of the vaio z1 and z2 are horrific. And this is unacceptable given the premium prices that we are paying. I also own a SZ38GP (which is the flagship model before the Z) and the speakers are significantly better, although not perfect, better. Better in the sense that increasing the volume did not cause a sting in my ear like as if my eardrum was stabbed with an ice-pick.

I am sure sony vaio developers would read the stuff on this forum. So please add to this thread so that the up and coming vaio (not necessarily just the Z-series but others as well) will have great speakers on par with say macbook pro.

I am unsure of the sound quality of the other vaio series, maybe someone could enlighten me on that. Anyhow, us vaio enthusiasts have suffered long enough with terrible speakers. It's about time Sony did something about it and give us some satisfaction that is so deserving of loyal sony fans.

PLEASE SPEAK UP!

 

a slightly different topic but how does everyone find the mic quality for the z2? do you get a lot of background noise when skyping?

 

I am just saying in general. When you crank up the volume on your vaio z does it sound tinny? does it sound like it can pierce your ear?

Have you found that it is the same with your previous vaio z's?

It is particularly difficult to get nice bass pumping through these vaio z's.

Of course, if you plug in the provided noise-cancelling headphones the sound is tolerable. But the speakers on its own is barely tolerable; like the sound of fingernails scratching a blackboard.

 

Every single Sony laptop I've owned had pretty bad speakers. My last three, FW, F and SA sounds like c..p!

F11-series sound wasn't loud at all.

SA290-series sounds very flat. BTW my cat sounds better

 

The Z2 is pretty much the worst laptop I've heard in like 15 years. I don't really care since I'm not playing music thru the speakers (and the headphone out is OK, unlike many other notebooks).

The thing I can ask the OP though is... the speakers? Really? Is that all? I can think of >10 other far more important things that should be fixed before the speakers.

 

What's your top 10?

 

for a parent company like SONY...who likes too make bold claims in their sound products... VAIO computers audio is seriously laughable......


Well i can only compare that to a VAIO Z13... and it seems to me like the speakers are worse than that of a typical smartphone now... it's actually compared to one of the worse smartphone speaker. but it's really marketed at supreme performance on the go. so its a business laptop and usually if youre in these kind of environments you wouldn't be playing sound loud and if you do u will be using headphones .. which sound great btw.

im pretty sure they could just make the next z thicker and at that same rate, technology would have shrunk, but you don't need to shrink the z that slim and then have to sacrifice major specsheet. for instance you could make the Z's extra space some kind of bigger cooling system, so heat wouldn't be a compliant and it could actually be used as a mobile workstation (For intensive tasks carried out, on longish durations.) currently vaio z cpu easily crosses 90c in highest spec. even thermally shutting down.

so with that extra space u could also make a labyrinth system kind of audio boosting science like the bose wave radio. maybe even spacing devices out nicely so that can be accomplished as interwoven into the fabric of the design.

oh yes the mic... yeah the mic sucks . so what i do is use a webcam mic. for that kind of thing. what happens alot is the sound from the fan wind output is detected by the mic's frequencies. this is the default behaviour. im sure u can correct this some options as a noise filter. also i tried using the included noise cancelling headphones internal mic but that doesn't seem to show up as a usable device.

 

I think what's funny is that the Sony PSP and Xperia Play have some of the best speakers I've ever heard, and the Vaio Z1 and Z2 that I've used have the worse speakers I've ever heard. You'd think that they'd use the PSP or Xperia Play speaker in the Vaio Z...

 

I haven't owned any of the series that you have listed. Although I am familiar with the SA, they are similar to the Z. It seems the sound problem is across vaio laptops in general and not to any specific series. Very poor I think. I have no doubt that your cat sounds better when speakers are this bad.

I must say that vaio speakers were not always like this. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the SZ were not too bad.

 

Before anyone seriously suggests improving the speakers, at least take a look at the Z2 teardown videos and explain where you think larger speakers will fit. I would not want to lose any capabilities are add to weight or cost for what would likely be a fairly modest sound improvement that I don't care about. As Vogelbung said, the headphone jack is competent. The included earbuds are perfectly ok and there are always IEM options for those who want serious sound quality.

Cost aside, the Z2 is not for everyone or even most people. There is only a relatively small subset of laptop users who are potential Z customers. Need/want built-in speakers able to deliver more than some basic warning/alert tones? Forget the Z.

