Improved sound quality. What programs are there to improve sound quality? Expert in improving sound quality

The built-in speakers of laptops tend to have poor sound quality. To improve the sound on your laptop, you can purchase more powerful external speakers.

However, this makes the laptop less mobile. Therefore, the option of purchasing external speakers is not considered. You can also improve the sound of your laptop using special software such as SRS Audio Essentials.

How to improve sound on a laptop

Experiment with the equalizer, either manually or using the presets that are already included in it, until you get the optimal result.

In order to change the volume of a track, you can either increase the volume on your computer or change the volume of the track itself. To do this you need to use a music editor. Normalize the track's audio level to the level you want and save.

The speakers that are installed on most laptops are only suitable for playing Windows system sounds. Buy additional speakers or an audio system if your budget allows.

If you want to achieve the best sound, along with your audio system, look for an audio card, which determines the quality of the sound during playback.

Download and install special effects that can change the sound of music by programmatically processing the outgoing sound.

Each user uses their computer differently, but almost everyone listens to music and watches videos on it. In order to get the most favorable impression from using your computer as a media center, you need to correctly configure the sound settings.

Software

When installing the operating system, the initial sound setup and installation of the necessary drivers occurs. Sometimes it happens that the sound card was released later than your operating system, or the Windows drivers were not installed quite correctly. Open “Control Panel” – “System” – “Device Manager”.

If there is an exclamation mark next to our video card, you should reinstall the drivers. You can take the version most suitable for your OS from the included disk or the manufacturer’s website.

After reinstalling the drivers, in order to play sound correctly, you need to install the package. We can recommend a completely free set of codecs K-Lite.

Setting up effects

After installing the necessary programs, we move on to setting up various effects, with which you can significantly improve sound reproduction. Go to “Control Panel”, “Sound”, select our speakers and configure them.

After completing the settings, move on to the effects. Go back to the sound settings, select the speakers and click “Properties”. Let's go to "Additional effects". If this tab is not there, then your card either does not support fine-tuning or the manufacturer’s driver package has replaced it with its own settings:

If the page is available, you should configure the effects like this:

  • Surround Emulation . If you want to output two-channel audio on multi-channel 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, this option should be enabled.
  • Sound correction . This effect will allow you to achieve optimal sound at a specific point in the room when using a microphone.
  • Virtual surround sound . The effect emulates surround sound. The optimal solution if you have a 2-channel audio card and multi-channel speakers.
  • Creating Phantom Speakers . This effect allows multi-channel audio to be reproduced better on systems with fewer speakers. Used to play 5.1 channel sound on a 2.1 system.
  • Loudness compensation . Improves bass reproduction on laptops with small speakers.

Using player add-ons

According to statistics, real music lovers prefer the foobar2000 audio player, which allows you to output sound to the audio card as accurately as possible. The player is very customizable, and there are many digital sound processors (DSP) for it, implemented in the form

woodhummer 06/23/2014 - 22:16 Audio

Each user uses their computer differently, but almost everyone listens to music and watches videos on it. In order to get the most favorable impression from using your computer as a media center, you need to correctly configure the sound settings.

Software

When installing the operating system, the initial sound setup and installation of the necessary drivers occurs. Sometimes it happens that the sound card was released later than your operating system, or the Windows drivers were not installed quite correctly. Open “Control Panel” – “System” – “Device Manager”.

If there is an exclamation mark next to our video card, you should reinstall the drivers. You can take the version most suitable for your OS from the included disk or the manufacturer’s website.

After reinstalling the drivers, you need to install a codec package to play sound correctly. We can recommend the completely free K-Lite codec set.

Setting up effects

After installing the necessary programs, we move on to setting up various effects, with which you can significantly improve sound reproduction. Go to “Control Panel”, “Sound”, select our speakers and configure them.

After completing the settings, move on to the effects. Go back to the sound settings, select the speakers and click “Properties”. Let's go to "Additional effects". If this tab is not there, then your card either does not support fine-tuning or the manufacturer’s driver package has replaced it with its own settings:

If the page is available, you should configure the effects like this:

  • Surround sound emulation. If you want to output two-channel audio on multi-channel 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, this option should be enabled.
  • Sound correction. This effect will allow you to achieve optimal sound at a specific point in the room when using a microphone.
  • Virtual surround sound. The effect emulates surround sound. The optimal solution if you have a 2-channel audio card and multi-channel speakers.
  • Creating phantom speakers. This effect allows multi-channel audio to be reproduced better on systems with fewer speakers. Used to play 5.1 channel sound on a 2.1 system.
  • Loudness compensation. Improves bass reproduction on laptops with small speakers.

Using player add-ons

According to statistics, real music lovers prefer the foobar2000 audio player, which allows you to output sound to the audio card as accurately as possible. The player is very customizable, and there are many digital sound processors (DSP) for it, implemented as plug-ins. There are quite a lot of them, each of them should be tested to ensure they work correctly with the existing sound card. Using DSP plugins you can significantly improve audio playback.

updated: 06/15/2016

leave a comment

wd-x.ru

Improving sound on your computer

Many users encounter a problem when the sound on their computer or laptop is too quiet or the speakers begin to wheeze. In some cases, such problems can be solved programmatically.

