sound quality/headphones/usb adaptor

Euphoria1z

Hi


So my headphone jack is faulty on laptop, I bought a usb adaptor convertor and now the sound through my phillips headphones is very poor.


where as before the sound was fuller and bassy its now tiny and metallic. mainly the voices so when watching a movie for example, the voices are very thin .


Ive installed a sound equaliser and played about with settings but just cant get it to sound normal.


The laptop comes pre installed with DTS sound which doesn't work with the usb adaptor, this had a voice setting .


Which frequency affects the sound? and make it sound heavy/fuller ? is there any program I can download that has pre sets already set rather me trying to figure it out ?


Thanks

flashg67

What adapter did you buy - I tried a cheap one from ebay that was awful, but I tried a branded one - maybe a Creative (was a while ago,so no longer in use) and it was fine

Euphoria1z

adaptor is called Aukey. it has a head phone jack and a microphone jack. from ebay.

[Deleted User]

Euphoria1z wrote: »

adaptor is called Aukey. it has a head phone jack and a microphone jack. from ebay.

Windows 10 (if you use that) sets up those adapters so you can use a headset to make and receive calls over Skype - they are no good for music. You need a proper USB dac to get decent audio. You should be able to find a cheap one on Amazon/Ebay for around £25.

Euphoria1z

camelot1971 wrote: »

Windows 10 (if you use that) sets up those adapters so you can use a headset to make and receive calls over Skype - they are no good for music. You need a proper USB dac to get decent audio. You should be able to find a cheap one on Amazon/Ebay for around £25.

It is windows 10. Can you recommend me one or link one ?


Thanks

Euphoria1z

something like this?


Creative Sound Blaster Play!3 High Resolution USB DAC Amp and External Card


https://uk.creative.com/p/sound-cards/sound-blaster-play-3#buy-menu

System

As above. Was going to say its down to being a cheap USB soundcard and a Creative one would be a far better solution.

Heedtheadvice

...............or get socket on laptop fixed??????????


All frequencies in the range 20-Hz to 20+ Hz affect the sound (though very high and very low ones might be inaudible depending upon how they are reproduced and the individual.
make it sound heavy/fuller? generally 200- to 500+Hz range


...but as pointed out already your problem is likely to be that cheap adaptor as there are lots of other 'distortions' that affect listening quality

googler

£20 will get you a Behringer UCA202 from Amazon or eBay. I've used one for years, with absolutely no issues over sound quality.

EveryWhere

Euphoria1z wrote: »

Hi


So my headphone jack is faulty on laptop, I bought a usb adaptor convertor and now the sound through my phillips headphones is very poor.


where as before the sound was fuller and bassy its now tiny and metallic. mainly the voices so when watching a movie for example, the voices are very thin .


Ive installed a sound equaliser and played about with settings but just cant get it to sound normal.


The laptop comes pre installed with DTS sound which doesn't work with the usb adaptor, this had a voice setting .


Which frequency affects the sound? and make it sound heavy/fuller ? is there any program I can download that has pre sets already set rather me trying to figure it out ?


Thanks

Euphoria1z's suggestion is a good one. Specifications to check are SNR(signal to noise ratio) and bit depth/sampling rate. e.g. for the Sound Blaster PLAY! 3; Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) ~93dB(the higher the figure the better), Audio Fidelity Up to 24-bit / 96kHz(again, the higher the better).
CD Audio quality is represented by 16 bit depth and a 44.1kHz sample rate.



You can imagine it in much the same way as pixels on your monitor. The more pixels, the more information that can be conveyed in detail.
Whether you can hear the difference is another question.
Dynamic Range the difference between the quietest sound that you can perceive and the loudest. Human dynamic range perhaps around 140dB.
The Creative solution should be good enough for what looks like general usage on your part.

If you were more serious about your music listening, you would look for something with a better signal to noise ratio. But the Creative solution should do CD Audio quality justice. So, good enough. Now down to your headphones.

EveryWhere

googler wrote: »

£20 will get you a Behringer UCA202 from Amazon or eBay. I've used one for years, with absolutely no issues over sound quality.

Also CD Audio quality. Another good suggestion.