Sony Vaio Z 2011 - how is the sound card?

I'm getting a Sony Vaio Z soon. While I know that it has some of the worst speakers created by man, what about its sound card? It has theIntel® HM67 Express Chipset, so it should have Intel HD Audio. Of course I'm not expecting it to perform anywhere near a proper sound card, but how does it compare to an integrated desktop sound card?

I'm not looking for top quality, but I want to determine if the audio will at least be bearable through a good pair of headphones, or will everything simply sound like metal drills. The headphones I shall be using are Audio Technica ATH-AD700.

Thanks in advance.

 

z2 sounds fine to me with speakers (not the laptop speakers) or headphones. it's similar to any onboard sound, but of course audiophiles will think differently.

 

That's good to know. Fortunately I'm not an audiophile, I'm a comfortfreak.

 

I think the sound is pretty good with the supplied noise cancelling earphones.

 

I found this to be a very impressive software audio enhancer, which even improves sound coming out of the z1's miserable speakers, any headphones, including the Sony's that come with the Z and, especially, any external speakers. It does much of what SRS audio does in OEM version, but quite a bit better than in any computer I've had with it natively installed. Best $20 I've ever spent for an "accessory."

 

well i have a z1 so i dont know what to say about z2. it comes with some driver softwares to boost the sound qualities i think. now this is nothing compared to my desktop motherboard's onboard sound which actually sounded pretty damn good with the sonic focus blackhawk driver.

z1 intel high definition audio comes with dolby home theature v3
audio enhancer and surround sound.

having said that, it's alot better than when the sound is routed through the hdmi over the nvidia sound chip.. that one's
craaaaaaaap

 

^ Disabling the Dolby function greatly increases speaker volume and quality on the Z2.