Laptop limiting bass

[t3hgt3ftw1n]

Well, this past October, I bought an HP ProBook 4530s. Great laptop IMO. But I've noticed that whenever I'm listening to some kind of audio file, whether on iTunes or on Gran Turismo 2, the bass gets toned down considerably. Being the bass lover that I am (), I started to look around for solutions, but to no avail. If anyone can find a solution to this problem, I thank you for your help .

 

[TB]

If you mean there's no bass from the laptop speakers, that's because laptop speakers all suck. Well, not ALL, I suppose but your mass produced units suck. Reason being is you need a larger speaker to produce low frequencies and there just isn't room in a laptop.

Your best bet would be to get a pair of headphones or external speakers. Look for a frequency response in the 20 to 25Hz range for the low end and if you go external, find one with a decent sub and you should be all set.

 

[t3hgt3ftw1n]

Well, most of the time I listen to audio using headphones. The laptop produces great bass, I'll admit that, but when the bass reaches a certain point, you can sense the bass being reduces. If it helps, the laptop in question has the SRS Premium Sound thing.

 

[F1GTR]

Can't do anything about the lack of bass in laptop speakers, physics dictates that they'll generally suck. The bass suddenly appearing that it's been reduced is simply the speakers being unable to produce the lower frequencies. Some laptops are better than others, but @TB's advice is pretty much all you can do.

 

[TB]

They might sound good down to, say 40Hz (like my surround set-up) but below that is the subs job. If you don't have a sub, you simply won't hear anything as the speakers can't reproduce the sound.

 

[t3hgt3ftw1n]

Well, nothing I could do, eh? Well, thanks for the help, guys. Really appreciate it.

 

[TB]

Well, nothing I could do, eh?

Buy new speaker that can go lower.

Live with it.

Those are your options.

 

[Mikeybc]

I had a very similar problem on my Dell XPS-15, sound seemed choked off below 70hz or so. Try going into "sound" in the control panel and in speaker properties click the "enhancements" tab, make sure "disable all sound effects" is checked and "immediate mode" is unchecked and greyed out. Sound effects modes are usually just junk phase tricks to make the sound seem more spacious. But it seemed the "immediate mode" was the main culprit.

Seems the laptop was shipped with "immediate mode" enabled and never noticed until I finally plugged my trusty Sennheiser PX-100-II's into the headphone jack and was shocked at how thin and bassless it sounded. All is fine now, bass is nice, full and very deep.

 

[t3hgt3ftw1n]

Mikey, you're a lifesaver. But in my case, the culprit was "Loudness Equalization". Weirdly, I'm not shown with the "immediate mode".

But thanks a lot, bro.

 

[Mikeybc]

Mikey, you're a lifesaver. But in my case, the culprit was "Loudness Equalization". Weirdly, I'm not shown with the "immediate mode".

But thanks a lot, bro.

I'm using Waves MaxxAudio with the Realtek HD driver. I saw the loudness equalization in the sound effects box, the immediate mode is above and to the right and hard to see as its greyed out. Could be a different driver version too. Anyway glad it pointed you in the right direction.