Complaining about speakers on the Z2 is like complaining about the weight of the biggest alienware totable made, it's inherent in the basic design. If it doesn't work for you, get something else.

 

I think that sony vaio's are fantastic. The only flaw that seems to be consistently troublesome is the soundquality of the speakers, and despite all the complaints, Sony fails to address this issue. You say that Z2 is the worst in 15 years, what else is wrong with it and what other laptops have you had?

 

vogelbung, I second "lovelaptops" give us 10 other things that need to be fixed with the z2 that has priority over the improvement of sound/speaker quality.

 

Yeah, I agree. Sony is well known for their "Walkman" brand. But it seems they neglect their superiority in sound in their laptops, leaving its sound less than desirable. They fail to incorporate technology into them. I don't think space is an issue here. Because the macbooks are plenty think and they give decent sound. I just think that they just overlook it too readily. I don't think the Z is aimed merely at the business user, it is aimed for anyone who wants power and portability together. There are users who use it for multimedia (video editing and such), while the display is beautiful they cannot complement it with equally good sound quality.

You point out another area of that sony vaio can improve upon: fan noise. Seriously, when the laptop is working at capacity it sounds exactly like someone just switched on the hair-dryer. ANd the heat that it generates....wow...I can't wait until winter because then my vaio will double-up as a heater as well.

 

The TZ has very good speakers though...however 90./. of the time I use my earphones..

 

Totally agree. THe frustrating thing is that it is not that sony can't produce great speakers, it's just that they have neglected their vaio's soundwise. The embarrassing thing is that I have a very old Nokia 6120 (I don't care much for phones) from 4 years ago and the speakers are more decent than a sony vaio z2 in 2012? what is going on there? If they can't be bothered developing the sound quality for the vaio, I propose that they just extract old speaker components from old psp's or xperia's and stick it into the laptop - well this is not really my proposal but my point to Sony is - DO SOMETHING!

 

Can you read?

 

I am not asking for the best speakers money can buy in a laptop, I am merely asking for sound that doesn't irritate the ear. SO unbearable that that volume has to be kept at a minimum. Better sound quality has been found in macbook air and in mobile phones...size is not an issue. I have seen the teardown of the vaio z2 and I have also seen the teardown of the macbook air... better speakers is not impossible at the expense of size. Please remember I am not petitioning for the top-notch speakers (although this would be nice), I am merely requesting speakers that don't sound tinny. Besides, they were able to achieve this in the SZ, why not replicate it again? Why the decline in sound quality. If you are suggesting the purchase of speakers then that defeats the purpose of the portablity of the series.

You say that if it doesn't work for you get something else, but what I say is that the speakers have been shown to be (see earlier posts) consistent across the vaio series. And I believe that sony does everything right in a laptop in terms of style, power, portability, display - which pretty much is everything except for price - so why shift to something else when they do so many things right - therefore, the only solution I see is to petition for an improvement.

I don't agree with you saying that poor sound quality is inherent in the design because sony vaio's have not always had poor sound quality like the SZ series. Even then, if something has always been a certain way, it doesn't mean that it can't be improved upon like introduction of flat-panel monitors or ssd drives. Bulky alienwares are a matterof style, poor sound in a laptop is hardly a style, it impairs its funtionality.

 

I am not sure what you are trying to get at? You say that the Z2 is the worst in 15 years...in what way and what else needs to be improved (10 things at least)? Care to explain? rather than giving me rhetorical questions.

 

That is good to hear. Can you get good bass from them? It seems to me that the problem of sound has only arisen recently. ANd the fact that you say the TZ is good and I can confirm that the SZ is tolerable shows that sony can and should improve their speakers.

 

I'm getting at the fact that you can't read. Or should I make allowances for English not being your first language?

 

Can you explain why the Z2 is the worst laptop you have had in 15 years? Is this this just because of speakers or for other reasons? If for other reasons, what are they? You seem to think that there are at least 10 other reasons. If so, list them. Otherwise, it seems to me you are just stating claims without any reasons. And so this is not of matter of insufficient english but rather your failure to provide a convincing argument. There is no substance to what you are saying.

 

The thing I can ask the OP though is... the speakers? Really? Is that all? I can think of >10 other far more important things that should be fixed before the speakers.[/QUOTE]

>10 other more important things....am waiting to see what they are?

 

He said it's the worst laptop he's heard in 15 years.

And yeah, I agree. The MacBook Air has better sounding speakers and there sure is no room for large ones in it. How does the MBA, even thinner than the Z, manage to have better speakers?

