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I'm having bad sound quality in Linux distributions. I used Ubuntu 10.10-11.04-11.10 and Ubuntu based Joli OS 1.2 and always had bad quality of sound. My question is simple. Why?

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Much more information is necessary. What are the basic specs of your computer? Does it have a make and model? What is the source of the sound? Are you using internal speakers? Do you have a separate sound card? Separate speakers? Have you tried using headphones? With what result?... – arochester Jul 27 '12 at 20:18
I have Exper Active DR41G. Pentium Dual Core E5200, 4 GB Ram, Radeon HD 3650 graphics card, HDD... A simple home computer. I don't use a separate sound card and internal speaker. I tried headphones, and the result is good. In other words I only have problem with speakers. The source of sound? My computer, youtube or the video. – UbuntuME Jul 27 '12 at 20:30

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"Bad sound quality" is too broad of a question to be answerable.

What do you mean by "bad sound quality"? Is it garbled? Muted? Drops out? Crackles and pops? Plays too fast, too slow?

Regardless, most people who use Ubuntu don't have bad sound quality, so it is likely a hardware-dependent problem. The variety of sound hardware out there is huge, so it's difficult for us to ensure that every possible setup works 100%. Each new release of Ubuntu is getting better, though, so maybe try Ubuntu 12.04 if you haven't yet? Or try a different sound card (USB sound card, for example).

If you don't want to try different hardware, then fixing this problem is going to involve some debugging under the hood. Chances are at least 50% that you have some form of Intel HDA codec; a good way to start debugging that is to look here. If you don't have an Intel HDA codec then that document does not apply to you... but since you didn't give us any details...

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I tried to mean crackles. Now, I'm using Joli OS 1.2. But it's Ubuntu based so I'm here. I don't have the problem always. Only when sound is getting louder or when bass is getting higher. In low volume It works properly. And, I don't know how to identify sound chipset in Linux. – UbuntuME Jul 27 '12 at 20:37
Sounds like the sound is being overdriven. The sound slider in Ubuntu can actually go over 100%; this is designed to compensate for bad hardware that doesn't properly report volume control, or bad equipment that doesn't amplify the sound properly. But if you go over 100%, you can expect distortion, as the sound is essentially being cut off into square waves. My advice is to keep the volume lower. – allquixotic Jul 27 '12 at 20:52

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