Low sound

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

I only get low sound through my headphones, speakers are ok (but there amplified) my sound card is an ALS4000 ,and it only has line in ,line out ,sub. And yes i have tried EVERY setting i can find in the properties etc ...any ideas :knife:

[kato2274]

Originally posted by STIGOFTHEDUMP
I only get low sound through my headphones, speakers are ok (but there amplified)

there's your answer. either there is no preamp in that card or it's a crappy one. not much you can do but either replace the sound card with a better one. you can get audigy OEM cards cheap now and SBLIVE OEM cards even cheaper. or get amplified headphones.

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

:) thanks kato ,i had a feeling it would involve spending money! doesnt it always when it comes to PCs!:(

[kato2274]

where are the headphones plugged in? at the sound card. if so, then the above solution stands. but it just occured to me that when my wife plays games and I watch tv, she often uses headphones, but they plug into the back of the speaker set.

if that's where you're plugging them in it may not be a sound card problem but rather a problem with the headphones and or speakers. if you're not plugging them in at the speaker, then why not? if you're speakers don't have this option, then there's at least another route to go about solving your problem. buy new speakers. :)

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

My headphones are plugged in to the line out ,as this is the only socket i can get sound from, my speakers are crappy and dont have a headphone socket anyway,that said i dont want to go down the "new speaker" route as none of us ever use em! And i have tried other headphones.

[kato2274]

well then new sound card.

I buy from computer geeks regularly. here are some of their current offerings. the SBLIVE 5.1 is $36 and a SUPER card. the other 6 channel cards might not be bad either.
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?cat=SND

[Gabriel]

Do yourself a favour and Do a couple of things:
a. Creative sound Cards are crappy - they are no more than D2A and a little Crappy DSP. Their Drivers Weight a ton and those cards does not offer "QUALITY" Output either (I do some music - I know about this $hit).
b. Better connect the Soundcard to a decent Reciever + Speaker set. There is no Magic about it - The money you put on the sound system Directly reflects on the quality you get. I myself have a PIONEER VSX-D409 with Pure acoustic 150W RMS Oild cooled speaker set Mainly connected to the Line out of my Hercules sound board ( The Sound System cost me something like 5000$ - and I use it only in my room).

If you are on a budget (aren't we all :D ?) - buy a simple Harman Kardon or Altec lansing PC Kit. Their W is not high but their sound is preety clean.

Good Luck (and "Rock you like a Hurricane"),
Gabriel

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Thanks for the tips folks,even i can find $36!!.As for sound systems i have mine in another room,its not associated with my computer and i dont realy want it to be ......SO......NEW SOUND CARD!:grin:

[Rellik]

Personally I would go the new speaker route, you can get some cheap speakers for less than 30 that do have headphone jacks in em' , just head down to you local PC World, CompUSA or Best Buy and have a look.

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Originally posted by kato2274
well then new sound card.

I buy from computer geeks regularly. here are some of their current offerings. the SBLIVE 5.1 is $36 and a SUPER card. the other 6 channel cards might not be bad either.
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?cat=SND ----------------------------------------------------------------- I still cant seem to find a soundcard with a dedicated headphones socket, is there such a beasty:eek2: :sad:

[NooNoo]

I run my headphones from the line out on my cheapie cmedia card


But it's easier to get speakers with a headphone socket on the front, no scrabbling around....

[Archangel42069]

Originally posted by Gabriel
Do yourself a favour and Do a couple of things:
a. Creative sound Cards are crappy - they are no more than D2A and a little Crappy DSP. Their Drivers Weight a ton and those cards does not offer "QUALITY" Output either (I do some music - I know about this $hit).
b. Better connect the Soundcard to a decent Reciever + Speaker set. There is no Magic about it - The money you put on the sound system Directly reflects on the quality you get. I myself have a PIONEER VSX-D409 with Pure acoustic 150W RMS Oild cooled speaker set Mainly connected to the Line out of my Hercules sound board ( The Sound System cost me something like 5000$ - and I use it only in my room).