To each his own, of course, but I personally am used to working at a computer with the sound turned off :) However, even among my friends there are many comrades who cannot live without some kind of background in the form of online radio or VKontakte music... In general, as they say, taste and color...

So this is what I'm getting at. Some people, having connected the cheapest speakers or Chinese headphones to their computer, complain that the sound is too quiet or wheezing. It would seem, what can you recommend here, besides buying normal acoustics? But no! It turns out that you can improve the sound without even investing a penny through the correct settings of the sound card driver and smart free programs.

A little about equipment and theory

To understand how you and I will get improved sound, we need to understand a little theory, and also learn something about sound-reproducing equipment. In general, the sound quality on a computer depends on the following components:

  1. Sound card. The better the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) chip on it, the more powerful the preamplifier, the better the sound in theory such an audio card can produce.
  2. Audio card driver. Developers sometimes implement very useful tools into the “native” software for their sound cards, which allow them to programmatically process sound and improve its volume or frequency characteristics.
  3. Third-party software for sound processing. If your audio card driver settings do not have certain functions, you can get them using third-party programs.
  4. Speaker system or headphones. The final, and one of the most important, links in the audio output chain on a PC. The quality of the speakers directly determines whether the full potential of the sound subsystem of your computer can be revealed or whether we will only get wheezing and crackling.

As you can see, sound on a computer is generated using a hardware and software system. Since we agreed that we will not touch the hardware component in any way, we see that we can influence the sound quality by optimizing the audio driver settings and installing certain software.

Now one more nuance. Due to physical limitations, it is impossible to simultaneously enhance the sound without degrading it. This is due to the fact that overloading any amplifier leads to significant distortion. Conversely, by applying various filters and effects we will lose volume. In fact, amplification and improvement of sound, to some extent, are two mutually inverse processes.

Actually, I think the theory is enough. Therefore, let's look at how to strengthen and improve the sound using practical examples.

Standard tools for increasing volume and improving sound

Typically, the volume control in Windows is located in the tray next to the clock and performs two main functions:

  • when you click on the icon with the left mouse button, a single volume control opens;
  • Right-clicking on the icon opens a context menu with a number of additional options.

In the menu, first check the mixer. It is directly responsible for the volume level of the entire system and some individual programs. It may well be that the quiet sound in the player is the result of the multimedia volume being set below the system volume.

If everything is in order with the mixer, then you can look for additional useful settings in the “Playback devices” section. Here, highlight the device you want (usually called "Speaker and Headphones") and click the "Properties" button in the lower right corner. In the window that opens, look for the “Improvements” or “Additional Features” tab. If there is one, then in it you can additionally apply a number of effects to increase the volume level:

To increase the volume, you can enable “Loud Compensation” and/or “Volume Leveling”. These parameters sometimes allow you to get a noticeable increase in volume without sound distortion. For extreme gain, you can turn on the “Equalizer” and bring all the sliders to the maximum.

True, as mentioned above, due to over-amplification, the speakers will begin to distort the sound with wheezing. And under such extreme load for a long time, they can quickly fail (especially if these are laptop speakers). Therefore, use this method wisely and, if possible, not too often!

One way or another, I didn’t have such a tab, so I started digging further. As a result, it turned out that my sound card driver has its own separate interface with pretty good parameters:

If you also have an audio card from Realtek, then you can download such a driver from the official website. It has two panels: the left one is designed for easier control of the amplification of individual frequencies and effects that improve the sound, and the right one provides us with a full-fledged 10-band equalizer.

To maximize the volume on your computer, you can raise all the equalizer slides all the way up, as described above. This way you can get a gain of up to 200% (albeit with distortion).

If, on the contrary, you want to improve the sound, then you should play with the settings on the left side. There are three sets of tools: "Music", "Voice" and "Movie". The most parameters are available for “Music” (three-band equalizer, as well as tools for adjusting the presence effect and sound focusing). In other modes, you can improve the audibility of your voice by using the “Dialog clarity” slider of the same name.

Sound enhancement programs

Unfortunately, not everyone in the system has normal sound improvement tools. If you have no luck with this, then do not despair! Although not much, there are several free programs that allow you to get very impressive results.

Equalizer APO with Peace GUI

The best, in my opinion, of the free programs for improving sound in Windows is the open source development of Equalizer APO. This is a professional equalizer that has in its arsenal:

  • from 10 adjustment bands with the ability to add arbitrary frequencies, gain levels and sound quality for each of them;
  • a set of ready-made presets with the ability to edit, add your own preset options and switch them using hot keys;
  • built-in amplifier with a limiter that allows you to cut off peaks when the signal is over-amplified;
  • built-in graphic equalizer with frequency coverage from 10 to 20,000 Hz;
  • built-in sound processing effects with the ability to connect external libraries.

A special feature of this equalizer is the initial lack of a graphical interface. All default settings are stored in the config file. However, for better usability, I recommend downloading and installing one of two popular graphical shells: Peace (preferably for 64-bit systems) or EQ APO - GUI. This way you can make all the settings visually.

