This post is more than 5 years old
1 Message
1
33446
Dell XPS 15 9560 - Audio issues
I have a Dell XPS 15 9560 (the one with 32 GB RAM) and I did a clean Windows 10 install yesterday. I had some static cracking noise when listening to music with my headphones before; it seems to be gone now after the reinstall (probably because my XPS is now using the default audio drivers).
However, I now have a different audio problem: every time I stop listening to music / watching videos, the audio system turns off in 10-15 seconds (i.e. I stop hearing that barely noticeable white noise in my headphones as they go completely silent). That's fine (I guess the audio system tries to save energy), but then when I play some music again, there is always a very loud cracking sound in my headphones before they start working again.
This bump just kills my ears every time, any ideas on how to fix it?..
Serhiyiv
11 Posts
7
February 13th, 2017 13:00
DELL-Robert P, I suddenly found this post and after I read your answer I could not not to answer or at least to let everyone know my opinion. Currently I am very "Lucky" owner of XPS 9550 model. Since the very first day that i bought that laptop I experienced a number of issues, issues that 1630 USD laptop has and my old Probook 4730s DOES NOT!!! I already have one post at this forum, but I'll repeat. Out of the box issues I have:
1. Random or "every 5 min" audio freezing.
2. While playing music/watching movie try do disconnect from AC or connecting back AC, I hear noise distortion and freezing again.
3. Press and hold display brightness key and everything freezes (sound)
4. Display backlit is not constant some places of the screen are brighter.
I bought it in the USA and after one month or less my speakers died. First left then right one. All I did was just changing output device to ASIO. It took a long time until I managed to replace them by warranty. One week before I was about to comeback to my country and left speaker died again. But this time just because I had this random audio freezing issue I tried different audio drivers (from dell website). And here you are: left speaker died. Now I have so much trouble again, because in my country I have to make warranty transfer, and only then this service center that I gave my laptop today, will be able to order those 31 USD speakers and replace them.
I like the way this laptop looks, I like how compact it is, how powerful it is, and frankly speaking sound quality of those speakers is very good, that is why I decided to check if a newer model has same issues, because I would sell mine and buy a newer 9560. And this is how found this thread.
Now question to you DELL-Robert P, as a dell representative, because those words: "This type of damage is not covered under the warranty." they do not make sense at all.
Who is responsible for damaging those INTERNAL speakers??? A user or those 100 or 200 or maybe 1 engineer who designed this motherboard, who chose to use ALC3266 IC and did not read its datasheet and put two 8Ohm 4Watt speakers inside this laptop, not taking into account that this Realtek IC outputs more than the speakers can handle????? I would say that it is my fault if for example I connected some external speakers without amplifier or just cheap headphones and they burnt. But I am talking about INTERNAL LAPTOP speaker, that is NOT upgradeable!!!
It is the same as they told me at the service center: 'probably you put them to maximum volume'.
Yes I put them to maximum volume. That is what they are for. That is why I paid so much money for a value product. It is the same as if you said 'why do you disconnect the laptop from AC while the music is playing? First you need to stop the music than disconnect AC and then turn it on again just not to hear how it freezes during this process". Any logic???
And what is interesting, if you are mentioning now about such a possibility of speakers being "Software" spoiled, than it means that at Dell everyone knows about the issue. Of course everyone knows, because I am not the first one who faced with this problem, and 9550 has been manufactured for more than a year but nobody made circuit changes.
And one more question to mikhaild. Does your laptop has any of my issues too? Turn on some music and unplug power from the laptop to see if it would freeze or make cracking sound. And then try to change brightness and see if the music freezes. And what is the audio IC do you have ALC3266?
Shame on you DELL.
robert p
9.4K Posts
0
February 13th, 2017 04:00
Hi mikhaild,
Thanks for posting.
In researching this, I see that some users have opted to change audio programs from Maxx Audio to something else. Several are using the Equalizer APO. Be careful as some of these programs will exceed the capabilities of the speakers and actually will blow them. This type of damage is not covered under the warranty.
Saltgrass
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.3K Posts
0
February 13th, 2017 14:00
mikhaild, are the audio bumps the same as the noise prior to switching to the basic windows audio drivers?
Have you tried any adjustments to the power scheme as to whether some device can sleep?
With my XPS 13 9365 I had a situation where, when using external speakers, after the music stopped I would get a loud sound from the speakers and had to shut them down. I felt is was the switching of the Waves audio was allowing the connections to become untethered or allowed to float. Your situation seems to be a little different but a driver may be involved.
Saltgrass
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.3K Posts
0
February 13th, 2017 14:00
Serhiyiv, is the audio freezing related to the backlight problem? Are you using a 4K display?
I cannot help with the backlight. But I did wonder about your speaker situation. Speakers failing like that could be caused by being overdriven.
So, why did you choose to use ASIO and did you see the following on their website?
""Overclock", or otherwise operate your audio hardware in ways that could potentially be harmful and/or void your warranty, except, of course, in cases where the manufacturer of your hardware has specifically stated that the use of ASIO4ALL would void your warranty indeed. "
I have been around for a while and remember when we had lights or meters which would warn when an output was in a danger zone. I no longer see such warning signals so it is hard to judge if a particular output volume level was doing any damage... If the speakers start to diminish their capability to produce sound a higher volume level would probably be required, making the problem even worse.
Serhiyiv
11 Posts
1
February 13th, 2017 16:00
Hi. My configuration is FHD display and it is not related to backlight. When I received my laptop I had only default windows 10 player. But since it is buggy and I used AIMP before, I Installed aimp and the quality of audio was worse. I tried another player (MusicBee) and the quality was also bad. I t was really noticeable. And since groove music has no options like choosing output device and I read on the Internet that new this XPS supports some ASIO driver I tried switching to it in AIMP. And yes, the audio quality became same as in GrooveMusic. But it the volume also increased. So after 5 seconds left speaker died and later right one. So as I red on the internet the ASIO driver allows to controlsound IC directly. But anyway speaking about internal laptop speakers that are not upgradable, it is BAD HARDWARE DESIGN. Because as I said before, for two 8Ohm 4Watt speakers they should have designed the audio circuit correctly. I am sure that the maximum hardware output is controlled by a resistor value. It should be in a datasheet. So output power for Internal speakers should be adjusted to the speakers a qualified engineer has chosen. But for external output, like headphone output, it does not matter that much because none of the engineers is a fortuneteller and can guess what equipment a user will connect. That is why it is a user's responsibility in this case if a user connected equipment gets damaged. I hope everyone understand what I am trying to say.
serge b
7 Posts
0
July 26th, 2017 03:00
Dear Robert, If Maxx Audio was any good, noone would be changing it. Speakers are overamplified and are resonating with the chasis, and the input device popup is annoying as ***.
thanhlq
2 Posts
1
November 30th, 2017 20:00
Completely don't understand why it's not covered under the warranty? I paid a lot of money for this kind of product???
I often use laptop speaker for conference... so I have to buy a new laptop?
My sound problem: www.youtube.com/watch