If you are on a budget (aren't we all :D ?) - buy a simple Harman Kardon or Altec lansing PC Kit. Their W is not high but their sound is preety clean.

Good Luck (and "Rock you like a Hurricane"),
Gabriel

I don't think he was trying to dub a perfect analog copy of some .wav coming from his comp...he probably just wanted to hear the sound from a game or cd...why recommend building a home theater system if all the user wants to hear is the "Microsoft Sound"????

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Originally posted by Archangel42069
I don't think he was trying to dub a perfect analog copy of some .wav coming from his comp...he probably just wanted to hear the sound from a game or cd...why recommend building a home theater system if all the user wants to hear is the "Microsoft Sound"???? Yes, you got the idea, Archangle I was thinking $25 not $5000!!!

[rblockmon]

I believe all ISA cards (depending how old your computer is) has amps intalled on them. Most PCI sound cards don't (from experience). You can find a good old ISA and use that or, like you mentioned earlier, buy preamp head phones.

[mrwilhelm]

Originally posted by STIGOFTHEDUMP
----------------------------------------------------------------- I still cant seem to find a soundcard with a dedicated headphones socket, is there such a beasty:eek2: :sad:

The Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo line of sound cards have a dongle that plugs into the card that has a dedicated headphone plug.

I can't comment on the quality of the product since I don't use it, but I understand that it's a decent card.

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Originally posted by rblockmon
I believe all ISA cards (depending how old your computer is) has amps intalled on them. Most PCI sound cards don't (from experience). You can find a good old ISA and use that or, like you mentioned earlier, buy preamp head phones. AH, right, I just ordered a 5.1 PCI card from computer geeks in the US I am still a bit unclear as to the diferance between PCI@ISA! , apart from the ole they go in! is that true that PCI cards dont have an amp, what all of em? cant be can it?:eek2: :sad:

[jaimicook]

Hercules Game Theater XP has a headphones output with a 1/4 " stereo jack and a dedicated headphones amp. It sounds pretty good, too!
Jim

[CeeBee]

Get a SB Audigy(2) Platinum (that is with the Drive)... besides a crystal clear sound you'll get a FireWire connector, digital & optical in/out and a headphones connector right on the front panel of your pc (with it's own volume control knob). If you have a good pair of headphones or you connect it to a home theatre system you'll notice the difference from a $20 piece of junk.

[cgonzo]

I had a similar problem once. The volume control balance was set all the way to the left speaker.

[goinpostal]

Wouldnt the chespest solution be to go to Radio Shack and get a splitter and run headphones from the same port as the speakers? If the speaker out is amped!

less than $5 us

:confused:

[CeeBee]

Originally posted by goinpostal
Wouldnt the chespest solution be to go to Radio Shack and get a splitter and run headphones from the same port as the speakers? If the speaker out is amped!

less than $5 us

:confused:

Looks you haven't read it all:

my sound card is an ALS4000 ,and it only has line in ,line out ,sub.

[rblockmon]

Originally posted by STIGOFTHEDUMP
AH, right, I just ordered a 5.1 PCI card from computer geeks in the US I am still a bit unclear as to the diferance between PCI@ISA! , apart from the ole they go in! is that true that PCI cards dont have an amp, what all of em? cant be can it?:eek2: :sad:

Or you can use an old tape stereo and relax audio from the sound card, to the stereo and then to the headphones. Old stereo you can get at salvation army or at goodwill for $10-15. Thats what I'm using and it's great!

And yea, newer PCI have no amps, ISA's, most atleast have amps.