Graphical interfaces, alas, do not have Russian language. But, if you chose Peace and know English, then you can do the Russian translation yourself, since this GUI has a built-in tool for creating translations (I didn’t find a ready-made Russification, but out of freedom I’ll do it myself and post the link here).

ViPER4Windows

If Equalizer APO seems too serious and complex a tool for you, you can try the simpler, but no less useful equalizer ViPER4Windows:

When trying to run on 64-bit systems, you may encounter errors. Therefore, you will have to use the compatibility troubleshooter by switching the system to 32-bit mode. I also recommend running the program as Administrator, since in User mode you will not have rights to save settings.

The ViPER4Windows interface has a slightly non-standard appearance for programs of this type. The equalizer itself, which has 18 bands, is hidden and called up by a separate button (like the compressor). The main screen contains settings that allow you to improve sound quality and enhance its specific characteristics (bass, clarity, tube amplifier emulation, reverb, ambience emulation, etc.).

On the left side there is a button for turning on sound processing, a switch for program operation modes (music mode, video mode or freestyle), as well as buttons for saving and loading presets. The largest number of settings will be available to us in the "Freestyle" mode.

Unfortunately, ViPER4Windows doesn’t have a Russian language either, but due to the simply laid out interface, I think everyone can figure out how to use this program to improve sound.

Improving sound in players

Most often, we are driven to manipulate sound by the desire to improve it in various media products: music, video or games. With games, alas, it is the most difficult, since they usually do not have options for improving the sound. Here, only the complex settings and programs described above can solve the problem. However, most media players allow you to manipulate various sound parameters using standard tools or special plugins.

I propose to consider the possibilities of improving sound in several popular media players.

AIMP

Over the course of its existence, this music player has become one of the leaders in its category, surpassing even paid solutions! It is not surprising that it already has a number of built-in tools for fine-tuning the sound. You can call them by pressing the button with a stylized image of an equalizer to the right of the volume control slider:

The AIMP effects manager contains 4 tabs, which contain:

  1. Sound effects. It contains effects for reverb, playback speed control, as well as bass boost and vocal suppression. In addition, it is possible to install and select additional DSP plugins that implement missing sound enhancement functions.
  2. Equalizer. 18-band equalizer with the ability to install presets and automatically select frequency characteristics for each song played.
  3. Volume normalization. Here we have two groups of settings: amplitude normalization and reduction of interference from over-amplification, which allow us to reduce the level of speaker distortion under severe overload.
  4. Mixing options. A number of functions that allow you to customize transitions between tracks.

As you can see, the set of tools for improving sound is more than sufficient. For those for whom this is not enough, I recommend downloading additional plugins from the official website or forum.

VLC

The multifunctional media player from VideoLAN has gained fame as a real “combine”. It has everything you need to play movies and music of any format. And, of course, there are a number of settings that allow you to improve the quality of video and sound. As in AIMP, here these settings are called up by clicking the button with the image of an equalizer on the toolbar:

All “Audio Effects” (first tab) are grouped into three sections:

  1. Equalizer. The number of controllable frequencies (10 in total) here is, of course, less than some analogues, but it is possible to activate sound processing in two passes for more precise adjustment, a preamplifier (up to 19.9 dB) and a number of changeable presets.
  2. Compression. The compressor in VLC is as simple and functional as possible. You can set the peak cut level, decay and attack times, and a number of other parameters.
  3. Surround sound. The settings in this group allow you to improve the perceptibility of sounds by emulating the environment with the ability to adjust a number of their characteristics. To the ear, this is perceived as a slight increase in the volume and clarity of the sound.

In addition to the effects regulator, some parameters are also available in the main program settings (menu "Tools" - "Settings" - tab "Audio"). Here you can activate default volume boost (up to 125%), audio normalization and Dolby Surround effects.

Daum PotPlayer

Another popular media player with built-in codecs for playing any media formats (especially HEVC) is Daum PotPlayer, which at one time separated from another popular player KMPlayer. This player can satisfy the requirements of even the most demanding users, however, its standard interface is not entirely convenient and you will have to look for various settings in numerous nested menus:

The only easily accessible tool for controlling sound is the Equalizer, which is called up by clicking the gear button in the lower right part of the working window. Here you can control a total of 10 frequency ranges with the ability to quickly switch between presets.

If you want more, then you should go to the context menu in the “Audio” – “Audio Processing Filters” group. Here you can find useful effects such as sound normalization, sound cleaning, noise reduction and voice enhancement functions.

conclusions

As you can see, in some cases, quiet or rattling sound on a computer can be corrected without purchasing an expensive video card or speaker system. If you competently approach the settings of the audio driver and various players, then with a high degree of probability you will be able to significantly improve the sound.

In addition, we can recommend installing additional programs for audio processing that can improve the overall sound quality on the computer, even in those programs that do not have their own sound settings (for example, in games).

You can experiment a lot with sound, however, remember that it is better not to overload the audio subsystem. Short-term overloads, in principle, are not scary for it, but long-term over-amplification of sound can quickly render the speakers unusable. Therefore, experiment wisely and you will succeed!

