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Explain Windows Media Player SRS WOW Effects Like I'm 5?

Butter!

Rough Around the Edges
Butter!
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Exactly what it says on the tin. I have all high-quality MP3s, but they sound like garbage on my speakers. I'm unable to install any additional programs on this computer, but I see WMP has a feature called SRS WOW effects? There's a little slider for adjusting bass called "TruBass" and then another slider labeled "WOW effect." Real helpful!

I'm afraid I don't know much about digital sound settings, and I had a lot of trouble finding a basic tutorial in Google. Does anyone have a link or a few pointers, or even just some recommended settings for these WOW effects?

My speakers are small desktop variety, no subwoofer attachment. To me, my music currently sounds sort of scratchy or tinny.

I tried to just play around with these WOW sound settings, but I couldn't really tell if it sounded better or not. All I am sure of is that adding a lot of bass sounds worse. Then I started overthinking it and getting frustrated.

Basically - halp, is there an audiophile in the house?
 
I think I can help a bit even though I don't have your version of WMP nor do I have Windows 10.

SRS WOW sounds like a gimmicky processing system. SRS is fake surround sound and TruBass sounds like added processing for enhanced bass. I suggest you defeat all of that stuff.

Look for ways to turn off WOW or SRS or TruBass, or ideally all of those. Let's see if you can do that and we'll go from there.
 
William Parcher said:
I think I can help a bit even though I don't have your version of WMP nor do I have Windows 10.

SRS WOW sounds like a gimmicky processing system. SRS is fake surround sound and TruBass sounds like added processing for enhanced bass. I suggest you defeat all of that stuff.

Look for ways to turn off WOW or SRS or TruBass, or ideally all of those. Let's see if you can do that and we'll go from there.
Click to expand...

Okay, I disabled the WOW effects (they did sound fake and "blotchy" as hell to me), and I've also got the Graphic Equalizer set to "Default." No other odd little effects seem to be enabled.
 
Mongrel said:
Do the speakers connect with a standard audio jack? You can see if they're the problem by plugging them in to your phone and play the MP3s through there
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with the speakers themselves, they are just small and inexpensive. A common problem, I guess. I was spoiled in the past, because I've always gotten the type of computer speakers that also have a subwoofer attachment. That seems like it made a world of difference to me.

But I've heard music sound decent without subs. I just can be very picky sometimes about audio quality. Despite this, I know next to nothing about what adjusting all the different levels does. So all I really can tell is "this sounds wrong, thin, chintzy, etc."
 
So far so good. Just like they said, and you did, turn it off.

I know what you mean! I found that just having a set of Klipsch with a set of bookshelf Dynaudio, and the sub-woofer, didn't really give me the solid mid-low definition -- just above the sub but below the smaller speakers.

It was only with the addition of 2 more amps and 2 more sets of speakers that my simple human need for better audio is being addressed.

However, there's phase cancellation, and there's a great vagueness in the imaging.

Only magniplanars off some new design with subwoofers will do, one feels.

-----------------------------

Dearest Ix,

One feels that you are like me, except you are not married to a rich person.

What can you do?

Someone is throwing out a good pair of speakers in Pitt., even as we speak.

Failing this, you can experiment a little with your speaker placement. Put little speakers where the reflected audio gets to your ears, don't waste it. And put them as close to you as you can, and on or in things that might resonant a little for bass, possibly. (That last is a desperate suggestion.)

One hopes that the Universe will send a subw. your way because you deserve it for writing this.

Really good audio and leisure-time is a basic human right.

Now of course all this can be accomplished with $100 headphones.

Not the Dres.

These are some of my thoughts. I myself have very expensive headphones, which are better than the $100 ones, but not ten times better. I know I can trust them for audio work, though, and they won't be fatiguing like cheap headphones, so I love them. Ten times as much money gets you maybe twice as good.
 
Oh, and check some well-known music with strong left and right mix, like Beatles or Steely Dan or something. The first for L and R, the second for being clean and defined.

If you stick your head in the center of a triangle between you and the speakers, is the placement of instruments left and right clear?

Are there any other tone controls on computer that may be set screwy?

Is all of both speakers working?
 
isissxn said:
Okay, I disabled the WOW effects (they did sound fake and "blotchy" as hell to me), and I've also got the Graphic Equalizer set to "Default." No other odd little effects seem to be enabled.
Click to expand...
Good. Now look at the default setting on the graphic equalizer to make sure it's "flat". That means that all the levels for treble, midrange and bass are the same and in the middle of their sliders. This probably is the default but just check it.

Now, you didn't say that you are now quite happy with the sound after stopping WOW. But let's pretend that you do want to tweak to see if it can be even better.

I want you to find the settings for your internal sound card built into the computer. I'm on Windows 7 so maybe it's located in a different area for your Windows 10. Go to the Control Panel and look for Sound. Then look for Manage Audio Devices. Then look for Playback. You will see something in there that represents your sound card or internal computer speakers. Now get into the Properties for whatever you found. Look for Advanced settings. I want you to look at settings for Sample Rate and Bit Depth. You should see a drop down menu allowing you to choose the rate. Go for the maximum which might not be the default. Mine is maxxed at 24 bit, 44,100 Hz (Studio Quality). You can experiment with the different rates but maximum usually sounds best.

What you are doing here is telling your system to look at your sound files at their best possible detail. This doesn't alter the sound and instead makes it as good as it can be.
 
If there is a Goodwill store near you, look in their electronics area. I have found some really nice computer speakers there, including a JBL pair that sound excellent; IIRC I paid less than $10 for them.
 
