HP ENVY x360 15 - B&O Horrible sound quality - no bass

[simacekjakub]

Hello,

there is problem with sound quality in my laptop. Sound from 3,5mm jack is tinny, without bass, equalizer doesn't help.

I found temporary solution: Restart to "HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI" and test sound hardware. After this is everything OK and sound is finnaly full of bass and as should be. But this is just for this moment.

After next restart is everything back and sound is bad again 😞

I see this is very often problem, let's resolve it!

Bios is up to date.

Drivers are up to date.

System is up to date.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@simacekjakub

Welcome to HP Forums, 

This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips, 

Thank you for posting your query, I'll be more than glad to help you out,

As I understand the Bang and Olufsen sound quality isn't as you expect,

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, however, to provide an accurate resolution, I need a few more details: 

Did you check with a headphone or an external set of speakers to check if that works?

Did you update to the latest drivers from the HP website?

(Click here to find and install, if you haven't)

If you have and it doesn't work, please Install the 2.81 64-bit Windows 10 driver, and you will have the equalizer back. Do NOT uninstall the present driver, just run the file you just downloaded.

Click here to download the Audio codec & with it the missing software.

(The above link is 3rd party and is not owned by HP, I've posted this only so that I may help you resolve this issue by going beyond by support boundaries, please ignore the ads and take only the free suggestions)

Keep me posted,

If the information I've provided was helpful, 

Give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

That'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[simacekjakub]

Hi,

thank you for your reply.

I use headphones (Beyerdynamics DT 770 PRO 80).

1) With that first driver from HP website it's behaving like this:

- Normally, sound is still bad, still the same as before.

- When the headphones are plugged in during  laptop starting, sound is OK. But when I pull off the headphones and put the jack connector back, sound is bad. Until I restart laptop with connected headphones.

2) With that second driver from Realtek website:

- Normally, sound is still bad, still the same as before.

- When the headphones are plugged in during laptop starting, sound is OK and it's good even I pull the headphones off and plug in back.

By the way, sound from integrated sound bar seems tinny and without bass everytime. But headphones are more important than integrated speaker for me.

So there is still some problem. It's still not good.

It is $1300 laptop and sound is like from something for $50, sorry.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@simacekjakub

Thank you for replying with this detailed response 😉 

I appreciate your time and efforts,

Did you attempt to reinstall the software?

If you haven't, please remove the software and try downloading and reinstalling the Realtek HD Audio software package on the following link - this should also reinstall the B&o guide:

If the last version I provided didn't help, Click here to download and install another version.

If the issue persists, please try the below steps to disable the audio compression by B&o:

1. Go to Windows Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers section.
2. In the list of audio device drivers, look for Realtek High Definition Audio. This is the device driver for BeatsAudio (a little bit sneaky, wouldn’t you say?).
3. Right-click and select Disable. The downward arrow displays on this driver, indicating it is disabled. (NOTE: At this point, you won’t be able to play any music files.)
4. Right-click and select Update Driver Software.
5. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
6. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
7. You should see a window that says Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. NOTE: If you see a window that says something like This is the best driver for this device, exit the window and repeat steps 4, 5, and 6.
8. In the Model box, highlight High Definition Audio Device (this is the substitute audio device driver) and click Next.
9. At the Update Driver Warning window, click Yes. You should see a confirmation window with High Definition Audio Device displayed. Click Close.
10. In the list of audio device drivers in the Sound, video and game controllerssection, you’ll notice that the High Definition Audio Device now displays instead ofRealtek High Definition Audio.
11. At the prompt to reboot, click Yes.
12. Enjoy your music now with no compression

If you would like to thank me for my efforts to help you, 

 feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" button for my efforts to help you.

Have a great day!

[simacekjakub]

Hi,

thank you for your help.

Installing "universal" High Definition Audio Device driver helps me!

Original Realtek driver with B&O software is defective.

Bonus: I can see connected headphones in control panel finally. I can easily choose between speakers and headphones directly in taskbar sound icon.

A lot of HP laptop owners has these problems. You can try offer them solution like this.

EDIT: This is not final solution. Driver is automatically reinstalled by Windows Update and problem is continuing again. 

[Riddle_Decipher]

@simacekjakub

Thank you for the update,

I appreciate your time and efforts, 

I'm glad I could contribute towards identifying and leading you towards the solution for this concern.

Thanks for taking the time to let the community know that you accept my suggestions,

You've been great to work with and it has been a genuine pleasure interacting with you.

I hope both you and your product works great and remain healthy for a long time 😉 

To simply say thanks for my efforts to assist you, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos.

Take care now and do have a fabulous week ahead. 🙂

[simacekjakub]

But that's not all. There is problem with Windows Update which reinstall driver to original driver when is new one there. It's needed to deny drivers updating or completely turn off Windows Update service, but this is not good solution.

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @simacekjakub,

Thank you for replying,

It looks like you were interacting with @Riddle_Decipher, but he is out for the day & I'll be glad to help you out, 
I'm the Jeet_Singh & I'm at your service. 

As I understand there seems to be an issue with the Windows update which might be causing the problem. Don't worry as I have a few steps which should help you resolve this issue.

Perform a Hard reset on the notebook: A power reset (or hard restart) clears all information from the computer's memory without erasing any personal data. Performing a power reset might fix conditions such as Windows not responding, a blank display, software freezing, keyboard stops responding, or other external devices locking up.

I would suggest you start off by performing a Bios update on the PC from our HP Support website, using this link.

If you have problems installing the Windows updates, go to the Microsoft website and use the Windows Update troubleshooter.

Then, restart the computer and run Windows Update again.

Windows 10 update troubleshooter (in English)

Also, download and install HP support assistant on your PC. It should automatically download and install the latest updates and drivers for your PC.

Refer this link to know how to use HP support assistant.

Let me know if those steps worked for you,

If they did, that's awesome!

Give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,

That'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck

[simacekjakub]

Hi @Jeet_singh,

you're funny. Do you use Windows? Windows unfortunately install new drivers for your hardware, when it's available some. It's normal behavior. That's mean - Windows Update works correctly. Unfortunately. You didn't understand my post.

But I found way to deny drivers updates from Windows Update service.

And as I wrote in first post. BIOS is up to date. Problem is with original driver. It's needed to fix driver. Because I'm not alone with this problem.

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @simacekjakub,

As I understand you are having issues with the B&O sound quality after a recent software update. In this scenario, 

I recommend you to download and install the audio driver from the below link and check if it helps.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp73501-74000/sp73979.exe

Let me know how it goes and you have a great day!

Take care.