P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

www.bestfree.ru

How to improve sound quality on your computer using ViPER4Windows

If you have a weak sound card or headphones of poor quality, you can use special software to improve the sound quality on your computer or laptop without spending any money.

In this article we will talk about how to improve the sound on a Windows computer using the ViPER4Windows program. Thanks to this program, you can improve the depth and clarity of the sound, as well as increase the bass. All this can be done without interference or sound distortion.

What is ViPER4Windows?

Programs for improving sound quality, as a rule, have a very bad reputation - the fact is that miracles do not happen, and with the help of software we suddenly will not hear on the built-in sound card or headphones from the phone the sound quality that will delight a music lover. However, this does not mean that for a small but quite significant improvement we should immediately take the wallet - this can be done using the program.

One of the best programs for improving sound quality, especially for Android, is ViPER. However, not everyone knows that ViPER is also available for Windows computers and laptops.

ViPER software is used to improve the sound quality on various devices and systems. By far the most popular option is ViPER4Android, that is, ViPER for Android. This software is free to download and is very popular, mainly because it actually produces positive results - it can boost bass, clean up audio, edit with equalizer, enable audio equalization, etc. The Windows version is less known, but works equally well.

Unlike software offered by the manufacturer for headphones or sound cards, ViPER4Windows introduces effects that are not artificially applied to the sound. For proper operation, you need to install the program along with the drivers.

How to improve sound using ViPER4Windows?

Now let's move directly to the instructions themselves - how to improve the sound on a laptop or computer using the program. Fortunately, this is not difficult to do. First of all, download the software and install it on your computer.

Download ViPER4Windows

After the installation is complete, you will need to select the device that needs to improve its sound quality with ViPER4Windows. Select the default audio device you use from the list. In my case, this is Headset Creative - however, if you are just using the built-in sound card, then most likely you will have the “Speakers” option from Realtek HD Audio.

If you don't know what your default audio playback device is, right-click on the speaker icon on the Windows taskbar and select "Playback Devices." In the list of devices, check which is the default - here you will find the device type (for example, Speakers) and name (for example, Realtek HD Audio). When you already know which device is used for playback, select it in the program window. You will then be prompted to restart your computer.

After restarting the system, go to the Start menu and select the ViPER4Windows program. A program window will appear with all available options. First of all, you need to activate the operation using the Power control on the left side. Once activated, you can use other features.

There are three options that can be activated - Music Mode, Movie Mode and Freestyle. In each mode you will find different settings for the available functions.

Available options include:

  • ViPER XBass – natural bass enhancement;
  • ViPER XClarity – natural sound purification;
  • ViPER Cure Tech+ - protection for prolonged listening to music;
  • Surround – several surround sound modes;
  • Equalizer – equalizer with several ready-made schemes; Sound compressor;
  • Smart volume – automatic volume leveling (useful for videos).

All these options can be configured at your discretion. The highest quality playback can be achieved by enhancing the bass and clearing the sound. At any time, you can turn on/off the program using the “Power” switch, so you can check what the difference is before and after installing improvements.

Of course, all three modes (music, video and general) allow you to set separate settings for each form of listening. Moreover, all your settings can be saved as a file (Save preset) and then loaded (Load preset).

InstComputer.ru

What programs are there to improve sound quality?

Not all computer users are satisfied with the sound. This is especially pronounced in people with good hearing. If there is this problem, then programs to improve sound quality will come to the rescue. Each of them has its own advantages. But everyone has the same drawback: a person gets used to good sound and no longer wants to do without these programs. This software is capable of working with any sound that is played on a PC, no matter whether a game or program is running.

A program that changes the quality of sound files

This tool is called Stereo Tool. The program improves the sound by increasing and adjusting the audio frequency signal in total or separately. Here it is possible to fine-tune the sound according to a large number of parameters. The design of the application is very simple, but at the same time functional.

If the source file has weak sound with extraneous noise, then when using this program to improve the sound quality, you can adjust and enhance the sounds in the file. Thus, you can listen to radio stations with fairly good sound on a low Internet connection speed. This is achieved through more than thirty settings. Files that are recorded in mono format can be played back as stereo without losing sound quality. Stereo Tool is a good program for improving the sound quality on a computer for both beginners and experienced users.

Expert in improving sound quality

This can be called the multifunctional program Hear-1, which was created to improve the sound in played multimedia files. Films with its help will be perceived completely differently. After all, it is sound that largely influences the effects when watching a movie. For those who love to play games, this program is simply irreplaceable, and gamers who try it no longer want to give it up. There are a lot of settings here, and it’s hard to understand in the first moments. The developers took care of this and added a library with ready-made settings grouped into categories. There is a special setting here that improves the quality of damaged, old or low-quality recordings. It eliminates all defects automatically. The program's equalizer has two modes: sliders and curved line.

A program to improve sound quality on a laptop with a virtual sound card

This tool is very interesting. The program is called Breakaway Audio Enhancer. It can improve the sound on any sound card, since its main feature is the creation of a professional card that is virtual. Since many laptops do not have the best sound, this is perfect for them. When using it, the sound improves noticeably, and you can customize it according to many criteria. One useful feature is that all sounds in different applications are played at the same volume level. This is convenient, since there is no need to adjust the volume in each individual program. This program has a lot of settings and functions to improve sound quality, but it’s hard to get lost among them. There are also automatic settings and optimization, which is carried out by a built-in wizard.

