I have just received my new Framework 12. The laptop is overall ok quality but huge step down from my HP EliteBook G8 in terms of sound quality.
Should I return it or is it normal?
Framework devices tend to have a bit more tinny speakers, as I understand itâŚ
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I donât have any experience with the Elitebook, but I would not be surprised if the speakers on the Framework 12 were a step down. They arenâtâŚbad, but they are nothing special. For me, if Iâm sitting in a hotel and want to be able to listen to a TV show while I finish some work and go to bed, theyâre fine. But I havenât scrutinized them very hard, because with pretty much any mobile device, if I want anything other than âI can hear it,â I use headphones, lol.
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The speakers of my FW12 are OK. Not very special. For this form factor it is as espected.
I intent to use other external speakers for one I use it in desktop mode. And on the go I can use my JBL Go or Sonos Roam 2 bluetooth speakers. That gives a much better sound.
Headphones are great yes, what they are not very good at is sharing the experience.
Stefan is right with the external Bluetooth speaker, this will be my solution too. Just what I have now is quite big not backpack compatible. So I need to look for one which sounds decent and fits into my backpack.
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Good point. I guess my life is just sad and lonely enough that didnât occur to me. Lol.
I guess thatâs why I mentioned the hotel. At home I connect to external speakers if I want to share audio. But having decent speakers built in definitely would make sharing audio with another person or group much more convenient.
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If you decide to keep it there is a massive thread that has run for many years about improving the sound of the FW13 speakers. By far the most popular approach is to use software to apply an equalisation curve to the audio thatâs routed to the speakers. The software that achieves this is O/S dependent.
Several EQ curves became candidates for the âsweet spotâ and Iâve been using one of those for a couple years. While itâs not a panacea, the result is good enough for most conversation-level use cases. For anything else I use a BT speaker or headphones.
It seems possible that a similar approach might be applied to a FW12. Other than making this suggestion Iâm months away from being able to tinker with an FW12 myself.
For reference, here a link to the thread I mentioned.
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FW should make a firmware or driver update to apply the EQ curves automatically without relying third-party software
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everyone is complaining about the speakers so i was a little worried, but now that i can hear them theyâre sooo much better than what iâm used to 
coming from old thinkpads (X230 and T450s specifically). my main use case for laptop speakers is listening to video essays and for that theyâre more than enough. the framework is both much louder and clearer (i need roughly half the volume percent for comfortable listening) compared to my previous laptop. i wouldnât use it for listening to music, but i wouldnât do that regardless of the speaker quality, no laptop is beating headphones and i care about my music too much
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I think the speakers arenât the real problem here. I think its the tuning (or the lack of it). I just installed easyeffects on fedora (an windows aquivalent i know would be equalizer apo, which i use for headphone tuning on my pc) and started adjusting bands (32 band-equalizer) while listening and i think i improved them by quite a lot by just fiddeling like this for 10 minutes. Here is the apo of the adjustments i made but i highly recommend to try it out for yourself to get the sound you like. Just as a disclaimer. Iâm not responsible if you destroy your speakers. Be careful with the sliders. Always add a negativ preamp if you plan to increase db on sliders. The apo that i made here was done in 10 minutes and is not refined, but itâs already a huge step-up imo. Let me know how you like it if you try it ! 
Preamp: -7.5 db
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 22.4 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 27.8 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 34.51 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 42.82 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 53.14 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 65.95 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 81.83 Hz Gain 2.3 dB Q 4.36
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 101.55 Hz Gain 3.32 dB Q 4.36
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 126 Hz Gain 4.15 dB Q 4.36
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 156.38 Hz Gain 4.34 dB Q 4.36
Filter 11: ON PK Fc 194.06 Hz Gain 1.53 dB Q 4.36
Filter 12: ON PK Fc 240.81 Hz Gain 4.34 dB Q 4.36
Filter 13: ON PK Fc 298.834 Hz Gain 4.34 dB Q 4.36
Filter 14: ON PK Fc 370.834 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 15: ON PK Fc 460.182 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 16: ON PK Fc 571.057 Hz Gain -1.02 dB Q 4.36
Filter 17: ON PK Fc 708.647 Hz Gain -0.51 dB Q 4.36
Filter 18: ON PK Fc 879.387 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 19: ON PK Fc 1091.26 Hz Gain -5.11 dB Q 4.36
Filter 20: ON PK Fc 1354.19 Hz Gain -5.11 dB Q 4.36
Filter 21: ON PK Fc 1680.47 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 22: ON PK Fc 2085.35 Hz Gain 1.02 dB Q 4.36
Filter 23: ON PK Fc 2587.79 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 4.36
Filter 24: ON PK Fc 3211.29 Hz Gain -2.55 dB Q 4.36
Filter 25: ON PK Fc 3985.01 Hz Gain -0.51 dB Q 4.36
Filter 26: ON PK Fc 4945.15 Hz Gain 1.53 dB Q 4.36
Filter 27: ON PK Fc 6136.63 Hz Gain 4.85 dB Q 4.36
Filter 28: ON PK Fc 7615.17 Hz Gain 4.85 dB Q 4.36
Filter 29: ON PK Fc 9449.96 Hz Gain 4.09 dB Q 4.36
Filter 30: ON PK Fc 11726.8 Hz Gain 4.09 dB Q 4.36
Filter 31: ON PK Fc 14552.2 Hz Gain 3.57 dB Q 4.36
Here the steps to apply this is to open easyeffects:
- install easyeffects
- copy the above text (from preamp to filter 31) and write it into a textfile
- follow steps on screenshot. (the text is german but its pretty similar in english)
- when choosing apo to import, you select the textfile you created. now the sliders should change and the preamp/input should be set to -7,5
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another notice: by adjusting the speakers this way you might loose a bit of loudness (a tradeoff for better sound). I think the fw 12 speakers actually sound pretty decent this way and have very nice stereo separation.
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I already posted all these results in another thread, but itâs about sound, so here you go.
I tested the speaker audio response of the FW 12 with a relatively high end measurement microphone. I then tested an HP Omnibook X Flip, and a $30 Bluetooth speaker. Here are the results:
FW 12
HP Omnibook X Flip
$30 Bluetooth Speaker
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I received Framework 12 laptop earlier today (first Framework, yay!), and I was disappointed to hear the quality of the speakers. The preset EQ needs work because it sounds gated and muddy. The mid-lows feel emphasized and highs feel filtered out.
On Windows, the stock FW12 driver installation comes with Realtek Audio Console. This gives some EQ options without needing 3rd party software, so this will be sufficient enough to make it sound better for me.
âOmni Speakerâ effect gives better vocal presence with âsurroundâ feeling.
I tried EQing with this and ended up adopting @Thomas_Gâs values to best of my abilities. I might tweak it a bit depending on how I feel, but this makes Framework 12 speakers sound so much better than it did without. Hope this helps someone out if they donât want to install additional audio software!
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Same, much better than Iâm used to from a laptop.
If I want good sound I use headphones or a bluetooth speaker.
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