Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
14 Posts
0
42465
Dell Studio - Is this poor sound what I should expect?
Today I've taken delivery of a Dell Studio laptop. Good spec! In short, the sound from the laptop speakers is appalling! Even with the BBC Player turned up to full volume and with the laptop's volume turned up to maximum the sound is very quiet and tinny! It works fine on headphones though. I've got two other much older Dell laptops (a Vostro and an Inspiron - both fairly low spec - and both of these give much better and louder sound that the Studio!)
Is this performance from the Studio's own speakers what I can expect or is there a fault or is there something which needs to be configured somewhere? Thanks.
I can't believe that Dell would put out a reasonably high-spec laptop with such bad on-board speaker performance!
Dave576
170 Posts
0
May 28th, 2009 03:00
Peter,
Ya, it's pretty awful. If you search the forum, try 'Studio audio', you'll find your not the only one dissapointed.
I went to 'Device Manager' and disabled the Dell audio driver, this will allow the MS default driver to be used. It's much better but, not what you might expect from a "Studio" line of computers. If you have any external speakers lying around plug them in and the sound is good. Won't help when your 'on the road' unless you want to carry them with you. Not a great help but thats what most Studio Laptop owners are doing.
It's not just the Studio Laptops that are having this problem, I have read in this forum several other models are having the same issues.
Other than this issue, I am enjoying mine, so far (everything else) is great.
Have been thinking about looking for some replacement speakers to put in, but not really sure if that will solve the problem.
Has any other 'Studio Laptop' users tried this?
Good luck,
peterdavidfoster
14 Posts
0
May 28th, 2009 03:00
Thanks, Dave576.
That's very interesting and I'm please to note that I'm "not alone" and that the performance of my Studio 1537 is typical! I'll try your suggestion.
I spent an hour this morning on the phone with the Dell Technician who took over control of the laptop, re-installed the drivers and ran a few more checks and adjustments. The result was a marginal improvement in volume but the underlying problem hasn't changed materially in that even with BBC Radio Player and the Laptop's Volume Control on 100% the volume is unacceptably low and the sound quality on a par for tinniness with a Xmas Cracker "giveaway" radio. i.e. it's impossible to enjoy a film with this standard of sound output. I also tested the performance with a cd and got the same poor result. When I pointed out that I expected the sound to be on a par with the sound I currently get from my old, cheaper, lower-spec Dell Inspiron 1300 and Dell Vostro 1000 machines the technician admitted that the on-board speakers for the Studio 1537 model are materially inferior to those on the Vostro and the Inspiron. In other words he had reached the end of the line in terms of what he can do and was happy (sic) that the speakers are performing as well as they ever will! He handed me over to a customer services representative who said she would make a note of my comments and pass them on to the appropriate department with a view to improving the speakers in the future! I underlined my dissappointment as someone who has just taken delivery of his fifth new Dell PC in that Dell had chosen to install such inferior kit in what I assumed to be a "better" PC than I had ever bought from them before. The representative offered to uplift the machine for £23 to enable me to buy something else from Dell instead. She also offered to send me free of charge a pair of external speakers. Having bought the machine for my daughter's 18th birthday - which is today - I'll leave the decision to her as to how we now proceed.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
1
May 28th, 2009 05:00
The most informative thread about the poor sound of the Studio models was "Studio 1737 Brand New Today - Speaker Sounds Horrid!!", but the thread has been removed from this board. One of the forum moderators, DELL-Bill B, participated in the thread. Below are some of the remarks he posted in the thread.
*******************************************************************************
There are two main issues discussed in this thread: 1. audio quality, and 2. choppy or skipping audio. For the latter, please update your WLAN driver to the latest Dell web-posted version. For the former, you may try the workaround of uninstalling the IDT driver and SoundBlaster Audigy software, then letting Windows automatically install the Microsoft High Definition Audio Codec. Make sure you choose the Vista option to remove all driver files during the driver uninstall. Also, I would strongly urge you to set a system restore point prior to the removing driver and software.
====================================================
1. Run Dell Diagnostics on audio by pressing F12 repeatedly at power up, then choosing Diagnostics from the boot menu. If you have low volume or distorted sound there, just stop and contact tech support for speaker replacement. If you have any problems with tech support, just get the case number and get with me in a private conversation. You should not need any parts replaced other than speakers for this specific issue- low volume or poor sound quality. Read further if you have symptoms outside of those.
2. If the audio in diags sounds fine, you are possibly dealing with a perception or elevated expectations issue. If this is the case, you can try the workaround posted previously of uninstalling the factory shipped IDT sound driver and letting Windows automatically install the Microsoft High Definition Audio Codec.
Audio issues other than low volume or poor sound quality.
Some users report choppy or skipping audio, and popping sounds.
===============================================================
If you are experiencing clicking sounds on 1537 and 1737- like Windows sounds, not distortion related- it may be fixed by updating your fingerprint reader driver.
=================================================================
If your sound is low and muffled in Dell diags, you likely need replacement speakers.
I also passed along the feedback about overall speaker quality. I will continue to do so whenever I can. I can't make the speakers better, but I can let the Dell Product Group know of your dissatisfaction. I don't want to sound argumentative (or ignorant), but I listened to several 1737's last week and found them fine for a laptop. The speakers are not as good as some of our offerings, ie XPS Studio 16, but I thought they were fine for a system at this price point. That's just my opinion, but then again, I'm not the customer spending his hard earned dough. You are, so your opinion is the one I passed on and will continue to pass on.
peterdavidfoster
14 Posts
0
May 28th, 2009 05:00
Have any other Studio users tried to replace the installed speakers with better ones? Is it possible to do this?
DCU_Emman
1 Message
0
February 11th, 2010 09:00
I also have Dell Studio 1537 model with Windows Vista bought in mid 2009 with Optional Creative Sound Blaster X-If from Poland, very poor quality audio couldn't hear speech if you have laptop very near to your face. I tried Dell IDT - Driver update, Creative X-Fi driver reinstallation and left out option is to reinstall Vista.
I couldn't figure out the problem is with drivers or sound blaster or speaker. I had an inspiron 17 model which has better audio quality without sound blaster. Since I had configured & booked the laptop www1.euro.dell.com/ if I could have handpicked a laptop after demo in a show room it would have been better.
If I use an external creative 5.1 speaker also sound blaster doesn't sounds much and I had customized the laptop to use it successfully for another 3 to 5 years. Since we ordered 3 laptops of the same configuration all were the same. All 3 have Poor quality built-in speakers & output phones jack.
Both Dell & Creative had joined hands to market an astonishing product like this.