Also, Sony has little excuse for putting horrible speakers in their bigger laptops. The bad speakers in the SE was the one thing making me second-guess my decision to get it. If it had had decent speakers, I would've just gotten it, no questions asked.

My dad's ancient 12-inch business laptop from 1996 has better speakers than any $2000+ Sony VAIO I've heard.

 

that phrase is a bit ambiguous because it sounds like he is refering to the laptop as a whole. Still, he says that the laptop could have been improved in in more than ten other ways which he has failed to list...I am just interested in reading what they are.

Yeah, I have heard the sound from the macbook air and it is not just merely tolerable, but quite nice. Ha. '96 speakers better than '12 speakers - that truly is embarrassing for sony.

 

Yeah, I have the MBA and I'm getting the SE and it bothers me that my bigger multimedia laptop with a blu-ray drive will have worse speakers than my ultrabook. Oh well...

 

I am unfamilar with the SE, but the sound coming from the heaphone jack is usually quite good sound...but it is a bother having not being able to hear sound through the speakers and having to stick headphones in your ears all the time. Hence, I hope sony does something about it especially for multimedia users such as yourself. I don't think it is a big ask nor unreasonable.

 

I don´t mind the speaker quality. When I game on the go, I have noch sound enabled...

When I listen to music or watch a movie I have Headphones or the Z is connected to my TV!

But I think: For a 1500+ Euro notebook it is a shame to put in it worse speaker

 

At the very reasonable request of the OP (to whom I recommend you locate a couple of email addresses for Vaio marketing and send them both a link and the pasted content from this thread; I received gratifying corporate responses from such an effort with HP 2 years ago), and as an owner of numerous Z1s and two Z2s (both returned - not [entirely] due to the absence of audio as described below) I hereby tender my customer feedback:

I find the audio from the speakers of the Z1 and Z2 to be deplorable and absolutely inexcusable - not just for a laptop costing $thousands, but even for one costing $349 today. I agree with every post here criticizing Sony for having the worst audio of any laptop I have used for 15 years or more. In the Z1 it was extremely bad, barely usable to hear voice over on presentations in a quiet room, much less to share same with another person who is close by. This makes it unusable in this common business practice and therefore diminishes materially the utility of the Z1 as a "total business laptop" which is a shame, because I can think of hardly another significant flaw in this product. Flawed greatness. Somehow a greater offense by a manufacturer presenting a product to be seen as the best in class.

I too think that the target audience of the Z includes individual multi-purpose users, nearly all of whom in this era will at times want to use this as the sole device available to play at least inoffensive sounding background music while working or to occasionally watch a flick in a hotel room without being tethered to an immobile device by earphones.

My use of this computer as a primary machine, particularly on a business trip absolutely requires traveling with both a small bluetooth speaker and bluetooth earphones. Thus for $200 and the loss of the otherwise near perfect portability and versatility of the base unit, I have assisted it to become the computer it isn't in this non-critical but personally quite important sought-after benefit from exactly the kind of device this presents itself as being: a thoughtfully conceived, designed and executed and - to repeat - "best in class executive/professional" mobile device extraordinaire." For the occasions in which I have no choice but to use the internal speakers - eg, to play a brief video to a colleague in an office setting - I have found a software-based audio enhancement app by SRS, "Audio Essentials," ($25 download) boosts the volume and frequency range of the base unit just enough to use in this setting in a pinch. Pathetic.

The above comments related to my assessment of the audio on the Z1. As for the Z2, the first customers had to believe they received a defective unit! Even eMachines does not send a product to market with this trashy level of sound (the word "audio" does not belong in this paragraph!). And I totally reject the notion that buyers of this computer, in the main, require sound capability solely for "basic warning/alert tones." The last time I remember that being the sole expectation or capability of a personal computer was at the time of its invention: neither the Apple II nor the IBM PC/XT produced sounds beyond electronic "beeps!"

Does anyone really think Sony doesn't know exactly what it is doing and how the majority of its customers feel about it, and know that the company continues consciously doing it though they could easily improve things to meet at least bare minimum standards of acceptability? It's the arrogance thing; they dare us to go elsewhere for this caliber product.

Last word: So far, I haven't taken the dare.