The program runs in the background and is displayed in the operating system panel and displays indicators such as the volume level and a spectrogram of the audio currently playing. The main features are:

  • Installing a professional virtual sound card.
  • A very convenient indicator in the operating system panel.
  • Adjust the balance automatically when playing any audio stream.

Plugin for Winamp that improves sound quality

This plugin is DFX. It was recognized as the most optimal for improving the sound in this player. The principles of improvement are based on fine-tuning the frequency characteristics of the sound. When the automatically configured plugin is launched, the difference in sound is felt immediately. The following defects are eliminated:

  • Stereo depth is insufficient.
  • Stereo separation is not enough.
  • High frequencies cut off.

The plugin adds various special effects to the sound quality, thereby creating surround sound and including a super bass mode. The interface here is very friendly and easy to customize. Features are:

  • Saving user interface settings.
  • Good thread handling.
  • Saving presets and automatically selecting them.

Program for sound in headphones

Are there programs to improve the sound quality of Bluetooth headsets and headphones? Yes, there are such people. Such programs are most suitable for gamers. One of the best is called Razer Surround. It is highly specialized and intended only for headphones and headsets. With its help, 7.1-channel sound is virtually created. It should be noted that the creators took into account that current technologies associated with virtual surround sound are not very accurate, because each person is unique in terms of response to the generated sound signal. That is why the user is given the opportunity to independently configure and calibrate using very simple and convenient algorithms for operating a surround audio signal according to personal preferences. It is this calibration that helps achieve high-fidelity sound in the gaming world. We can say that the player is completely transported into virtual reality.

Conclusion

These are programs for improving the quality and sound of video recordings, audio recordings, and games. A certain program is suitable for certain purposes. In any case, every user who cares about what he hears will choose exactly the instrument he needs. Many settings of these programs will help you achieve the most optimal sound.

fb.ru

Improving sound on a laptop

If the sound produced by the laptop's built-in speakers is not satisfactory, then the most logical way to improve its quality would be to purchase external speakers. However, you can do without purchasing additional equipment if you use sound improvement programs correctly.

    If your quiet sound is caused by software or system problems (it suddenly became quieter), then we recommend reading this article first.

Built-in Windows Tools

Every laptop owner has found themselves in a situation where neither the volume nor the sound quality was enough to comfortably listen to music or watch a movie. This deficiency can be corrected using the built-in tools of the system.

If, after adjusting the speakers, they wheeze during playback, then open the equalizer again and lower the first 2-3 sliders a little. Unfortunately, not all sound cards have such settings. If you don’t see the “Enhancements” tab in the speaker properties, or if there is a tab, but you can’t activate the equalizer, then you won’t be able to improve the sound on your laptop using the built-in tools.

In addition, turning the equalizer to maximum can lead to a decrease in sound quality and rapid failure of the laptop speakers. Therefore, it is not recommended to use this method constantly. It is better to purchase a normal speaker system and connect it to the laptop rather than replacing the laptop’s built-in speakers.

Special software

If the built-in audio tools don't help, try using SRS Audio Essentials. It allows you to improve the sound on your laptop without buying speakers.

  1. Install the program and restart your computer.
  2. Launch SRS Audio Essentials and minimize the window.
  3. Open Control Panel. Select the Small Icons view mode and go to the Sound section.
  4. Make sure the default playback device is set to SRS Audio Essentials speakers.

If another device for sound playback is checked, then right-click on the program’s speakers and click “Set as default.”

After selecting the correct device, close the control panel and return to the program window. Play any audio file to check the sound quality. The program offers four playback modes: music, games, movies, voice. As you select each mode, SRS Audio Essentials automatically selects the optimal sound settings.

The button next to it allows you to switch between devices - external speakers, built-in laptop speakers and headphones. To get optimal sound quality, choose the right built-in speakers and the type of content you're playing.

If the sound is still not satisfactory, click the “Advanced” button. An additional menu with six sliders will appear. Adjust them manually to achieve maximum quality. Usually, for a noticeable improvement, simply choosing the type of device and audio content is enough. The only disadvantage of SRS Audio Essentials is that it is a paid program; you cannot change anything in the demo access.

You can also improve the sound using equalizers built into various media players. If you listen to music through Winamp, AIMP or another player, you can select music styles to which the sound will be adjusted, or control the equalizer manually.

The keyboard on the laptop has been flooded, what should I do? Why do I need an SSD drive in my computer?

First of all, let's face it. Not all equipment can guarantee high volume levels. This applies, for example, to laptops without speaker connections. To keep a laptop from weighing as much as a desktop computer, laptop manufacturers are forced to install fairly small components. This results in no laptop being able to produce really loud sounds. Fortunately, it is possible to configure the device to provide very high levels of volume and quality - you need the right program to enhance the sound on your laptop and computer.

TOP programs for amplifying sound on a computer or laptop.

