Dell Studio 1537 sound

Got a new Studio 1537 and read a lot about the sound being improved by removing the IDT drivers.

The sound on mine isn't great but I've never had a laptop before so have nothing to judge it by.

Are the new 1537's still improved by removingthe IDT drivers or have Dell already improved it. I don't want to uninstall drivers if its not going to make any difference.

 

I never actually used the IDT drivers, I did a clean install right away and the sound was still terrible ... I can't imagine it being worse. I found there is another company that makes the speakers for the Studio 15 that are a lot better quality (at least it gives you what you'd expect for tiny laptop speakers). I've got some pics and sound clips from the upgrade I did at:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=345437

 

Try this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=355732

You do not have to uninstall the driver. Just do some adjustments and you get the same effect.

 

The 1535 and 1537 have the exact same speakers. I recommend you uninstall the IDT drivers. They're just bloatware. Trust me, it makes a world of difference. At the very least you'll be able to get them much louder.

 

ps89........ I did what you advised and it didn't seem to make any difference. The only enhancement that was enabled was the bass. When disabled it sounded the same.

I wander whether my sound would be louder by removing the IDT drivers or whether Dell have fixed the problem on recent machines.

I have no crackling or popping that some mention and the max volume seems reasonable (but I haven’t had a laptop before). My IDT driver is dated 17.11.08, so is quite recent and I only took delivery of my laptop on 31.03.09.

Does anyone know whether Dell have fixed the problem on new machines or if I would benefit from uninstalling the IDT driver? I am reluctant to mess with it if theres no benefit as I have read that I could end up with no sound on one of my headphone jacks, web cam and other problems.

 

Sensible, i got my studio 1537 on the 1st of april this year made from dell, and the audio was very tinny and low, even at 100%.

So ye i suggest you do what everybody else is saying to do.

 

its true, idt driver makes my studio1737 sounded like a 1980's car radio.
on vista default , sound quality on 1737 is even better than iphone/ipod.
get rid of that piece of crap.

 

I've never even had the IDT drivers installed and my speakers were terrible ... my cell phone speaker had better sound.

You can check out the thread I mentioned above for some pictures of the original speakers, basically little paper bowls that can hardly be considered speakers, and the replacement speakers I found which are more like standard notebook speakers. They are factory-sealed official Dell studio speakers from a guy in the UK with a date of 9/30/08 on the box. I don't know if they only gave the good speakers overseas or decided to switch to cheaper speakers shortly after the release. I ordered my 1537 in mid-December.

Attached original and better speaker pictures

 

Okay, just got back from my brother-in-laws and listened to his speakers on his DELL inspiron 6400, and 25% of his volume is the same as 100% on my Studio 1537, so I have decided to remove the IDT drivers.

I know what the benefits are, but whats the down side. I have read that I will lose one of the headphone jacks and possibly the webcam voice effects? , anything else?

Finally, can someone talk me through how to remove the IDT drivers. (theres nothing in the uninstall programs, in control panel) I presume I have to go through the device manager.

In device manager under sound, vidio and game controllers there are two items. 1. High definition audio device. 2. IDT High definition audio CODEC. I presume that I need to select the second one and then do something to delete the driver... can you talk me through it.. thanks

 

There really aren't any downsides. You lose the equalizer that the IDT drivers give you, but I never used that anyway. The middle headphone/audio out jack will no longer function after removing this driver, but I never used both at once anyway.

Removal is very simple. Just right click the IDT high def audio codec, uninstall it, and check the box that asks you to delete the driver as well. I also deleted the high def audio device as well, but I'm not sure if you actually have to.

Once that's done, restart your computer and after you get into Vista, it will automatically install its own high definition audio driver.

 

Finally took the plunge and uninstalled my IDT from 'device manager' under 'sound'. Instantly gave me loads more volume and unless I am imagining it, better quality sound.

On the downside, one of the microphone jacks doesn't work, which I knew would happen, but not bothered about that, but also the external microphone jack is also not working, but I can live with that as well.

Just had to turn my music down to 40%, which previously would have been too quite at 100%.

Still got control of my music with an equaliser, bass, wow effects etc through Windows media player, but turned bass and wow effets off because the sound is good enough without it.

 

I purchased a customized Dell Studio 1537 on March 30th and received it on April 10th, 2009. It cost me $904. Today I gave the laptop to a friend of mine because I did not like it. Here is why.

I use my laptop after I go to bed at night. I like to listen to old time radio shows or radio talk shows via the Internet. My previous laptop was a Toshiba and the sound was great. The sound on this Dell was the worst I have ever had. I could not hear it even at full volume and just a few inches from my head in bed.

Secondly the power cord kept getting unplugged. I have never had a problem with any previous laptop with the power cord becoming unplugged. I have had an occasional unplug but this Dell got unplugged about five times the first night I used it. It sticks out the side near the right hinge and was very loose.

I gave the computer to a friend today, April 13th, and ordered myself a new Toshiba for $600, $300 less than the one I gave away. I will probably never buy a Dell again.

The other thing I do not like is the new gadget bar in Vista. That thing is really annoying right there on your desktop. That is not Dell's fault but I do not like it.

 

That is fixable with the driver uninstallation described in this thread.

That's never been a problem with mine. I think my cord may have been accidentally yanked all of 4 times since I bought it in September.

I'm sorry to hear you ended up giving it away from disappointment, but I hope you're happy with your new Toshiba.

The sidebar? You can completely disable that or uninstall it if you don't like it.

 

When I spoke about the gadget bar at the top of the screen you come back with an answer about a sidebar. I did notice that there is a sidebar but what about the gadget bar at the top of the screen?

 

By the way, the Dell Studio 1537 was about my 15th laptop purchase and the only one which truly disappointed me to the point where I decided almost immediately that it was not what I had hoped for.

 

clearly, you purchased them but didnt spend much time playing on any of them. you GAVE THEM AWAY. and you prefer toshiba over dell!

 

That is the Dell Dock. You can prevent that from starting when you boot your computer as well as the Windows sidebar.

 

Exactly. The Dell Dock is just a program. You can disable it or uninstall it and just have regular desktop icons.

 

clearly, you purchased them but didnt spend much time playing on any of them. you GAVE THEM AWAY. and you prefer toshiba over dell!

I am not sure how you came to that conclusion, nomoredell, when I indicated that the only one I was ever disappointed with was the Dell. Here is a partial list of computers I have owned:

Timex-Sinclair
Texas Instruments TI-994A
Atari 800XL
Apple IIGS

I can't remember all the brands and model numbers since those early ones. My first laptop was a Compaq.

 

guys,

before I delete the idt drivers, did any of u tried this on a 64 bit vista? Does the 64 bit vista have a proper driver for dell studio 17?

 

It works just fine for me on Home Premium 64-bit.

 

Well, he came to that conclusion because you clearly like Toshiba better. However, if you've read his other posts, well, that's pretty self explanatory. Honestly though, I think you should have just given the Studio a chance. But it's your choice, and you gave it away instead of trying to fix the issues. I wish I had money to throw around like that. Oh hey, it has bad sound, I'll just give you this and buy another one. Damn I need a work permit.