Sound quality under XP.

[David Thomas]

Hi,
I have just purchased a computer running a VIA onboard audio solution on my
motherboard (SOYO). I am also running MS media player since I haven't d/l
WinAmp yet. I find that when I listen to my mp3 collection the sound seems a
little distorted at certain times and doesn't sound as good as with my
previous Win95 / Pentium 1 / WinAmp config. Has anybody got any ideas why
this should be? Did MS limit the sound quality on mp3s being played on its
media player? I haven't as yet connected the new computer to the net so
can't d/l the latest XP driver but is this going to make that much
difference?

If I wanted to, could I install another soundcard on my computer? Is this
VIA onboard solution a good soundcard?
Regards,
David Thomas.

 

[zachd [ms]]

No, all WMP-specific stuff such as that is WMP-specific. It sounds like
you're having more generic sound problems.

--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
Following up to your post with the resolution is good netiquette.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
All e-mail to this account will bounce or be deleted - *use the newsgroups*.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

Zach:

I agree. It certainly appears to be more generic, and with the load XP
places on my 950 MHz AMD Athlon (384 MB), it appears that asking the
motherboard sound chip to handle my streaming audio may just be asking a
little bit too much. The sound quality deteriorates directly with the
number of other programs being run concurrently on the PC. The perfomance
of XP otherwise is acceptable.

I have tried everything suggested everywhere without satisfactory results.
I must have my music while computing. So to ask your advice once again, in
your opinion is it likely that a good sound card with it's own DSP would
solve my problem? If so, is there any brand in particular (or in general)
you would recommend?

Thanks again,

Rick

 

[zachd [ms]]

I'd also try turning off WMP's SRS Wow Sound, EQ, and visualizations too to
help reduce processor load.

I don't really follow sound card performance, so couldn't really speak to
that. Others who pay more attention to it might be able to suggset
somethin'.

--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
Following up to your post with the resolution is good netiquette.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
All e-mail to this account will bounce or be deleted - *use the newsgroups*.