Is onboard Realtek HD audio crap?

[TJCS]

I just upgraded some cheap speakers to Klipsch ProMedia 2.1, and when I turn up the volume the bass becomes really thumpy to the point that I feel stressed just watching a movie scene. I tried playing with the equalizer and and turning the subwoofer down but there seems almost no bass when I turn it down.

Is this caused by the onboard Realtek audio or...? If I get a X-Fi or something would it get better?

 

[kalrith]

I use Realtek HD audio, but I use it with SPDIF passthrough, which can be handled by virtually any sound card. Is the stressed bass coming from the sub or the satellites? If it's the sub, then turn down the sub volume on the speaker control pod . If it's the satellites, then look around for a crossover setting and set it to 100-120 Hz. It might be called something like bass redirection too. If you can find that setting, then it should totally take the bass load off of your speakers.

I would try that before getting a new sound card.

 

[Gunbuster]

Try moving the sub away from the wall or corner if thats where you have it.

 

[TJCS]

I use Realtek HD audio, but I use it with SPDIF passthrough, which can be handled by virtually any sound card. Is the stressed bass coming from the sub or the satellites? If it's the sub, then turn down the sub volume on the speaker control pod . If it's the satellites, then look around for a crossover setting and set it to 100-120 Hz. It might be called something like bass redirection too. If you can find that setting, then it should totally take the bass load off of your speakers.

I would try that before getting a new sound card.

I believe the thumpy bass is coming from the sub, and I was able to reduce the muddy bass quite a bit by adjusting some settings in the equalizer.

I have the speakers connected through a regular analog connection, and I don't see the crossover setting you mentioned both in the Realtek HD control panel and audio device settings. Is this a spdif only setting?

 

[TJCS]

Try moving the sub away from the wall or corner if thats where you have it.

I currently have it near a corner, but I will try moving it around. I read some where that recommended storing the sub in the corner for more boom effect and less distortion. No?

 

[0roo0roo]

sub location affects its output greatly. corner reinforces the sound the most.
close to the wall as possible reinforces bass as well, but that is generally preferred. the corner might be over kill though.
generally the way of testing is to place the sub at your listening location and try to find where in the room it sounds the best, then swap. might be over kill though lol.
make sure no"enhance" sound modes are on...or bass boost

 

[zerocool84]

Modern onboard sound is infinitely better than what we used to have. 99% of people won't notice the difference at all.

 

[TJCS]

sub location affects its output greatly. corner reinforces the sound the most.
close to the wall as possible reinforces bass as well, but that is generally preferred. the corner might be over kill though.
generally the way of testing is to place the sub at your listening location and try to find where in the room it sounds the best, then swap. might be over kill though lol.
make sure no"enhance" sound modes are on...or bass boost

I don't have any enhancement features checked (I know that make sound output funky on some setups). Any recommendation on where the woofer opening should face? towards the listener?

The only thing I m not so clear about is this feature:
Audio Devices > Speakers > Configure > Stereo > Full-Range

I have it check but haven't really notice a notable difference.

 

[TJCS]

Modern onboard sound is infinitely better than what we used to have. 99% of people won't notice the difference at all.

It really depends your setup. Crappy 2.0 speakers make very little difference whether you use onboard or high-end sound cards. On this pair of Klipsch it definitely needed some fine tuning inside the control panel. The lows made the bass muddy, mids were faint, and highs were too sharp.

 

[0roo0roo]

unless the 2.1 has a separate subwoofer input from the audio card then it has to be full range. the speaker set does the cross over on its own.

anyways, why don't you hook up an mp3/cd player or something as a baseline check on the speaker output. i''ve never heard of the klipsch being claimed as boomy, thats more a logitech description. unless of course you are compaing them with far higher end systems, theres only so much that small subwoofer is going nto do.

 

[kalrith]

I believe the thumpy bass is coming from the sub, and I was able to reduce the muddy bass quite a bit by adjusting some settings in the equalizer.

I have the speakers connected through a regular analog connection, and I don't see the crossover setting you mentioned both in the Realtek HD control panel and audio device settings. Is this a spdif only setting?

Well, "sub redirection" is what my Audigy2ZS calls it, but that would only make a difference if the problem were with your satellites. Since it's your subwoofer, then I wouldn't recommend messing with any of those settings or the full-range setting.

I'll ask again: do your speakers have a subwoofer volume knob? On my 10yo Klipsch Promedia v2.400, there is a subwoofer volume knob, and I typically keep it between 25% and 35% of the way up. Most of the time the dot is pointing straight left (which I take as 25% volume). If you have the sub volume at double that, then yes you're going to get thumpy bass.