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Well thanks for all the advice, this is what I have done for now, till I get a decent soundcard........my speakers did not have a headphone socket but they did have an AMP, obviously, so, as I dont ever use them out came the soldering iron, out came the AMP from the speakers, bit of rumaging in the parts box,now I have a stereo socket conected to the AMP and the headphones plug into that the result is that not only can I use the stereo headphones but my 22" concert speakers can also plug into my PC. Does anyone think this will harm my soundcard?:eek2: :sad:

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Originally posted by CeeBee
Get a SB Audigy(2) Platinum (that is with the Drive)... besides a crystal clear sound you'll get a FireWire connector, digital & optical in/out and a headphones connector right on the front panel of your pc (with it's own volume control knob). If you have a good pair of headphones or you connect it to a home theatre system you'll notice the difference from a $20 piece of junk. Well er yes good advice one small problem, they cost over £100, thats why good sound!!!

[format c:]

I just returned my sb audigy due to nothing but stop errors caused by crappy drivers or a bad card
Creative knows they have the sound card market wrapped up so they do not upgrade their drivers, The XP drivers are not digitally signed and are actaully Win 2 k drivers
Every time I would install the drivers from the Cd I would get errors on a clean install of XP home
The driver update from the web made Xp go into stop error routine
I replaced my ram since it tested bad and still had problems
I was going to get the Aopen 850 sound card or the Herculaes card but none were available
My Vendor swapped cards for me I went back to the SB live 5.1 and the product seems to be better since it has been out longer
I can not reccomend the audigy cards, Try the SB live 5.1 or Hercules
The cheapest way to get your head phones amplified is what you did and grab a cheap pari of speakers with a jack in them
I hope you used a stereo jack for right and left channels for max enjoyment
:flame: ahh it's an audigy RUN !!!

[CeeBee]

Originally posted by format c:
I just returned my sb audigy due to nothing but stop errors caused by crappy drivers or a bad card
Creative knows they have the sound card market wrapped up so they do not upgrade their drivers, The XP drivers are not digitally signed and are actaully Win 2 k drivers
Every time I would install the drivers from the Cd I would get errors on a clean install of XP home
The driver update from the web made Xp go into stop error routine
I replaced my ram since it tested bad and still had problems
[...] The cheapest way to get your head phones amplified is what you did and grab a cheap pari of speakers with a jack in them
Had the Audigy since it came out on the market, no problems so far. No crashes, no installation problems on either 2k or XP.
Maybe you got a lemon. However if you are using the amplifier from a cheap pair of speakers then a good sound card makes no difference for you, stick with a $20 one. Also if you are using cheap RAM and cheap motherboards don't complain about system problems. I'm using brand-name ECC RAM (yes I know it's more expensive) on a AMD reccomended motherboard and haven't had ANY crash in over 1 year...

[STIGOFTHEDUMP]

Originally posted by format c:
I just returned my sb audigy due to nothing but stop errors caused by crappy drivers or a bad card
Creative knows they have the sound card market wrapped up so they do not upgrade their drivers,
My Vendor swapped cards for me I went back to the SB live 5.1 and the product seems to be better since it has been out longer
I can not reccomend the audigy cards, Try the SB live 5.1 or Hercules

Well I did order the SBlive 5.1, but arnt they also made by Creative?:eek2: :sad:

[format c:]

To CEEBEE

I am running with the Asus p4b266 mobo, I did use the evil generic ram , I bought a stick of Micron ram and ran that with the stick of generic
When my problems started my local shop suggested I run memtest 86, I tested all three sticks in my p4b board and no errors but my Asus cuv266 board showed the Micron with 402 errors and the more expensive generic with an address error
The cheapie stick passed with no errors
I had the micron replaced under warranty then the issues with the SB audigy continued, The card went slowly down hill
Don't jump to conlusions as what folks are running for a system board, Just enquire before you judge try convict and sentence some one, You were correct about the ram
Maybe I got a lemon and it left a sour taste in my mouth, I got the 5.1 live and it is diferent than my older 5.1 live , Even the drivers install nicely


:flame:

[Ebu]

Yeah, SBlive is made by creative. But I have had a Soundblaster Live! Value for like 4 years now and have had no problems with it, great great card. It's the ONLY thing i havent replaced in my computer yet!