Audophiles, prepare to cringe.
Windows Vista includes Bass Boost which increases the volume of low sounds (you know, like that switch that was on every 80’s walkman and boom box) and Virtual Surround, which varies the timing of the left and right channels to sorta make it sounds like you have more speakers.
To enable Bass Boost and/or Virtual Surround, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Hardware and Sound.
3. Click Sound.
4. The Sound dialog box appears. Click the speakers with the green check box (that’s your default speaker output). Then, click Properties.
5. The Speakers Properties dialog appears. Click the Enhancements tab.
6. On the Enhancements tab, select either or both Bass Boost and Low Frequency Protection and Virtual Surround. You can also play with Loudness Equalization to even out some of the highs and lows, and something audiophiles will love: Room Correction to better adjust the volume of individual speakers (requires you to have an external microphone).
7. Click Apply. Then, test your settings by playing some music or something.
8. When you’re ready, click OK twice to make your settings take effect.
Um… all of those options depend on the audio hardware in your computer… it’s completely hardware dependent and is enable by the drivers for the audio hardware.
You’re wrong… it’s not built in.
j you’re completely wrong. Windows Vista and 7 have these options regardless of your sound card. Your audio drivers may include settings similar to these as well, but the ones Tony is discussing here are included with Windows and do not rely on the audio drivers.
Both of you are right, in your own ways. Vista and 7 do have the options regardless, however, windows xp, ME, and 98 all do have these options if you have the right hardware, my old packard bell, with windows 98 on had a bass boost option with virtual surround, i later upgraded to XP on the same machine and still had these options.
However, i did have another desktop with windows 98 on and it did NOT have these options.
No F and K, you’re both wrong and J is right. I have a Soundmax Integrated Digitla HD Audio device by Analog Devices and none of those controls show up with Vista OR Win7. It TOTALLY depends on your card and the drivers. Some nicer cards/drivers even show the jacks on the back of the computer, so you can tell what color is front, back, sub, etc.
Take a look at this YouTube vid someone else who thinks everyone’s video options look the same in Vista and tell me if this is what you see. I know I don’t, on any of my computers. I guess either my built-in 7.1 surround card is crap, or the driver is crap (and Analog Devices doesn’t have a download section for drivers).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NYEc8M-DmQ
J IS right. I have a creative sound blaster x-fi on vista and I don’t even have the enhancements tab in the speaker properties.
thanx this really helped a lot… i ticked on equalizer and i selected bass.
thanks