Since you have a sub that shouldn't be producing thumpy bass (from others' experiences), then I think it's either your sub volume or your sub location that's the problem. For placement, here are some general recommendations. Place the sub in the center of your wall, rather than in a corner. Have the woofer face directly away from the wall. If you do that and it's still thumpy, move it as far away from the wall as is practical until you're pleased with the lack of thump.

However, I'd easily bet $100 that setting your subwoofer volume to the 9:00 position will eliminate the disappointing thumpy bass you're getting. I've had my Klipsch Promedia sub volume between the 9:00 and 11:00 positions for 10 years, and I've never had any of the problems you're experiencing. I've even placed it in the corner before, and it still wasn't overly boomy (but it sounded worse than in the middle of the wall, where it is now).

 

[yh125d]

It's caused by (most likely) sub placement, or less likely (settings, either crossover/sub volume or EQ

 

[Modelworks]

If you enable any processing in the controls, including the EQ then you are altering the quality because that will make the realtek chipset re-sample the audio before it reaches the DAC lowering the quality. The best output from onboard sound is from spdif, next to that turn off all processing and do straight from software to analog out. That also means disabling all processing of sound in any software applications.

 

[Auric]

All that being said, yes Realtek HD audio is crap. Even digital. It costs $2 and is a few millimeters in size. It simply cannot compete with a proper sound card -even a $20 one.

 

[calvie]

maybe you are expecting too much? They are computer speakers afterall. I used to have a set of promedia 4.1 10yrs ago. While they sound 'ok' as computer speakers, they are awful for music.

 

[0roo0roo]

problem is we cna't tell if he's describing abnormal thumpy, or if its simply the fact that its a small sub which is sorta thumpy by definition.
as said, simple test, use an mp3 player

 

[alcoholbob]

All that being said, yes Realtek HD audio is crap. Even digital. It costs $2 and is a few millimeters in size. It simply cannot compete with a proper sound card -even a $20 one.

So you are claiming the electricity is cleaner at the motherboard north bridge compared to the south bridge? All optical is a conversion of electrical waves from the motherboard into light pulses.

I find this unlikely because the all the components in a computer shares a single power supply.

 

[Soundmanred]

All that being said, yes Realtek HD audio is crap. Even digital. It costs $2 and is a few millimeters in size. It simply cannot compete with a proper sound card -even a $20 one.

As someone who has dealt with audio of all kinds most of my life, I disagree.
Might have been true a few years ago, but now the majority couldn't tell the difference, even with decent speakers/amplifiers
I used to have a higher end sound card that hooked up to my HT 7.1 system and when it stopped working, I decided to use the onboard until the new one came in. Shorly after hearing no difference whatsoever, I cancelled the new card and have been happy ever since. I moved from using the multichannel analog outs to the digital out since I don't do much gaming anymore and one cable is easier, and I'm just as happy. (It passes DD/DTS/etc for the reciever to decode, so multichannel was only for games)
This seems to be one of those "I heard on the internet that onboard sounds like crap if you have a good audio system" type of "opinions".
Do a blind test on that theory and get back to us, you'll most likely not be able to tell the difference.

 

[TJCS]

I have been away from past two days, and finally had some time to test things out today. Didn't think there would be so many replies, let me try to condense some things.

I am able to significantly reduce the boomy/thumpy bass on my Klipsch 2.1 when I turn down the subwoofer using the hardware controls and through the EQ. However, when the bass is tuned down, a lot of "heavy" scenes seems to have significantly less bang bass effect. I am trying to find a balance in my bass levels but I am not sure if my expectations are too high for analog PC speakers.

 

[TJCS]

@ 0roo0roo:

I tried the AUX connection on my Klipsch using my MP3 player, and for heavy bass songs the boomy/muddy bass is present unless I adjust the bass using hardware or EQ.

@ Kalrith:

There is a subwoofer hardware control on my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1. I currently have it at about 50% mixed with some EQ adjustments. I did try leaving my EQ at default and making adjustments to the harware subwoofer controls. But the end result is the bass become too tamed (ex: I experience very little bass feedback in gun fight scenes).

 

[TJCS]

@ yh125d:

I tried putting the sub in a few different places in my room where the cords can reach, but seems like there is not much difference. It might be because my room is small (13ft x 10ft) with furniture. If I was in a more open area it would be better?

 

[Auric]

There's more to even digital sound than just passing it out. It must be generated so the quality and content still varies. Heck, even streams can be mangled by a dodgy device. I gave Realtek HD Audio a go with a recent mobo but quickly plopped the ol' sound card in 'cause the difference was immediately apparent with music (all effects off as always) and on top of that every time playback was halted the Realtek generated an annoying pop noise.