FxSound

[Zerush]

App to fix the bad sound quality of your crappy laptop speakers, well, mostly caused less by the speakers itself, but by a deficient setting possibility of the soundcard

FxSound (formerly known as DFX) is a high-fidelity digital audio processing program. It brings you booming bass, crystal clear audio and high fidelity by optimizing your music in real time. That means you get a studio quality listening experience without the need for overly expensive headphones or speakers. FxSound simply runs in the background. Just turn on your music and enjoy an improved listening experience. Its features include:

• EQ: Balanced your sound with 9-band graphical EQ with customizable center frequencies.
• Visualizer: Built-in audio visualizer to feel your music.
• Effects: Boosted bass and volume to improve your music and movie viewing experience.
• You can also enhance clarity of audio or add ambiance and surround effects.
• Presets: Presets professionally designed for music, gaming, movies, transcription, and more. Additional presets can be found here. You can also make your own presets and share them.

https://www.fxsound.com (FOSS AGPL v3.0, Windows)

 

 

Similar for Linux EasyEffects

 

Edited May 24 by Zerush

[SeriousToni]

Erm.. Okay.. Can you elaborate further ? 

[Zerush]

Elaborate what? There isn't more than install it and adjust the sound to your like, that is, intuitive and easy. The sound improve is inmediate. Both permits settings and effects which those from your OS don't have, apart of the few standard settings of your sound card. This maunly in laptops with little speakers or poor sound card isn't enough to filter and boost the sound, eg, improving voices, background, dynamics...... Both are OpenSource and free.

I simply like to share it when find and use a good soft (always OpenSource)

[SeriousToni]

Okay thank you, it was lacking some personal experience so it seemed like an ad drop. Thanks for taking the time to clarify !! 

[Zerush]

I hate ads or spam and for sure I don't post something fishy or dangerous, but things that I tested or even use by myself. 

[revelator]

i use it as an alternative to the disasterous nahimicsvc which comes with many of todays built in soundcards.

its quite a lot more stable and has better compatibility with games in general.

[revelator]

Biggest problem is drivers like the ones on my board which have nahimic integrated. I had to remove the managed sonic studio packages by hand because they kept reinstalling themself.

After that i installed fxsound and created profiles for my games which is pretty easy.

Nahimic does not play well with some games and even outright crashes some titles if you enable it. Newer had this problem with fxsound despite it using a similar client server model.

Hell it even works with hdmi sound nahimic does not.

[Zerush]

My ACER Laptop use Realtek by default, there isn't more than the very basic settings. Soundquality halfway ok with headphones but crappy in the inbuild speakers, nothing to do with FxSound which improved the quality in both an 100%, IMHO mandatory app for all which want a decent soundquality at least in Laptops.

[revelator]

Cant say i have experienced many laptop speakers that actually sounded good so yah in those cases it can help quite a bit. Mostly a problem caused by the slim design of most laptops which does not allow for units to have the nessesary umph for good bass. Though equalizers can help in some cases you also run the risk of distortion caused by the need to push more air than what these units are actually capable of. In most cases it does work as long as you dont crank volumen to 11 though .

[Zerush]

It's clear that the app can't turn a Laptop with small speakers in a HiFi device, only that it sounds with way less distortions and parasite noises, enough to improve a lot the quality and experience in games and streamings, more in headphones, these anyway advisable for music files for the best experience.

[revelator]

in many cases it is actually better to buy some quality usb powered external speakers like creatives pebble as they deliver far better sound than the ones onboard on pretty much any laptop.

they have one drawback though and that is the lack of any subwoofer connections, and since they are so small you might miss the deep end of the spectrum (can use fxsound to boost bass but take heed of distortion as that indicates that you are driving them to hard).

if you want something that really shines then the AudioEngine A2+ is one of the best.

sadly it is also pretty expensive...

these speakers can use bluetooth for a wireless connection which might appeal to some.

if you dont have the dough then fxsound can smoothen out the rough edges most built ins have.

can also still use it with the better externals for environment effects or to alleviate age induced hearing deficiencies or boost bass.

[Zerush]

Yes, there are several solutions, but on a cheap Laptop to save portability, FxSound is a good and FRE solution. I miss my old ACER laptop 10 years ago, which had a pretty good sound, this one included a subwoofer and a pretty decent mixer app. But it also cost me a kidney and a half.

[revelator]

Yeah kinda funny that a decent laptop speaker can up prices to outrageus levels .

Some made do with a set of good headphones but for me this does not work to well. My ears get so hot im literally cooking my brain after a few minutes .

Plug type earphones can work but seldomly sound as good as real headphones.

Now in the past since i sold my laptop years ago since i newer used used it unless i was travelling which does not happen often anymore.

Only go abroad when visiting my dad in thailand.