x220 low volume audio

[wyld]

Even cranked all the way up, the sound on the x220 seems somewhere around half as loud as the x120e and even my wife's iPad blows it away.  It's a litle embarrassing.

I think it's the sound card/driver not the speakers as even with headphones plugged in it is very very soft at 100% volume.

[thecrafter]

Same for me. Max volume on the X220 is what should be middle of the road

[wyld]

i tried to show a youtube video to a few friends today and cranked it all the way up and they were complaining they couldn't hear it.  can more x220 owners chime in with their experience so this gets more visibility?

[thecrafter]

wyld, here is some sort of a fix: go to start->control panel->sound->choose speakers and click properties->enhancements->put a checkmark on loudness equalizaiton hit apply/ok, and try another video

[wyld]

not really. Loudness compensation doesn't increase volume, it applies an eq to boost low and high frequencies. it should only be used on lower volume settings, not at max volume, which is what I have to leave my laptop at in order to hear anything.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_compensation)

we probably need a sound driver update that increases max gain of the sound output.

[thecrafter]

Did you try it? It definitely increases volume for me. Before I had to leave it at 50. Now what was 50 is 20

[wyld]

yep. it doesn't affect mids (like voice). it's just an EQ. doing this on music makes it sound terrible since it just cranks highs and lows.

[wyld]

try watching a youtube video with someone talking. you'll notice there's no difference with loudness on or off as it doesn't effect the range of frequencies of voice.

[thecrafter]

It most certainly does for me.

[SR45 · Accepted solution]

Start>Control panel>Hardware and Sounds>Smart Audio>Click on the Equalizer icon at bottom>Raise all the bars and the sound will increase a whole lot