Please Help: How to improve sound on Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R73Q Laptop?

Brightness1982
Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
edited January 2023 in Swift and Spin Series

Evening everyone,

I just need help with improving the sound that comes from my Acer Swift 3 laptop when I'm using my headphones that I plug into the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The sound that comes from the Acer Swift 3's built in speakers is fine, but the sound that comes from the headphones is weak.

I used the exact same headphones on my entry level basic model iPad and the sound is much better than the Acer laptop: probably about 30% better sound quality on the iPad.

This is the model: Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R73Q

Thanks

Best Answer

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    I find my best sound with over the ear headphones like what Steven shows, second with Bluetooth in-ear buds and third with over the ear Bluetooth buds. The smaller the speaker in the device, the lower the audio quality, especially for bass sounds. The ones Steven links are exceptional, and have an exceptional price. I've found that most of the much cheaper options give nearly as good of sound. You can go with wired or wireless with over the ear, just because you don't normally plan on being very mobile when listening using the laptop. For listening to a phone instead then Bluetooth is the best since you will typically find yourself walking around while listening, and in that case I personally like the over the ear buds, since they stay in place much better for me than the in-ear buds and also allow external sounds (like the screeching tires of the car that's trying to not hit you). :)

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Answers

  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter

    I forgot to mention that I was thinking about buying a new set of USB headphones instead of using he 3.5mm headphone jack.

    Is it true that USB headphones come with their own built in sound card?

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    USB headphones act just like a Bluetooth set. The sound is serialized within the onboard audio chips and send to the headphones, where the serial stream is converted back to analog and played on the speakers. So sound quality there is dependent on the quality of the electronics in the headphones and their associated speakers. Do your wired headphones have a volume control? The signal levels coming through the jack are pretty standard so there shouldn't be anything amiss there. I'd bet the issue is more on the computer software side of things. The sound settings are likely optimized to match the onboard speakers. Here's a snippet form the block diagram:

    image.png

    Sorry for the fuzzies, but that's as good I get when looking at the PDF. The HDAudio is a digital serial stream that comes directly from the AMD chipset and uses the codec chip to convert to analog. As you can see it likely sends the same signal to the internal speakers as to the jack. USB or Bluetooth wouldn't go through that codec so quality will depend directly on the codec used in them. I use Bluetooth to listen to music from both my desktop and laptop, though I use my phone much more often than either of those...

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  • William_mk2
    William_mk2 ACE Posts: 4,198 Pathfinder

    @Brightness1982


    I checked your PM.


    You say "I hate to be PMing you again, but I know you have a vast knowledge in computing so I'd appreciate your opinion!

    I just want to know how I can get better sound when I'm using headphones on my Acer Swift 3 Laptop. "

    Please always bother us. We are always here to help you. Please don't hesitage to get help from us.

    I checked the link. I request to check with usb headsets, bluetooth headset, wired and wirelesss headset and check the difference. First we need to isolate the issue. We need to determine whether it is hardware or software issue. Try to check the same headset in a different computer. We can reinstall sound drivers. In a worst case scenario we can also reinstall Windows.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful 

    Click on "Yes" if it answers your question.


    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    B  Thank you and have a BLESSED AND HAPPY DAY  B


                                         ★★ WILLIAM - MRK ★★

  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1176259#Comment_1176259
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1176145#Comment_1176145

    Thanks for your replies!

    So if I buy USB headphones the sound quality would be separate from the sound quality I get from using the headphone jack? I think the headphone jack limits me to the audio quality of the Acer laptop's motherboard? :(

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    Yes, USB or Bluetooth headphones will not being going through that codec, so if the codec is injecting noise it will not be there with either USB or Bluetooth.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1179594#Comment_1179594

    Thanks for your reply Billsey!

    I'm getting overwhelmed now because there are so many options for the type of headphone setup I want to have.

    I was looking at this and there are many devices similar to it. Would something like this improve the sound quality from my headphones on my Acer laptop?

    https://en.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-play-4

    Sorry if I'm breaking any rules by posting that link but it was the only non-amazon link I could find!

  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter

    Regarding the sound difference between the iPad 3.5mm headphone jack and my Acer laptop:

    To be honest I'd say the iPad's 3.5mm jack headphones are about 50% than the Acer because it's louder and it can hit the bass really well even though I'm using the exact same headphones.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    Before I'd buy something like the SoundBlaster I'd look at Bluetooth headphones. :) Headphones would be more useful in the long run…

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter

    Are there any other headphone products people can recommend to boost my sound?

    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182487#Comment_1182487

    Thanks for your reply Billsey!

