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Windows Beta Profiles and Laptop Audio

(6 posts) (4 voices)

Started 1 year ago by Joey Butera
Latest reply from Joey Butera

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Joey Butera
Audio and Computer Systems Engineer

Beta Brethren,

I'm addressing the issue of quiet output for PC laptops. PC laptops as a whole have much smaller sound systems than their Mac counterparts. However, it is still possible to make a big improvement in output using the Digital Power Station. I've taken a different approach to two of the "Cities" profiles that I'd like you to try if you have a PC laptop:

1) Open Preferences window (gear icon)
2) Click "Enable Advanced Profile Browser"
3) Be sure you are in the Built-In category (blue buttons at the top of the Preferences window).
4) Click on the "Cities" category.
5) "Get" the "Nashville Laptop" and "Los Angles Laptop" profiles. (if you are experiencing a crash here you will have to wait until version 0.1.0b5 is released)

You will notice there will be duplicate "Cities" profiles created in the Top 5 profile slots. We will correct this later but for now it works out so you may hear the difference between old and new profiles. Here are some things to listen for:

1) The new "Nashville" and "Los Angles" profiles are designed to maximize loudness on thin-sounding laptops
2) They are very aggressive profiles. Do not use the "Volume Level Boost" as it will most likely cause distortion.
3) If you hear music being "squished" or the volume "pumping" then lower the output of the media player you are using. You may also lower the volume slider for Digital Power Station (in most cases this is controlled by the volume control buttons on your laptop). The sound quality will improve while the volume should stay the same.

Please experiment with these two profiles as I would like to make all Built-In profiles behave this way if they are effective.

Thanks, Testers!

Posted 1 year ago #
bobby159
Member

I just tested out the new profiles, the Nashville and LA. the volume increase is impressive with little to no distortion. I notices that some songs had distortion especially ones with more bass, but that may just be my computer behaving not optimally. They are easily better than the previous profiles, and maybe just need an ounce more refining. But great job on them! Thats what testing is for right

Posted 1 year ago #
Joey Butera
Audio and Computer Systems Engineer

Excellent. It's tricky working with those tiny PC laptop speakers. However, the DPS has a ton of horsepower I can bring to bear on the issue. I believe any distortion will be caused by the physical limitations of the speakers. I suggest turning the computer down slightly until the distortion goes away. As tempting as it is to run your laptop at full volume the laws of physics still apply!

I wrote and article about distortion here: http://dpsplugin.com/help/doku.php?id=protecting_your_audio_device

I'm going to work on the New York and Atlanta profiles next to get them to perform at higher output without distortion. Let me know if you guys have any other suggestions for laptop audio.

Posted 1 year ago #
powercar
Member

A profile that i would want is Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N700. Please Make a Profile for these speaker i always use them.

Posted 1 year ago #
Vanguard92
Member

Hey Joey! It's Scott in Denver. I just installed the latest greatest version on my laptop and it ONLY works on youtube, Applian Freecorder 4, and any sound coming through the web browser (Firefox 4.0). It doesn't work through Windows Mediaplayer, or Adobe Audition. Problem being I use Windows Mediaplayer for pretty much EVERYTHING I listen to.

I went through all the steps we went over on the phone and everything checks out from an install situation. I was installing on a fresh reboot and no programs running except the install program, then a reboot. I can hear the test tones when I test both the DPS as the default device and the regular speaker driver. The system just refuses to route ALL sound through the DPS.

Posted 1 year ago #
Joey Butera
Audio and Computer Systems Engineer

Well, it's progress! I wonder if that laptop stores default playback drivers in reference to certain windows applications. It's important that each program knows/recognizes that it should be using Digital Power Station as the default playback device.

So is it 0.1.0b12 that you installed? Some issues we have run into within the beta program due to various versions being installed can be solved this way:

1) quit DPS by right clicking the icon in the system tray and choosing quit
2) open Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs
3) There may be two versions of DPS in the list if a version prior to b10 was not un-installed. That was when we switched to the new installer. The new installer will show the version number in the Programs list. If this is your case un-install then version without the version number via this panel.
4) Now open your Start Menu and go to Bongiovi Acoustics. The new installer includes an un-installer here. Run that and you should have a nice clean system.
5) Visit this link to get the latest version: http://www.dpsplugin.com/download/download.php?platform=2

That's right, its in the store!

This means we are nearly out of beta. I really want to thank all of the beta testers for their hard work, time and effort put into helping us make the DPS Plug-In for Windows great!

Posted 1 year ago #