HP OmniStudio X and the VAIO SX14-R
The HP OmniStudio X was released August 2024 and the VAIO SX14-R was released November 2024. Both are premium PCs powered by an Intel Core Ultra 155H (Meteor Lake) processor and represent two premium PCs available on the market today. They're excellent machines for multipurpose roles with a balance of efficiency, performance, and thermal management, but how do they perform from the perspective of the audio world?
Part I: Synthetic Measurements
Test Setup: Headphone out of PC to the E1DA Cosmos ADC (Grade A)
HP OmniStudio X 31.5"
67 dB SINAD
Part of the reason for the odd REW sweep is that the HP audio seems to undergo some sort of processing despite turning off all of the DTS:X features, turning off all of the AI noise processing features, and using WASAPI exclusive modes.
There is this DTS Headphone:X support (and DTS:X Ultra) which has presets for a number of mainstream headphones
But this control panel from HP. The Music, Movie, and Voice preset all sound different and DO NOT change the equalizer settings. Music is default while Movie adds a virtual 3D sound effect. Note that EVEN with the Spatial Sound turned to off, the built-in speakers use the "polystudio" branding while the headphones provide dts:X branding.
VAIO SX14-R
79 dB SINAD
Nothing unusual with the VAIO notebook. Performance is actually HIGHER with the Multitone test as compared to a 1 kHz, perhaps due to the E1DA Cosmos ADC coming up to temp.
Part 2: Real-World Comparison to WiiM Ultra
Looking at these, both of these laptops have mediocre DAC performance and it seems like an investment into the $9 Apple USB-C jack is a worthwhile upgrade. (It is).
However, what happens when you record the output of actual music? I took the HD tracks 2024 Music Sampler
https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/65d73fa87298fc1a60d47e57
and chose Track 4. For my reference, I used the WiiM Ultra.
Can you hear a difference between the music played back on a WiiM Ultra and one of these PCs? To answer this, I can use @pkane's DeltaWave and assess the PK Metric, which is a perceptually weighted comparison between two recordings. Importantly, -50 dB is a reasonable threshold for an "audible difference."
WiiM Ultra vs. HP OmniStudio X
The HP OmniStudio X is in white and the WiiM Ultra is in blue. Here you can see that the HP has a slightly brighter tilt. Some of this may be added harmonic distortion versus some sort of signal processing.
The PKMetric is -39 dBr which means the difference between the HP OmniStudio X and a WiiM Ultra *should* be audible. (-50 dB is likely the threshold of audibility) I don't know if the HP is adding a tiny bit of echo or reverb in the music mode to give the impression of a combination of direct and indirect sound (which might explain the wobbly REW sweep). Even then, to my ears, the HP OmniStudio X sounds fine. There isn't a warbling effect with real content.
WiiM Ultra vs. VAIO SX14-R
White is the VAIO notebook and blue is the WiiM Ultra.
This is well below the -50 dB audibility threshold.
There should be no audible difference between the dedicated WiiM Ultra with 116 dB SINAD and the VAIO SX14-R with 79 dB SINAD.
Subjective
Subjectively, the HP OmniStudio X and VAIO SX14-R both sounds great. With a vintage Sony MDR-V4 (104 dB/W efficient), I don't notice intrusive noise or hiss. HP offers DTS:X for their sound enhancement whereas VAIO ships with Dolby Atmos. I'm not sure what the licenses for the software cost PC manufacturers, but buying Dolby Headphone as an end user is $14.99 and DTS:X Headphone is $19.99. With an upgraded DAC being just $9, it actually makes sense for the PC manufacturers to put the money toward a Dolby or DTS license instead of shipping with a premium DAC.
The MDR-V4 is not part of the DTS:Headphone X feature set, but I did try the MDR-V6 preset. Using this, compared to the generic over-ear headphones, there was not a big difference in 2 channel music playback. However, using the DTS's positional demo where you can drag the sound source behind the listener or adjust the height of the sound did work better with the V6 preset over the generic playback. I couldn't find a list of all of the headphones supported by DTS, but they have the MDR-7506, MDR-V6, and MDR-CD900ST from Sony! With Sennheisser, they only had the HD650 for some reason.
Conclusion
Many PCs today will ship with "performance enhancing" software for the audio. In some cases, like the HP, these enhancements are enabled intrinsically with the audio driver and are not trivially defeatable without losing functionality. In these cases, getting "transparent-to-the-recording" playback does requiring buying something like an external DAC. This is not the case for other PCs which have different approaches. However, the ability for notebook manufacturers to provide specific tuning for their built-in speakers and offering software that supports headphone-specific tuning is an interesting approach. Even though the Apple USB-C dongle is $9, if these were my own PCs, I wouldn't bother with the upgrade just to use headphones, as long as I had sufficient output power. Certainly, the combination of an Apple USB-C dongle and DTS:Headphone X license should give me the best of all worlds.
