Sigmatel Audio Driver - Sony Update

Download here ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/VAIO/ORIGINAL/AUDIO DRIVER SIGMATEL_5.0Q083QDS_6.10.5921.0_LOGO.ZIP

Not sure why Sony is not releasing the latest driver in their support site.

 

thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Rajesh,

Does this one put back in the support for the "enhancements". The original driver had the ability to turn on a "loudness" function. (Not sure if that was what Sigmatel called it, but that is effectively what it was.) The updated driver we FZ owners needed to install to get Vista SP1, dropped that functionality.

Gary

 

Gary
This driver doesn't have the "enhancements" option either. Did you try the stock vista driver? I don't know why the sigmatel driver cuts down the speaker volume so much when compared to the default Vista driver.

 

It works for all the Vaio?

 

It should work in all Vaios (32/ 64 bit OS) with Sigmatel audio card.

 

Nope, I haven't had the time to try it. When you use the default Vista one do you still get the on screen display when you adjust the volume and does the volume control above the keyboard still function normally.

Didn't you or someone else say that our original driver also worked despite the alleged issues with SP1?


Thanks,
Gary

 

The Onscreen controls worked fine with the stock driver. I haven't tried the original sigmatel driver with SP1 yet.

 

Thank you!

Gary

 

this wont install on my Z

 

Rajesh you ARE the man!!!!!!

I don't know why I put this off for so long. But tonight I ghosted my C: partition and decided to play around a bit. Some time ago I had archived the original Sigmatel drivers (the ones that had the enhancements) before I upgraded to the ones required for SP1. So, I uninstalled the sound device using device manager and the told Vista to look for new hardware. It found the audio device and installed the Vista default driver. I immediately updated the driver by pointing device manager to the old Sigmatel one that I had archived.

That was a bust. It installed and said I needed to restart, which I did. But once the system was rebooted, I had an 'X' through the speaker icon in the system notification area. ...sigh...

Then I uninstalled the device again and told Vista to find new hardware. It installed the generic "High Definition Audio Device" Vista driver. (See Figure 1 below.) Before I tried the NEW Sigmatel driver you mentioned at the beginning of this thread, I thought I would investigate what this driver had to offer. Boy oh boy was I surprised... (See figure 2 below.) There, much to my surprise was an "Enhancements" tab. Could it be true? Was I going to be disappointed... Nope... (See figure 3 below.)

There it was, honest to gosh real enhancements, including my beloved "Loudness Equalization". Joy of joys. It was the same sort of loudness control that the original Sigmatel drive had. Plus this driver has a bass boost with built in high pass filter (aka low-cut filter) too! Woohoo. Now, I can boost the low end and chop off all the low frequencies that the speakers can't produce, thereby reducing distortion. Sweet!!!

Rajesh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I now have MUCH better sound on my FZ190 with much more volume again! Hurrah!!!!! (I haven't palyed around with the bass boost part of the control yet, but I will soon.)

Gary

 

I am quite pissed off that once I updated my sigmatel drivers from Sony the microphone on my FZ hasn't worked since, even with an reinstall of older drivers including the original.

 

I have had NO trouble with the microphone using ANY of the drivers. I have used the following three drivers:

1. Original Sigmatel "out of the box". Had enhancements for loudness control.
2. Newer sigmatel driver required for SP1. No enhancments.
3. Vista generic "high definition audio" driver. (Currently using this.) Has enhancements for loudness control and improved volume.

Gary

 

Well maybe I might have celebrated a bit too early. More tests will tell the tale. But it appears that the "Loudness" settings have much more effect on WAV files than MP3's. I believe the "loudness" setting in the original Sigmatel driver had the same boost effect on both WAV and MP3s.

The other thing I noticed with the generic high def audio driver is that my headphone jack stopped working. I reinstalled the driver and now it is ok again. I played with this a bit and the headphone option seems to come and go. When viewing the "sound" control panel applet, sometimes Headphones is there sometimes it isn't. I haven't gotten a firm handle on this just yet. But wanted to offer a "heads up" if others are playing with this too.

Gary

 

that's coz Z uses realtek HD audio chipset and not sigmatel

 

This is what I told you before. The generic Vista driver doesn't automatically switch between the in-built speakers and the headphone jack as the sigmatel driver does. If you notice, the sigmatel driver has just "speaker/headphone" listed and the generic vista driver has separate "speaker" and "headphone" listings.

