Studio 15 sound is DREADFUL

Hi mike,

This issue can be fixed by updating the bios.. First try to update the bios and also try to disable the enhancement settings in advance settings for audio

Hello Mandy,

I have tried this with the help of Dell Support. In fact I already had the latest bios (v1.7) but the technician decided to try the older version 1.5. I also disabled all enhancement settings but the sound is exactly the same - horrendous.

It is so bad that I cannot use it. And I'm not being hard because I like everything else about this 1537. I am very disappointed.

My alternative is an M1530 but I can't get an LED screen on that, and I don't think they are as nice to use anyway.

Mike

Mike,

Have you seen this thread? There are a lot of other unhappy Studio owners.

I used a USB port to connect speakers.  Sounds much better than the "tinny" sound of the poor speakers that came with my Studio 1735.  Don't know anything about the Studio 15 but maybe there's a way you can connect to external speakers and bypass the need for the off-the-shelf speakers.

I must further post a further update on this to be fair to Dell, I wouldn't want to put others off buying a Stido 15.

I have had the opportunity to listen to another Studio 15 and there is something wrong with mine, the other one wasn't great quality but it was useable and acceptable.

I have also listened to  a M1530 and that is better again. not the best but I wouldn't complain. My company workhorse which is an old Compaq NC6000 (quite a brick) which can fill the room with reasonable quality sound, it is probably the best I've heard from a laptop.

If I rate the NC6000 as a "10" I would rate the M1530 as "8" and the Studio 16 as "6".

So, I wouldn't let the sound quality from the Studio 15 stop me from buying one.

Mike   

I have just received two Studio 15's and i must too say iam discusted that Dell ship laptops with this quality of speakers. I spent the best part of £1400 for these and they sound worse that a £250 laptop i have in the office. In my opinion Dell should be replacing these for higher quality units on all new laptops and offer a free upgrade for all dissatisfied customers. Upon playing music they are so high pitched that they phsyically hurt my ears, now i have to consider sending them both back and going for another manufacturer (probably HP as my old laptops speakers were fantastic) or shell out even more money on bluetooth speakers for a problem which shouldn't have existed in the first place. If this is the kind of quality Dell are now shipping out with their equipment i may have to look at other options for our business as we have purchased over 600 machines from Dell in the last two years and i don't want any quality issues like this in my workplace.
Even my D531 sounds fantastic compared and my D631 with only one speaker sounds better!

Ian

If this is in reply to my post, i have already done this and while the sound is loud, the high end pitch is way too high, which combined with no bass sounds awful. I have never ever used a laptop with such poor quality speakers.

The low volume/quality problem with the 1535 and other laptops is caused by the IDT drivers.

If you uninstall these and use the standard microsoft drivers then volume etc is fine. Even to the point that full volume is too loud! Dell don't seem to want to admit to this and continue to dissapoint customers by insisting on the IDT drivers which have a pretty pop up screen but are terrible.

Change to the Microsoft drivers, problem solved and i'm now very happy with my studio 1535

It was a reply in general about how i solved my problem without any help from Dell (who tried but couldn't !)

Have you tried to alter the settings. There is a bass enhancement and a sound equaliser.

The one remaining problem I have is that when listening to music there is a crackle now and again. This is caused by the WIFI. No solution. When trying to diagnose problems with the sound , connect to the internet via cable so this isn't confused with another problem.

Hope this helps a few people out there !

Contacted dell about poor sound on my studio 15, ie:- maximum sound returned very little output & what sound came out was distorted  & tinny ( literally sounds like the sound is coming from a couple of battered tin cans) reply was to reinstall the sound drivers (with the instructions given) did as instructed & yes obtained a louder version of the tinny sound.

Replied to dell with the outcome only to be told “I would like to inform you that the speakers which are in the laptop are very small and are not meant for very high quality sound. I would request you to please connect external speakers or headphones and check the sound quality".

Being of reasonable mind and sound! Do I really have to use external devises?, if I had a hearing defect I WOULD SEEK TREATMENT,  I have a 4 year old inspiron that puts the sound of studio way back in the early mono sound.

My conclusion is the problem lies with an inherent dell studio production fault, soon to be put right on the quiet 

Not giving up on this issue with dell, have been a loyal customer: 2 laptops, 2 all in one printers, ink supplies and one desktop system, feel extremely let down on this issue.

SURLEY VERY SMALL SPEAKERS DO NOT EQUALL VERY SMALL INFERIOR SPEAKERS

I Tried this on my new Studio 17 and eventually resolved the problem by going into Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Manage Audio Devices - Level tab and adjusting PC speaker volume to 100%.  Now I have loud sound.  My Father-inlaw also had a new Dell inspiron and it was set the same.  It looks like by default that the PC master volume is set to low.

Hope this helps other who are having the same problem. 

There is an easy fix to enhancing your laptop speakers. You have to uninstall dell's audio driver, and make sure you tick the box that will prevent it from reinstalling itself, and then restart your computer. Then Vista should automatically install it's own audio drivers and the sound is 100 times better. 

Can you explain how to uninstall dell's audio driver and where one should tick the box that will prevent it from reinstalling itself?  Thanks for your help!

Control Panel > click Hardware and Sound > device manager> idt driver > properties > driver tab > uninstall driver then tick the box marked "delete driver software for this device" then restart your computer, then the Vista audio drivers will install themselves when the computer boots up.