FxSound Enhancer (formerly DFX Audio Enhancer) is a free and necessary tool for every user to play movies and music on a computer. A program to enhance the sound on your computer, extracted from various multimedia programs, as well as from sources found on the most popular websites (YouTube, Vimeo, last.fm, Amazon.com, Facebook).

The operation of the program is very simple. If you want to play movies or music in the highest HD quality, simply launch the program and press the "Power" button, which activates and improves the quality of audio extracted from applications or web portals. Using this software, you can increase the sound level, enhance the bass and eliminate the so-called “quiet” sounds, which to some extent degrade the quality of the reproduced sound. The program has various processing modes, optimizes and improves the quality of sound created during music, film or conversation using a microphone. FxSound Enhancer is adapted to work with various types of speakers and headphones, and also allows you to configure your own sound parameters in the program settings.

On the main screen of the application, you can select one of the available processing modes, adjust the sound quality on the device (speakers, headphones) and set the level of various instruments, optimize and improve the sound quality. These include, among other things, 3D Surround technology, dynamic sound enhancement or extra bass. FxSound Enhancer is compatible with the most popular multimedia players: iTunes, Spotify, Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, Pandora Desktop, Winamp, VLC, RealPlayer, foobar2000, JetAudio.

Volume2 is an ideal replacement for system volume control, which allows you to adjust the sound on your laptop and volume using your mouse, keyboard and a special panel located on the edge of the screen. The program is equipped with a rich set of functions and configuration options that are not available in the system menu. This allows you, in particular, to determine the speed and sensitivity of the control, assign mouse buttons and keys responsible for changing the volume, and also set a schedule for tasks according to which the volume will automatically change at a set time.

However, the benefits of Volume2 don't end there. A big advantage of the application is the display of an additional level indicator on the screen. Its appearance, position on the screen, etc. can be configured in the program window. A set of a dozen or so really interesting skins are at the user's disposal. Among them, everyone will find the right view of their own preferences. Volume2 works with the system tray without disturbing the user in daily work. His work should not cause any problems under any circumstances.

AudioRetoucher is a simple utility for retouching and processing audio files. It is mainly intended for novice computer users and people who value time, stability and ease of maintenance. It replaces complex settings in applications, providing quick correction of incorrectly downloaded music files and other audio streams. The program allows you to calibrate several important sound parameters, such as tone intensity, speed, tempo or bass level. It is also possible to enhance high frequencies. The application supports the most popular music formats (MP3, WMA, WAV) and provides a fairly efficient processing engine, adapted to new generations of processors (multi-core support).

The application is extremely easy to use. The intuitive interface consists of five sliders (Speed, Temp, Pitch, Treble, Bass), volume control, scroll bar, visualization and buttons that allow you to:

  • upload an audio file;
  • save sound with changed parameters (the function is not available in the test version);
  • measure beats per minute (BPM);
  • control music playback (play, pause, stop).

The program is distributed under a shareware license. The test version does not allow you to save the received data to a file and displays a message during startup reminding you to purchase the full version (wait 10 seconds). The application has an English version of the interface. AudioRetoucher works without problems in the latest Microsoft Windows operating systems: 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7, 10.

SRS Audio Essentials adds bass, depth and dimension to every movie and song. The app has two key technologies built into it - TruBass bass boost on a Windows 10 laptop and WOW surround sound.

SRS Audio Essentials will only be useful to those who don't use Windows Media Player (because Microsoft already has technologies that use SRS). Therefore, if you are using another media player for movies and music, you should definitely install SRS Audio Essentials. The program will add both technologies built into WMP to any other player we use, such as VLC. The SRS Audio Essentials interface is intuitive and resembles a digital stereo receiver. There are special settings for music, games and movies to choose from.

It's worth installing SRS Audio Essentials because most laptop speakers aren't the highest quality. And SRS Audio Essentials will help you get the most out of them. Unless you are using Windows Media Player.

DFX Audio Enhancer is a free (for non-commercial use) and easy-to-use audio enhancement program for PC. The application has the ability to improve the quality of the reproduced sound while watching movies, listening to music and voice calls via instant messengers. DFX Audio Enhancer increases volume and enhances bass. The program allows you to manually configure sound parameters using sliders (up to 5 settings) in the application window. DFX Audio Enhancer is installed on the system as an additional audio driver. This tool is added to the taskbar notification area. Users looking for a free way to enhance their audio quality will appreciate the free DFX Audio Enhancer app.

Sound Normalizer is a small tool for normalizing and improving sound quality. The program supports many types of audio files such as MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG and APE. Sound Normalizer allows you to set the volume normalization level for both left and right audio channels. The program supports batch processing of files and allows you to edit ID3 tags (ID3 v1 and v2 support). In addition, there is a built-in audio player that allows you to browse the available songs.

The main benefit of Sound Normalizer software is the significant improvement in sound quality and reduction in file size without losing tag information. Users who are looking for an easy-to-use program to improve the quality of the content in their music library will certainly be satisfied with using the Sound Normalizer application. Sound Normalizer also offers a tool to convert files to WAV, FLAC and MP3 formats. However, the program does not provide the ability to drag and drop files into a so-called dialog box. Despite this, the interface is so intuitive that less experienced users will have no problems using it.