To workaround this problem plug in the headphones before you start any music or music player. To switch to laptop speakers, close the music player, unplug the headphones, and then reopen the player again.

 

Yep, I know that. But the issue I was seeing was that the listing for Headphones just plain disappeared. Has not recurred, so I will keep an eye on it.

Last night I played with the Loudness enhancement a bit more. The effect is much more pronounced on .WAV files than it is on MP3's. I though that the original Sigmatel driver had equal effect on both types, but can't say that with any real certainty.

Gary

 

I always have this error when I install it in my SZ71WN with Vista 64 bit.


Although it works well, I wonder some function may not be installed. I didn't have any error installing the older IDT driver

 

Try uninstalling the old driver, reboot and reinstall the new driver. I never had any issues with my FZ. Also with the default vista driver, your speaker volume will be better (atleast with the FZ).

 

Much better volume, but at the expense of quirky switching between speakers and headphones. I'll live with that, though to get the better volume.

Gary

 

Already did, the same error shows when I install the new driver, even by updating in Device manager. I even do a fresh installation of Vista. Maybe, it's my SZ or my Vista 64bit.

 

Tried those drivers and those options are not there on my FZ, strange.

 

Only the original driver of Vista has these options I think

 

Well I had the 'original driver' before installing this and it didn't have such option.

 

The "original driver" circa July 2007 had the "enhancements" tab. When SP1 rolled around the original driver was not compatible with SP1. So we all moved to a newer Sigmatel driver, which did away with the "enhancements". So depending on WHEN you got your FZ, you may or may not have had these. All Sigmatel drivers since the advent of SP1 for Vista have had reduced volume and no enhancements. Uninstalling the Sigmatel drivers (and telling Vista to delete them as they are uninstalled) and rebooting will force Vista to use its OWN drivers. These have much better volume but at the expense of a very quirky switching between speakers and headphones (or external speakers). With native drivers (non-Sigmatel) you have to exit your application that is using the sound card and then plug or unplug the headphones then restart your application. These drivers don't seem to support switching WHILE the app is running. Odd. But I'll live with that to get better volume back.

Gary

 

Gary the sound with Sigmatel driver is better from the external speakers and the headphones. It seems that this is an issue with Dell laptops too with the same driver.

 

Better? How so? I didn't notice a real difference in fidelity, but did notice that the volume is better with the native Vista driver over the Sigmatel one. Better sound would really require some sort of A vs. B test which unless I had two FZ's at hand would be a tad difficult.... big ol' grin.

I guess I could run a frequency response curve on the two drivers. I have a small spectrum analyzer that is on a long term loan to a friend. I'll ring him up and grab it. That would let me see if there is a frequency response difference. But I don't have any way, at the moment, to measure harmonic distortion or anything else.

Gary

 

I had tested (hearing) the sound using both the drivers. The sigmatel driver has clear, crisp sound overall and there is no distortion at higher volume. The treble is much better with the sigmatel driver. I tested this using my external speakers - Harmon kardon Soundsticks II.


The stock vista driver doesn't have an option to configure the headphones/ external speakers. If you right click "speakers" > configure option is not there for headphones. So "Full front left & right" cannot be set for external speakers.

But if you are going to use the inbuilt speakers for most of the time, then the vista driver will be the best option.

 

I am not suggesting your observations are wrong, but I would be hard pressed to be able to note such differences unless I had two machines sitting side by side, or recorded the sound to tape for comparison. The time it takes to switch from one driver set to the other, would make it tough for me to note these sort of changes, unless we are talking about BIG differences in sound. My ears are very good, my memory of sound... not so much. big ol' grin.

Gary

 

Gary, the volume is very low from the external speakers (with powered Sub) with the stock Vista driver. So I am switching back to Sigmatel for now. I think that the sigmatel driver is optimized for output through external speakers/ headphones.

 

That's odd. I also use external speakers at times and didn't notice any drop in volume. In fact I thought it was just the opposite. But as I said before without any test gear, manual observations are pretty suspect if delayed by the anount of time it takes to switch drivers. Unless of course, we are talking about MAJOR obvious differences.

Gary

 

Hey, I just ask me if there are some Sigmatel drivers for vaio FZ which have HDMI out enabled in windows 7...