Improve SQ of laptop

Software can't improve sound quality, it can only alter the sound.

You can redownload your lossy music as lossless however, that may make an improvement if your ears/endpoint are good enough.

A uDac might help.

You can switch to a playback application which support WASAPI.

Besides that I doubt there is anything software wise to improve the sound quality. Besides skipping those MP3 files and go 100% lossless that is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by satan194p 

Hi! I am new to this forum so sorry if I am posting it in wrong section.

I have sennheiser  HD 428. I am satisfied with its sound quality when I use it in my nokia 5233 or in my ipod. But when I plug it in laptop it is very disappointing.

I have a dell vostro 1510 which has a realtek onboard soundcard. I am using windows 7 and all my drivers are upto date. I mostly listein songs in WMP and all are at either mp3 320kbps or flac.

Is there any way I can improve its sound quality by using any software which can give optimized sound for headphones.

If amp is necessary do recommend some brands.

Regardless of what some people think, different music software does sound different.  Try different players until you find one that sounds the best to you....Foobar, WInamp, XMPlay, JRiver, KMPlayer with reclock are some of the better sounding players imo.  Try ASIO, WASAPI and Kernel Streaming to see which ones sound the best also....some players offer all three most offer at least ASIO.

BUT before you install anything....install Revo Uninstaller, it will remove all traces of programs that you have installed or are already installed better that the standard Windows uninstaller.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynobot 

 

 

Regardless of what some people think, different music software does sound different.  Try different players until you find one that sounds the best to you....Foobar, WInamp, XMPlay, JRiver, KMPlayer with reclock are some of the better sounding players imo.  Try ASIO, WASAPI and Kernel Streaming to see which ones sound the best also....some players offer all three most offer at least ASIO.

 

BUT before you install anything....install Revo Uninstaller, it will remove all traces of programs that you have installed or are already installed better that the standard Windows uninstaller.
 

No, it doesn't. Unless there is a faulty codec. WASAPI sounds exactly the same as ASIO and DS. More placebo myths.

Your choice of a media player boils down to features, bugs, preference of gui, etc. Sound quality is typically irrelevant unless the player forces some weird DSP on you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dalamar 

No, it doesn't. Unless there is a faulty codec. WASAPI sounds exactly the same as ASIO and DS. More placebo myths.

 

Your choice of a media player boils down to features, bugs, preference of gui, etc. Sound quality is typically irrelevant unless the player forces some weird DSP on you.

Your placebo rhetoric is getting old.

There is a reason why cardiologists don't use Tin Cans to listen to peoples hearts.  Maybe you need to upgrade your gear so you can hear better.

I can hear just fine; there's just no difference. My speakers nor headphones are bad, and any upgrades wouldn't be terribly large or price efficient aside from a changed frequency response. I absolutely dare you to RMAA a difference between DS and ASIO/WASAPI if there's a way to. The difference will be even more microscopic than the difference between dacs.

The things people say here are so obsessive and absurd.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dalamar 

I can hear just fine; there's just no difference. My speakers nor headphones are bad, and any upgrades wouldn't be terribly large or price efficient aside from a changed frequency response. I absolutely dare you to RMAA a difference between DS and ASIO/WASAPI if there's a way to. The difference will be even more microscopic than the difference between dacs.

 

The things people say here are so obsessive and absurd.

I agree, the things people say here are so obsessive and absurd.

If RMAA could somehow measure perception I'd take you on....

You do realize that perception is the larger part of reality, too bad you choose to live within the small world of measurements. 

Also ASIO, WASAPI, DS, and Kernel Streaming all use different language to achieve sound.  Those different aspects of sound processing requires handling the data differently and also reflects differently on processor load.  All of which affects the end product ie sound. 

This will really make your head spin, Solid State hard drives sound better than spinning hard drives too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynobot 

I agree, the things people say here are so obsessive and absurd.

 

If RMAA could somehow measure perception I'd take you on....

 

You do realize that perception is the larger part of reality, too bad you choose to live within the small world of measurements. 

 

Also ASIO, WASAPI, DS, and Kernel Streaming all use different language to achieve sound.  Those different aspects of sound processing requires handling the data differently and also reflects differently on processor load.  All of which affects the end product ie sound. 

 

This will really make your head spin, Solid State hard drives sound better than spinning hard drives too.

Not unless you're doing it wrong.  L2buffer.

I have an X25-M and I can verify that the above opinion is not a factual statement.

Well I guess myself along with countless others are victims of mass placebo affect.

~Solid State drives sound better than spinning

~WASAPI and ASIO sound different, WASAPI sounds smoother

~ASIO and Kernel streaming sounds different, ASIO sounds more harsh KS sounds more clean

~Every music software player sounds different for every operating system

~Mac sounds different than PC or Linux

~Most DAC's sound different

~Different IC's sound different

~Power cords sound different

~Linear regulated powersupplies sound better than switching

~Mac's sound better with more RAM

~upsampling sounds different

~headless computers sound better than computers with attached monitors

But none of these things sound any different when you are listening through these:

Originally Posted by Dynobot 

Well I guess myself along with countless others are victims of mass placebo affect.

hah, you're even more hardcore than me...I've met my master

there's a lot of starving trolls to feed if you feel up to the task: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/493678/a-better-sounding-alternative-to-foobar2000-or-a-musing-in-the-realm-of-bit-perfect-streaming/240

BTW, if I may respond to your post:

~Solid State drives sound better than spinning ..I don't believe it, it's prolly EMI/RFI related...and also having the HDD feeding groundloops but I use a USB Isolator to my S/PDIF transport.

~WASAPI and ASIO sound different, WASAPI sounds smoother fully dependent on your audio drivers.

~ASIO and Kernel streaming sounds different, ASIO sounds more harsh KS sounds more clean
what about ASIO4ALL(being a KS>ASIO wrapper)? I know either cMP or XXHighEnd coder(can't recall which one) said that he couldn't stand the ASIO color?!
~Every music software player sounds different for every operating system fully agreed

~Mac sounds different than PC or Linux never tried

~Most DAC's sound different of course they do

~Different IC's sound different ditto

~Power cords sound different never tried, I like to install ferrites on them, though.

~Linear regulated powersupplies sound better than switching X2, even a blind man can see it

~Mac's sound better with more RAM I'm dubious

~upsampling sounds different yep, it sounds brighter due to the increased THD(you can easily measure it in WaveSpectra)

~headless computers sound better than computers with attached monitors again a story of EMI/RFI, I'd have to hear it to believe it

I guess this PDF is your bible? http://photos.imageevent.com/cics/v03theartofbuildingcomputertrnsp/The%20art%20of%20building%20Computer%20Transports%20v0.3.pdf

I've applied most of his non-tinfoil tweaks...all my system processes run in low priority on single cores and my media players run in high priority on the 4 cores w/ their audio thread in realtime priority.