 

These actually sound quite good when you're in a war fort's holding cell. Very weak output..... speakers arent a excuse they are very thin now and can be placed anywhere they dont have to be placed right up to a circuit board they can run wires for severel feet.
i would say stick a speaker where the sun dont shine ......and call it boombasstic technology

 

hahaha LMAO :laugh: (sorry, I know everyone hates these animoticons - this is the first time I've ever felt the need to use one!)

 

Nope It is a flat sound but LOUD enough I can hear 30 feet away..

 

Yeah, the lack of decent speakers limits the practical use of Vaio's. Sony will have to rework their "VAIO" sub-brand to "VIO" because their [A]udio component are anything but ntelligently [O]rganised into their notebooks, unlike their [V]isual counterpart. I am not asking for state of the art technology but rather just for their speakers to be one notch up from sounding like tin can telephones. It is particularly disappointing to see in the vaio z series - which sony claims to be their flagship model - a flagship indeed, in all respects but [A]udio.

 

lol..good one xtactic.

 

I don't have any technical information about the audio. If anyone has any would love to hear from them. cheers.

 

I have to say I'm slightly more annoyed by the bad speakers than I would have thought, even though I only ever use them for skype and other web telephony.

For once, the speakers are even too poor for telephony (never mind about music). Voices sound tinny and have low volume.

The other thing is, that the built in mic appears to pick up everything from the speakers, which makes web telephony really hard to do. So when someone calls me I always have to scramble for the headphones / headset...

I would have expected the Z2 to at least be fit for Skype / web telephony, but it fails hard in this respect, in my experience. This is definitely something Sony can improve on.

(Skyping with someone while sitting in a cafe / train is something you only ever do once with a Z...)

 

Another very good point as to why such a tiny cost/engineering factor significantly reduces the utility of this $3,000 flawed "greatness."

No doubt they can improve upon it; for Sony, the challenge will be to make the next Z have even worse sound!

 

I think the appauling speakers are particularly a letdown on the VPC-Z1. In the Z1, you have everything you need for a top-of-the-range entertainment PC: blu-ray, high-quality FHD screen, powerful processor/GPU - everything built-in in a small and light package - well, everything except decent speakers.

Given many smartphones have better speakers, I don't think it would have taken much additional space/weight to include better speakers in the Vaio.

 

Who is willing and able to pay three times as much as most business class laptops.

And you base this view on??? Your computer design experience?

Well, you're the only one I've heard of who thinks that. And what's the complaint about prices? Sony's prices are about the same as any other PC maker for comparably-speced machines. Sony's prices are better than Apple. The Z is expensive but there are no comparable machines.

And you base this on??? The MBA is thicker and has different specs. What you don't say is just how the Z's speakers would become better (not best) given the constraints. As for making the Z thicker or larger in any dimension, No.

 

If we are going to compare how else can we compare other than spec? On the one hand you say that sony is comparable to other comparable-speced machines. On the other hand you say that Z has no other comparable machine. I say that specification is the measure of comparison. And so you seem to be saying that the vaio z is and is not comparable. You are contradicting yourself. You say it is not comparable but you seem to be classifying it as a business laptop which allows it to be compared with other business laptops.

I am not pretending to be an expert on laptop design, as is evident in a previous post asking for anyone with techincal information to share. The macbook air at its thickest side is 0.02 inches thicker that the vaio z - you cannot possibly think this is the reason why sony cannot make decent speakers like apple. Perhaps you can enlighten me on how you came to this decision - expert laptop design experience?

I don't think I am the only one who thinks that the vaio z does many things right in laptops. See earlier postings, "Ashers" and "lovelaptops" seem to agree with me here.

As for the question as to who is willing to pay for the vaio z and is not a business user - pretty much anyone who can afford it and is not a business man - that is not hard to see. I for one am such a person.

 

With respect Dr. Louche, methinks you are being a bit hard on this gentleman, who has raised a point with which it is very hard to disagree, with which about 90% of Z owners, in this thread and others, have openly critiqued, belly-ached about and derided the Man of Japan for. You are a fine partisan, and you have a fine mind (though I really miss that LMAO sense of humor lately ) but, again with the utmost respect, IMHO you have chosen the losing defence on this one and htl25 has re-touched a nerve so many of us have experienced - though you can take my opinion out of the matter, as I am almost always TOOMA! You da man - possible you're also hearing impaired?

 

This thread is not merely a complaint about the vaio audio, but also a petition to sony to do something about it (as the title of the thread suggests). I hope that the thread can build into something substantial so that Sony can finally take notice of how unsatisfactory their negligence in this department is. There have been so many complaints of this nature scattered throughout the media eg. laptop reviews, forums etc. But by having this thread we can centralize the complaints to demonstrate our dissatisfaction and disappointment in a profound way.