Many users encounter a problem when the sound on their computer or laptop is too quiet or the speakers begin to wheeze. In some cases, such problems can be solved programmatically.

To each his own, of course, but I personally am used to working at a computer with the sound turned off :) However, even among my friends there are many comrades who cannot live without some kind of background in the form of online radio or VKontakte music... In general, as they say, taste and color...

So this is what I'm getting at. Some people, having connected the cheapest speakers or Chinese headphones to their computer, complain that the sound is too quiet or wheezing. It would seem, what can you recommend here, besides buying normal acoustics? But no! It turns out that you can improve the sound without even investing a penny through the correct settings of the sound card driver and smart free programs.

A little about equipment and theory

To understand how you and I will get improved sound, we need to understand a little theory, and also learn something about sound-reproducing equipment. In general, the sound quality on a computer depends on the following components:

  1. Sound card. The better the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) chip on it, the more powerful the preamplifier, the better the sound in theory such an audio card can produce.
  2. Audio card driver. Developers sometimes implement very useful tools into the “native” software for their sound cards, which allow them to programmatically process sound and improve its volume or frequency characteristics.
  3. Third party software for sound processing. If your audio card driver settings do not have certain functions, you can get them using third-party programs.
  4. Speaker system or headphones. The final, and one of the most important, links in the audio output chain on a PC. The quality of the speakers directly determines whether the full potential of the sound subsystem of your computer can be revealed or whether we will only get wheezing and crackling.

As you can see, sound on a computer is generated using a hardware and software system. Since we agreed that we will not touch the hardware component in any way, we see that we can influence the sound quality by optimizing the audio driver settings and installing certain software.

Now one more nuance. Due to physical limitations, it is impossible to simultaneously enhance the sound without degrading it. This is due to the fact that overloading any amplifier leads to significant distortion. Conversely, by applying various filters and effects we will lose volume. In fact, amplification and improvement of sound, to some extent, are two mutually inverse processes.

Actually, I think the theory is enough. Therefore, let's look at how to strengthen and improve the sound using practical examples.

Standard tools for increasing volume and improving sound

Typically, the volume control in Windows is located in the tray next to the clock and performs two main functions:

  • when you click on the icon with the left mouse button, a single volume control opens;
  • Right-clicking on the icon opens a context menu with a number of additional options.

In the menu, first check the mixer. It is directly responsible for the volume level of the entire system and some individual programs. It may well be that the quiet sound in the player is the result of the multimedia volume being set below the system volume.

If everything is in order with the mixer, then you can look for additional useful settings in the “Playback devices” section. Here, highlight the device you want (usually called "Speaker and Headphones") and click the "Properties" button in the lower right corner. In the window that opens, look for the “Improvements” or “Additional Features” tab. If there is one, then in it you can additionally apply a number of effects to increase the volume level:

To increase the volume, you can enable “Loud Compensation” and/or “Volume Leveling”. These parameters sometimes allow you to get a noticeable increase in volume without sound distortion. For extreme gain, you can turn on the “Equalizer” and bring all the sliders to the maximum.

True, as mentioned above, due to over-amplification, the speakers will begin to distort the sound with wheezing. And under such extreme load for a long time, they can quickly fail (especially if these are laptop speakers). Therefore, use this method wisely and, if possible, not too often!

One way or another, I didn’t have such a tab, so I started digging further. As a result, it turned out that my sound card driver has its own separate interface with pretty good parameters:

If you also have an audio card from Realtek, then you can download such a driver from the official website. It has two panels: the left one is designed for easier control of the amplification of individual frequencies and effects that improve the sound, and the right one provides us with a full-fledged 10-band equalizer.

To maximize the volume on your computer, you can raise all the equalizer slides all the way up, as described above. This way you can get a gain of up to 200% (albeit with distortion).

If, on the contrary, you want to improve the sound, then you should play with the settings on the left side. There are three sets of tools: "Music", "Voice" and "Movie". The most parameters are available for “Music” (three-band equalizer, as well as tools for adjusting the presence effect and sound focusing). In other modes, you can improve the audibility of your voice by using the “Dialog clarity” slider of the same name.

Sound enhancement programs

Unfortunately, not everyone in the system has normal sound improvement tools. If you have no luck with this, then do not despair! Although not much, there are several free programs that allow you to get very impressive results.

With

The best, in my opinion, of the free programs for improving sound in Windows is the open source development of Equalizer APO. This is a professional equalizer that has in its arsenal:

  • from 10 adjustment bands with the ability to add arbitrary frequencies, gain levels and sound quality for each of them;
  • a set of ready-made presets with the ability to edit, add your own preset options and switch them using hot keys;
  • built-in amplifier with a limiter that allows you to cut off peaks when the signal is over-amplified;
  • built-in graphic equalizer with frequency coverage from 10 to 20,000 Hz;
  • built-in sound processing effects with the ability to connect external libraries.

A special feature of this equalizer is the initial lack of a graphical interface. All default settings are stored in the config file. However, for better usability, I recommend downloading and installing one of two popular graphical shells: Peace (preferably for 64-bit systems) or . This way you can make all the settings visually.

