Logistics
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 29, 2007
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I'd say the first thing you need to do is make sure you have your volume in Windows ALL THE WAY UP. Many times, people mistakenly crank the volume on their speakers, and use the volume slider in Windows to adjust volume. This is all wrong if you're trying to maximize your 2.1 output.
Even if you do Max out the volume slider in Windows, this doesn't mean your line-level source is powerful enough to pair well with your Promedias. You mentioned you're using on-board audio, which is likely a large culprit in your case.
My suggestion, before you get a larger speaker system to amplify your low-quality audio stage, get an aftermarket sound card that will do you right. If you're not concerned with surround sound in games, find a professional recording card, such as an M-Audio Delta series card, and try again as they have far superior output clarity and power compared to even an X-Fi card. (I know, I have both and I'll never go back to consumer-grade cards.) And I still prescribe to analog cables rather than USB DAC's. However, M-Audio makes FireWire and USB versions of their cards so that would be a good, albeit more cumbersome solution than a PCI card.
Even if you do Max out the volume slider in Windows, this doesn't mean your line-level source is powerful enough to pair well with your Promedias. You mentioned you're using on-board audio, which is likely a large culprit in your case.
My suggestion, before you get a larger speaker system to amplify your low-quality audio stage, get an aftermarket sound card that will do you right. If you're not concerned with surround sound in games, find a professional recording card, such as an M-Audio Delta series card, and try again as they have far superior output clarity and power compared to even an X-Fi card. (I know, I have both and I'll never go back to consumer-grade cards.) And I still prescribe to analog cables rather than USB DAC's. However, M-Audio makes FireWire and USB versions of their cards so that would be a good, albeit more cumbersome solution than a PCI card.