 

Yes, I got that from the start and applaud you for taking the initiative. I would not just hope that the right person at Sony happens to monitor user forums of it's products and stumbles upon this thread. It's not that hard to get some email addresses of people in the Vaio group's marketing and customer feedback units. I recommend you seek some email addresses to send both a link and the full text of this thread.

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I don't know whether that is indicative a language issue or you just didn't read what what was posted.

I said that: 1) when you compare machines with equal specifications, Sony's are no more expensive than other major brands targeting the same segments; and 2) because there are no direct competitors to the Z (no other 13", full voltage i7 with at least a 900p screen), the Z's price, like its specs, has no competition.

If you think the Z can accomodate better speakers, please explain how, don't just say you think it should be possible because that carries no weight. A wish is not the basis for a petition.

That's great but you're in a relatively small group. Most users who: 1) can afford the Z; and 2) want the Z's specs (as opposed to a high-end gaming machine or other combination of attributes) are business users as opposed to gamers, engineers, and others. Sure there are students and others who get the Z, but they are not the main target market.

I would respond if I had a clue as to what you're trying to say.

 

Trying to give you a rope to pull yourself out of the untenable position you took defending the audio on the Z2. Made it vague and rambling to avoid saying: "What, are you both deaf and dumb!" (and also because I write vague and rambling )

 

Ok. good. so you concede that sony vaio is comparable after all on the basis of their specifictions. But their specifications are far superior to all other laptops and therefore has no competition because it is in a league of its own.

A wish is the basis for a petition. You are not going to petition for something you don't care about. Just because someone is not an expert in the field of their petition does not mean that they have no right to complain. If I went to a restaurant and I was served a dish and complained that it tasted like crap, it would be unreasonable for the waiter to say to me: "how would you know, you're not a chef!" Similarly, you don't have to be an expert nor wait till you burst your eardrum to know that the sound from the vaio z speakers are bad. My question to you then is: do you think the sound produced by the vaio z speakers is good? and why?

Of course, as I keep telling you I have requested that anyone "in the know" would be greatly welcomed to bring sophistication to the petition. I will do a search later to see what I come up with.

Us non-business vaio z users may be a small group, but it is enough to refute your claim that I am the only one who thinks that the vaio z does everything right in a laptop minus the audio...I think you are in this "small" group as well in saying that it "has no competition" (Louche, 2012 #43).

 

Having been on both sides of one of these quid-pro-quo duels that inadvertently can crop up on blogs, etc, may I suggest a truce, along the following lines:

1. htl25 is perfectly within his rights to cast judgment about an aspect of his Z2's performance and to seek others' opinions - even in writing - with plans of relaying this legitimate customer feedback (anyone who has the same feeling as htl25 and is willing to respond clearly agrees with his assessment and method) to Sony

2. Louche is a highly regarded techie on this forum and has forgotten more than I will ever know about hardware and software. We don't always agree but I always respect his point of view.

I poked fun at Louche because I have known him on this forum for a while, but I may have unintentionally turned up temp on this "debate." Let's turn it down, shall we? Louche, you are clearly not a "signer" of htl25's petition about crappy Z audio. In fairness, the title of his thread suggests it is not "your kind of place."

Nothing I love more than making peace - except stirring up trouble Let us not take ourselves or this subject too seriously!

 

Perhaps I should write this in emoticons in that seem more comfortable when peppering your increasingly bizarre, rambling posts with hieroglyphics. I never "defended" the audio on the Z2. To the contrary, I made it clear that I don't consider the Z2 to have any useful onboard audio at all (other than the headphone jack). Rather, I said that I didn't see how the Z2's audio could be upgraded without degrading other attributes and capabilities of the machine.

 

At least my emoticons emote in English!

You're mad; I knew you'd get mad. I'm sorry. If you re-read you're own posts you may see that this one got your goad somehow. (I don't like to read my old posts either; too embarrassing.) Sorry. You have to know how highly I regard you from what I've said, above. Speaking of reading old posts, what happened to the never-serious Louche who never failed to have the perfect wry humor to make us, well, er, you know, ? I mean, you were so . It didn't make you when I told you how much I your humor, did it? What changed . I've always posted long, rambly things full of but it never seemed to bother you before.

