Horrible Sound with Headphones

OneHump · #1 (**permalink**) 31-08-05, 04:18 PM

I recently purchased a Shuttle SN25P, which comes with an
embedded Envy24 audio
controlleronanNForce4UltraMB.
I am using Windowx XP 64 and the "beta" XP 64-bit
drivers found at this site.



I was disappointed to find that the sound, when played through
very high quality headphones, is horrible. It is completely
flat with 0 bass. I ran several tests using two different
sets of headphones, and alternated between an IPod Mini and my
computer's headphone jack. The difference is astonishing, and
was easily noticeable when moving from embedded Audio on my 3-year
old Asus embedded controller.



I really, really hope this is something related to the 64-bit
drivers. I'm going to uninstall XP 64 tonight and try the
32-bit drivers. If the problems persists, I'm going to RMA
the whole box just to find a suitable audio solution.



I tweaked every setting available in the "control
deck" and Control Panel. I did specify
"headphones" in the Windows control panel. I tried
several audio sources and turned bass to MAX when the application
allowedit. I believe this problem is related to power
output; something likely caused by faulty drivers.



Does anyone have any ideas about this?



Thanks in advance for your input.

OneHump · #2 (**permalink**) 01-09-05, 09:33 PM

It had nothing to do with XP 64. I went back to XP Pro,
which I think was a good decision for a number of reasons, and the
problem was still there.



The problem is the audio controller. I opted out of the
new Shuttle and went for a proper motherboard in which I can place
a new Creative X-Fi.