    To be honest, I really hate wireless headphones because I'm always worried they're going to fall out :(

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    edited April 2023

    I use Bluetooth over the ear headphone for listening to music on mine, but those are bulky. For on the go I use the bone conduction Bluetooth headsets, since they don't block ambient sound, have really long lasting batteries and give decent sound, since they typically have bigger speakers than the in the ear buds. Here is a set I reviewed for Amazon a while ago. There was an error displaying this embed.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    edited April 2023

    Looks like they didn't like an Amazon link…

    ELIBOM Bone Conduction Headphones, Bluetooth 5.2 Headset, Wireless Open-Ear Headphones, Up to 9 Hours Music&Call, IP65 Sweatproof Sports Earphones for Running, Cycling, Gym, with Arm Bag (Grey)

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  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,377 Trailblazer
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/678382/please-help-how-to-improve-sound-on-acer-swift-3-sf314-43-r73q-laptop

    The DTS Audio card controls onboard speakers, Windows11 controls the audio in jack, onboard mike, USB devices and wired headset/external speakers and then there is the Blue Tooth adapter that with Windows11 controls BT headsets. If Swift has also the Realtek Console app there is yet another factor to consider for wired headsets. The easiest way for any laptop is a good quality wired headset (with or without a mike) with the proper 3.5 mm RCA plug that has volume control and Windows11 with MS Media player (that comes with an equalizer/booster) will do the rest😉

  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1193612#Comment_1193612
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1193689#Comment_1193689

    Thanks for your replies!

    I've been using these for about 12 months now: https://en.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-play-4

    I trust the CREATIVE brand so I was wondering if it'd be worth it for me to buy a more expensive USB audio product from CREATIVE?

    Here are similar products: https://en.creative.com/p/sound-blaster?filters=1199

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    Sure, you can use those types of devices to allow you to continue listening through your wired headphones.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1270357#Comment_1270357

    Thanks for your reply billsey!

    Are there any audio USB devices that you recommend? You're amazing man!

    I really hope Acer promote you!

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,155 Trailblazer
    edited September 9
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1182355#Comment_1182355

    From personal experience with an Acer Swift laptop and if you want to experience great quality sound, I suggest that you install a sound enhancer like the FREEE FxSound and all its presets or you can upgrade the standard DTS sound enhancer already on your Win-11 OS to their upper level DTSX enhancer.

    Then buy a good quality noise reducing headphone like the exceptional Bluetooth Sennheiser Momentum 4, btw I'm using these Momentum 4 Copper headphones (that have an exceptional battery life of 50hrs) with my Swift SFX14-51G laptop and have installed the sound enhancer FxSound and its presets, and the sound quality is execusite and unbelievable with great volume and bass and overall sound quality that is close to Hi-Fi quality. Good luck and hope this helps you out some more.

    Screenshot 2024-09-09 200054.png

    If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    I find my best sound with over the ear headphones like what Steven shows, second with Bluetooth in-ear buds and third with over the ear Bluetooth buds. The smaller the speaker in the device, the lower the audio quality, especially for bass sounds. The ones Steven links are exceptional, and have an exceptional price. I've found that most of the much cheaper options give nearly as good of sound. You can go with wired or wireless with over the ear, just because you don't normally plan on being very mobile when listening using the laptop. For listening to a phone instead then Bluetooth is the best since you will typically find yourself walking around while listening, and in that case I personally like the over the ear buds, since they stay in place much better for me than the in-ear buds and also allow external sounds (like the screeching tires of the car that's trying to not hit you). :)

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Brightness1982
    Brightness1982 Member Posts: 41 Troubleshooter
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1296371#Comment_1296371
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1296452#Comment_1296452


    Thanks for your replies!


    Those headphones are wayyy out of my budget. However, even though I’ve bought a USB sound card from Creative I’m still finding it to be not very loud. The creative USB sound card is a huge upgrade over the inbuilt Acer 3.5mm headphone jack though

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,155 Trailblazer
    edited October 1
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1300397#Comment_1300397

    Btw billsey and Brightness1982, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Copper Edition noise cancelling headphones that I documented above which I think the Copper Edition is only released in Australia as its nothing different to the normal Sennheiser Momentum 4 except its got copper coloured icons and striping on the headphones and case, retail for a whopping AUD $624.95 (USD $432.70) which is a ridiculous price imo, but to inform both of you that I parched my Momentum 4 Copper for AUD $320 (USD $221.57) on eBay unused and brand new with the original box, so there are bargains like this if you look often enough and hard enough around,😁 as I’m never ever going to spend the retail amount on a set of headphones of around USD$435) as you can get some good JBL headphones that have exceptional bass and sound for around USD $100.00!

    If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    The Bluetooth over the ear headphones I currently use cost US$29.99… :) Very likely not as good, but for the price definitely good enough!

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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