Don't worry . Be happy

 

I still don't know why people feel compelled to pontificate in length about machines they've obviously never had, and then feel the need to appoint themselves as the arbiter of the discussion. Sure you're keen but you don't have to pretend.

Oh yes, the list of 10 for the OP.
- About 5 discrete issues could be collected into one - cosmetic issues arising from the use of sheet alloy palmrest, sheet alloy screen bezel and some anodising that's really not appropriate for the role. Different cosmetic issues to the Z1 but really not an improvement.

- Keyboard, both in terms of the reduced travel to fit and susceptibility to wear. Is it worse than the Z1? Debatable.

- Keyboard, in that despite the reduced height it still contacts the screen just like the Z1.

- I really don't understand why if they're going to stick a GPU outboard, it'd be a relatively weak-sauce (in present terms) ultraportable GPU. Sure, it's a major leap over the previous models as a combo and the HD3000 is far more useful than the Z1 combo in portable use, but I just don't understand the rationale of this. It's not like the dock is portable, given the size of the PSU.

- So we've established that the Z2 has gone carbon + "carbon" instead of the Z1 which is "carbon", but it still is to all extents and purposes "carbon" outside and is just as susceptible as the Z1 is to marking and damage from minor handling.

OK so that's 9

All VAIO's of late - especially when they moved to "carbon" - have had, for me, some almost-dealbreakers in terms of confidence in the product and just the ability to resist everyday handling without looking like it has been through a war. Flexy I don't mind, flexy I even like since I know it's much less likely to be twisted to pretzels when some other entitled [redacted] makes my bag fly out of the overhead, just as long as everything is designed to account for the flex - e.g. the screen-keyboard marking problem, which is worst on the Sony's and has never been solved. Granted, until now I've not had a VAIO long enough for that marking problem to be an issue, but I've looked at machines I've given to friends and some of them in the >2 year range look pretty bad.

They also almost always some sort of annoying functional limitation, which I've always tolerated because there has never been machines anywhere near in the same ballpark. We're getting to the stage where Sony is the only one who is still making notebooks in this price vs utility range, and while the current Sony product is still without any peers, some others are getting pretty darned close in terms of the same ballpark.

As much as I rag on the engineering deficiencies of Apples, it's pretty clear that they get all the 'perception aspects' absolutely bang on, even if they make the product worse in the end - especially as their customer base probably won't be able to tell the difference.

Every flagship VAIO especially these days is like an exercise in engineering with almost no awareness of consumer perception. The speakers are just a step in the revelation of the thinking behind the product. They really do need to strike a 'designing for consumer' vs 'designing for engineers' balance because it's really hurting Sony in the market IMO. I'm definitely an informed user and even I feel quite a lot of antipathy based on how not thought out in terms of the user the Sony flagships are and how easily some of the problems can be avoided - and how it's aggravated by Sony's usually abysmal support.

 

The cosmetic issues such as screen-keyboard marking problem can be addressed with the use of the cleaning cloth that is provided with every z2. They suggest in the leaflet that you should lay it flat on the keyboard when closing the lid of laptop so the keyboard doesn't touch the keyboard. The other cosemtic issues that you raise are matters of aesthetics. And being aesthetics can be quite subjective. Likewise with the travel of the keyboard...as you put it: debatable. However, the issue with vaio z speakers is not contentious, it is not a trivial matter, I am quite sure that everyone is unanimous in saying that they are terrible speakers. Therefore, I am not convinced that any of these cosemtic issues takes priority over the "sound-quality" issue, on sony's to-do-list for the vaio z3 or upcoming ultrabook. The specs say that they have dolby technology and all that. But you can even say that it has all the technology in the world built into them. Without the proper speakers to utilise them, it is useless. Unless they can come up with some speakers that don't sound like that of a '85 nintendo game & watch, these technologies are superfluous. That it was is so disappointing about this. The vaio z has so many great specs to be used in a multimedia way such as blu-ray, gaming, video editing etc. - but without the proper speakers to complement them, it lessens the quality of the experience somewhat from what it potentially ( and with little effort) can be.

You raise some great points by the way about the portability of the z2. The power brick of the pmd is quite large and to lug that around is not practical. And yes, so true. Apple does do all the perceptual aspects well. I love that term that you have used: "perceptual aspect". Everything about the apple machines are appealing to the relevant senses, perhaps not design - but this is a subjective thing - at the very least their visuals and sound are quite decent.