I recently bought an AMD based PC (AMD 7750 BE, Asus M3N78EM board with HD audio, 2 GB 800MHz DDR2 Corsair XMS2, 400 W Cooler Master box). What I notice is the sound system really sucks.. I previously had another AMD system (AMD Sempron 2500+, MSI RS480M, 1 GB 400MHz TwinMos DDR). This problem is carry forwarded to my new system. I also had Intel based systems (Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz, Intel 865 GBF, 512 MB 333 MHz DDR), but the audio in this system too good. I have used serveral other Intel based systems, C2D based, branded ones Lenovo ThinkCenter, etc. No complaints.

If I need to be precise, I can say that when I listen to a MP3 file rendered at 128 Kbps, I get a crystal clear, LOUD sound in my Head phone as well as desktop speaker at 20 units of Media player's sound level with the system sound at 100%. The same file gives a similar output when played on a new Intel C2D based system with HD audio at 15 units (approx.) of Media player's sound level. Similar should be the case when the same file is played in an iPod Shuffle. But, when it comes to the AMD systems (mentioned above), I get this amount of sound output at around 45 units of Media player's sound level with the system sound at 100%. This is really something not good. Media files rendered at 128 Kbps can be managed some how in this way, but what happens to files rendered at 50 or 64 Kbps. The AMD systems hardly has any strength to play.

My QUESTION to you guys... Are all AMD systems meant to be like this ?? Is there any setting that needs to be tweaked or changed to get a similar audio experience as in Intel systems apart from original driver installation ??

Any help/insights will gr8ly appreciated.The processor has nothing to do with the sound quality. Now i did not really read the hole thing but if it is on-board sound then it is eather crappy on-board or the on-board is damaged. Get a sound card if it is so important to you.additionally bit-rate is unrelated to sound volume.And ambient noise can be found anywhere...
We actually have sattelite dishes looking for it on a regular basis...Guys.. Im using the CPU brand (AMD & Intel) as a line of differenciatation.. I dont mean to say that it is CPU or the CPU manufacturer who is influencing the quality of sound..

I mean to say that the PCs based upon Intel CPU (the older Pentium 4 based and the newer C2D based) are producing consistently good sound, of course with different motherboards and diferent sound chips on them. But PCs based upon AMD CPU (the older AMD Sempron and the newer AMD Athlon X2) are not producing good sound consistently when compared [Comparison done between Intel based PC and AMD based PC] and again with different brands of motherboards and sound chips on them.

So, there can be 2 things happening..
1) I am missing an audio setting in the Control Panel of AMD based PCs, which by CHANGING can give an audio quality as good as in the Intel based PCs. [Already updated HD audio drivers from Realtek and Nvidia]
OR
2) The board manufacturers goof-up.. they integrate a better audio chip for Intel based boards and poor ones for AMD based boards.. (Used MSI and Asus boards for AMD & Gigabyte and Asus boards for Intel, all with Realtek audio chipsets, also used Lenovo ThinCenter with Intel C2D, unknown board, SoundMax audio)

* All comparison done with the on-board audioFigure out what audio chip you have on both and look them up. If the newer pc has the same or newer chip as the old one then the chip is bad.except there are multiple AMD and multiple Intel PCs involved here, and the only thing consistent is that only the AMD based PCs have on-board sound issues.Sorry, Patio.. I COULD not understand what you said..

BC_Programmer: Bit-rate does affect the sound volume too apart from the clarity.. but now, I think u got the problem.. the AMD PCs are not giving good audio as compared with even the older Intel P4 PCs..

I used a 128 bit audio file as just a bench mark for testing the sound quality of both the systems.. although initially, I coincidently did, but when I found this difference I intentionally choose the same file with the same speakers and headphones to compare..

god knows whts really wrong with probably the board vendors when it comes to AMD..