Graphical interfaces, alas, do not have Russian language. But, if you chose Peace and know English, then you can do the Russian translation yourself, since this GUI has a built-in tool for creating translations (I didn’t find a ready-made Russification, but out of freedom I’ll do it myself and post the link here).

If Equalizer APO seems too serious and complex a tool for you, you can try the simpler, but no less useful equalizer ViPER4Windows:

When trying to run on 64-bit systems, you may encounter errors. Therefore, you will have to use the compatibility troubleshooter by switching the system to 32-bit mode. I also recommend running the program as Administrator, since in User mode you will not have rights to save settings.

The ViPER4Windows interface has a slightly non-standard appearance for programs of this type. The equalizer itself, which has 18 bands, is hidden and called up by a separate button (like the compressor). The main screen contains settings that allow you to improve sound quality and enhance its specific characteristics (bass, clarity, tube amplifier emulation, reverb, ambience emulation, etc.).

On the left side there is a button for turning on sound processing, a switch for program operation modes (music mode, video mode or freestyle), as well as buttons for saving and loading presets. The largest number of settings will be available to us in the "Freestyle" mode.

Unfortunately, ViPER4Windows doesn’t have a Russian language either, but due to the simply laid out interface, I think everyone can figure out how to use this program to improve sound.

Improving sound in players

Most often, we are driven to manipulate sound by the desire to improve it in various media products: music, video or games. With games, alas, it is the most difficult, since they usually do not have options for improving the sound. Here, only the complex settings and programs described above can solve the problem. However, most media players allow you to manipulate various sound parameters using standard tools or special plugins.

I propose to consider the possibilities of improving sound in several popular media players.

Over the course of its existence, this music player has become one of the leaders in its category, surpassing even paid solutions! It is not surprising that it already has a number of built-in tools for fine-tuning the sound. You can call them by pressing the button with a stylized image of an equalizer to the right of the volume control slider:

The AIMP effects manager contains 4 tabs, which contain:

  1. Sound effects. It contains effects for reverb, playback speed control, as well as bass boost and vocal suppression. In addition, it is possible to install and select additional DSP plugins that implement missing sound enhancement functions.
  2. Equalizer. 18-band equalizer with the ability to install presets and automatically select frequency characteristics for each song played.
  3. Volume normalization. Here we have two groups of settings: amplitude normalization and reduction of interference from over-amplification, which allow us to reduce the level of speaker distortion under severe overload.
  4. Mixing options. A number of functions that allow you to customize transitions between tracks.

As you can see, the set of tools for improving sound is more than sufficient. For those for whom this is not enough, I recommend downloading additional plugins from the official website or forum.

The multifunctional media player from VideoLAN has gained fame as a real “combine”. It has everything you need to play movies and music of any format. And, of course, there are a number of settings that allow you to improve the quality of video and sound. As in AIMP, here these settings are called up by clicking the button with the image of an equalizer on the toolbar:

All “Audio Effects” (first tab) are grouped into three sections:

  1. Equalizer. The number of controllable frequencies (10 in total) here is, of course, less than some analogues, but it is possible to activate sound processing in two passes for more precise adjustment, a preamplifier (up to 19.9 dB) and a number of changeable presets.
  2. Compression. The compressor in VLC is as simple and functional as possible. You can set the peak cut level, decay and attack times, and a number of other parameters.
  3. Surround sound. The settings in this group allow you to improve the perceptibility of sounds by emulating the environment with the ability to adjust a number of their characteristics. To the ear, this is perceived as a slight increase in the volume and clarity of the sound.

In addition to the effects regulator, some parameters are also available in the main program settings (menu "Tools" - "Settings" - tab "Audio"). Here you can activate default volume boost (up to 125%), audio normalization and Dolby Surround effects.

Another popular media player with built-in codecs for playing any media formats (especially HEVC) is Daum PotPlayer, which at one time separated from another popular player KMPlayer. This player can satisfy the requirements of even the most demanding users, however, its standard interface is not entirely convenient and you will have to look for various settings in numerous nested menus:

The only easily accessible tool for controlling sound is the Equalizer, which is called up by clicking the gear button in the lower right part of the working window. Here you can control a total of 10 frequency ranges with the ability to quickly switch between presets.

If you want more, then you should go to the context menu in the “Audio” - “Audio Processing Filters” group. Here you can find useful effects such as sound normalization, sound cleaning, noise reduction and voice enhancement functions.

conclusions

As you can see, in some cases, quiet or rattling sound on a computer can be corrected without purchasing an expensive video card or speaker system. If you competently approach the settings of the audio driver and various players, then with a high degree of probability you will be able to significantly improve the sound.

In addition, we can recommend installing additional programs for audio processing that can improve the overall sound quality on the computer, even in those programs that do not have their own sound settings (for example, in games).

You can experiment a lot with sound, however, remember that it is better not to overload the audio subsystem. Short-term overloads, in principle, are not scary for it, but long-term over-amplification of sound can quickly render the speakers unusable. Therefore, experiment wisely and you will succeed!

P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

Publications on the topic