William Parcher said:
Good. Now look at the default setting on the graphic equalizer to make sure it's "flat". That means that all the levels for treble, midrange and bass are the same and in the middle of their sliders. This probably is the default but just check it.

Now, you didn't say that you are now quite happy with the sound after stopping WOW. But let's pretend that you do want to tweak to see if it can be even better.

I want you to find the settings for your internal sound card built into the computer. I'm on Windows 7 so maybe it's located in a different area for your Windows 10. Go to the Control Panel and look for Sound. Then look for Manage Audio Devices. Then look for Playback. You will see something in there that represents your sound card or internal computer speakers. Now get into the Properties for whatever you found. Look for Advanced settings. I want you to look at settings for Sample Rate and Bit Depth. You should see a drop down menu allowing you to choose the rate. Go for the maximum which might not be the default. Mine is maxxed at 24 bit, 44,100 Hz (Studio Quality). You can experiment with the different rates but maximum usually sounds best.

What you are doing here is telling your system to look at your sound files at their best possible detail. This doesn't alter the sound and instead makes it as good as it can be.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks WP! I never knew any of that was there.

And sorry it keeps taking me a day to get back to your helpful posts, y'all. Since the recent tragic demise of my laptop, my computer time has been quite limited and restricted to earlier in the day. Used to be I'd get home from work or school and just piss around on here for a bit if I felt like it. But now I have to squeeze forum pop-ins into my actual work or school time during the day. (I know I've ghosted some threads as a result, and there are a few PMs I REALLY need to get to.) So thanks for the patience.

I'm quite excited to try this now! I will mess with it at lunch and report back. :)
 
Brainster said:
If there is a Goodwill store near you, look in their electronics area. I have found some really nice computer speakers there, including a JBL pair that sound excellent; IIRC I paid less than $10 for them.
Click to expand...

Definitely going to look into this as well. There's a Goodwill and a Salvation Army close by, and I should have some time to visit them over the weekend.

I have officially decided that, like WP predicted, the WOW effects just make music sound weird and like crap. I suppose they sound okay on music with really deep bass, maybe, but I'm not even sure. And classic rock sounds like I'm playing it through headphones that aren't on my head.

I have high hopes for this internal settings business.
 
isissxn said:
There's nothing wrong with the speakers themselves, they are just small and inexpensive.
Click to expand...

Well... there's your problem! :D

Seriously, I have all kinds of speaker setups but the worst I ever heard was a cheap Bluetooth unit I got on sale. Returned it.
 
calebprime said:
Oh, and check some well-known music with strong left and right mix, like Beatles or Steely Dan or something.
Click to expand...

Just to back up what calebprime is referring to here.

If one speaker, of a pair, has the positive and negative wire the wrong way around, music will sound terrible.

When speakers are "out of phase" the effect is horrible.

I've experienced this once with my computer, with a pair of cheap computer speakers, and it was just like you've described. (I took the speakers apart and found that the black wire was connected to the positive terminal in one speaker, and the negative terminal in the other)

More recently, it happened on my Android phone, and it was a software problem (no idea what had caused it, but loading a more complex player and fiddling with all the settings, fixed it)

I have access to a audio test CD which checks for this problem (among other things) the phase check is fun.

You can run phase checks from this site:
http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php

Which is much easier than pulling speakers apart.

:D
 
There's nothing wrong with the speakers themselves, they are just small and inexpensive. .....
_____________________________________

I just can be very picky sometimes about audio quality......
Click to expand...

Actually there is something wrong with them. They are cheap.

Cheap speakers = forget about audio quality..

If the music is not encoded at 24 bit, 44,100 Hz, setting it there, will not help
unless it's noisy, in which case the noise might come through a little better.
 
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Well, I went in and changed the things suggested. Now it kind of sounds as though the music is distorted or off-key when I play it! Multiple songs, multiple styles, same problem. Changed the internal setting back to where it all was, problem remains! Does this mean the speakers are shot, or is it something worse?

It's crazy. Multiple randomly selected songs all sound like the background music is off-key, out-of-tune, or maybe even very slightly slowed down. My friend (who is the opposite of an audiophile) says I'm crazy and he can't hear it, but another person who is picky like me says she can. What could possibly be going on now?

All I want is to listen to my damn music.
 
Back in my Physics of High Fidelity class, the professor told us that in those days of turntables, about half of the lack of fidelity to the original came from the speakers; the rest of the system accounted for the other half. I suspect these days with digital music the speakers account for an even greater % of the lost of fidelity.
 
Are these the same speakers you were using back when it all sounded good to you on that previous computer?
 
isissxn said:
Well, I went in and changed the things suggested. Now it kind of sounds as though the music is distorted or off-key when I play it! Multiple songs, multiple styles, same problem. Changed the internal setting back to where it all was, problem remains! Does this mean the speakers are shot, or is it something worse?

It's crazy. Multiple randomly selected songs all sound like the background music is off-key, out-of-tune, or maybe even very slightly slowed down. My friend (who is the opposite of an audiophile) says I'm crazy and he can't hear it, but another person who is picky like me says she can. What could possibly be going on now?

All I want is to listen to my damn music.
Click to expand...

can you somehow post a soundfile or two that sound bad to you?

we could listen on our ends -- I can tell you how it sounds to me here.
 
William Parcher said:
Are these the same speakers you were using back when it all sounded good to you on that previous computer?
Click to expand...

No, sir.

These are the speakers of the desktop I am now sharing until such a time as I can buy a new suitable laptop. Never interacted with them previously.

The speakers I had before were the ones that included a small subwoofer. They finally got shot a short while back. Since that time, I'd been listening to music off my laptop through headphones. For some reason, this desktop will not acknowledge said headphones.
 
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