The HP OmniStudio X was released August 2024 and the VAIO SX14-R was released November 2024. Both are premium PCs powered by an Intel Core Ultra 155H (Meteor Lake) processor and represent two premium PCs available on the market today. They're excellent machines for multipurpose roles with a balance of efficiency, performance, and thermal management, but how do they perform from the perspective of the audio world?
Part I: Synthetic Measurements
Test Setup: Headphone out of PC to the E1DA Cosmos ADC (Grade A)
HP OmniStudio X 31.5"
67 dB SINAD
Part of the reason for the odd REW sweep is that the HP audio seems to undergo some sort of processing despite turning off all of the DTS:X features, turning off all of the AI noise processing features, and using WASAPI exclusive modes.
There is this DTS Headphone:X support (and DTS:X Ultra) which has presets for a number of mainstream headphones
But this control panel from HP. The Music, Movie, and Voice preset all sound different and DO NOT change the equalizer settings. Music is default while Movie adds a virtual 3D sound effect. Note that EVEN with the Spatial Sound turned to off, the built-in speakers use the "polystudio" branding while the headphones provide dts:X branding.
VAIO SX14-R
79 dB SINAD
Nothing unusual with the VAIO notebook. Performance is actually HIGHER with the Multitone test as compared to a 1 kHz, perhaps due to the E1DA Cosmos ADC coming up to temp.
Part 2: Real-World Comparison to WiiM Ultra
Looking at these, both of these laptops have mediocre DAC performance and it seems like an investment into the $9 Apple USB-C jack is a worthwhile upgrade. (It is).
However, what happens when you record the output of actual music? I took the HD tracks 2024 Music Sampler
https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/65d73fa87298fc1a60d47e57
and chose Track 4. For my reference, I used the WiiM Ultra.
Can you hear a difference between the music played back on a WiiM Ultra and one of these PCs? To answer this, I can use @pkane's DeltaWave and assess the PK Metric, which is a perceptually weighted comparison between two recordings. Importantly, -50 dB is a reasonable threshold for an "audible difference."
WiiM Ultra vs. HP OmniStudio X
DeltaWave v2.0.13, 2024-12-29T12:01:15.2685902-08:00
Reference: Recording_WiiM_Ultra_EKG574.wav[?] 8197596 samples 96000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Comparison: HP_AllEnhancementsOff.wav[?] 4038720 samples 48000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Settings:
Gain:True, Remove DC:True
Non-linear Gain EQ:False Non-linear Phase EQ: False
EQ FFT Size:65536, EQ Frequency Cut: 0Hz - 0Hz, EQ Threshold: -500dB
Correct Non-linearity: False
Correct Drift:True, Precision:30, Subsample Align:True
Non-Linear drift Correction:False
Upsample:False, Window:Kaiser
Spectrum Window:Kaiser, Spectrum Size:32768
Spectrogram Window:Hann, Spectrogram Size:4096, Spectrogram Steps:2048
Filter Type:FIR, window:Kaiser, taps:262144, minimum phase=False
Dither:False bits=0
Trim Silence:True
Enable Simple Waveform Measurement: False
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Discarding Reference: Start=0s, End=0s
Discarding Comparison: Start=0s, End=0s
Initial peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -16.238dB
Initial RMS values Reference: -28.071dB Comparison: -33.171dB
Null Depth=20.093dB
Trimming 1 samples at start and 32 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
X-Correlation offset: 65453 samples
Trimming 17697 samples at start and 0 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Drift computation quality, #1: Excellent (1.02μs)
Trimmed 0 samples ( 0.00ms) front, 0 samples ( 0.00ms end)
Final peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -11.511dB
Final RMS values Reference: -28.001dB Comparison: -28.443dB
Gain= -4.7222dB (0.5806x) DC=-0.00001 Phase offset=1363.504185ms (65448.201 samples)
Difference (rms) = -38.14dB [-40.02dBA]
Correlated Null Depth=33.85dB [29.75dBA]
Clock drift: 14.13 ppm
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=1.38%) at 16 bits
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=0.01%) at 24 bits
Files match @ 50.0041% when reduced to 6.36 bits
---- Phase difference (full bandwidth): 10.9027313251203°
0-10kHz: 15.44°
0-20kHz: 11.66°
0-24kHz: 10.90°
Timing error (rms jitter): 34.7μs
PK Metric (step=400ms, overlap=50%):
RMS=-39.1dBr
Median=-39.2
Max=-34.7
99%: -36.09
75%: -38.22
50%: -39.21
25%: -40.39
1%: -43.59
gn=1.72229579731356, dc=-1.08447143280226E-05, dr=1.41258970517906E-05, of=65448.2008602937
DONE!
Signature: 15f26dbeafada68f486163cf02ee82ed
RMS of the difference of spectra: -125.266070017546dB
DF Metric (step=400ms, overlap=0%):
Median=-13.3dB
Max=-3.4dB Min=-18.1dB
1% > -17.06dB
10% > -14.94dB
25% > -14.12dB
50% > -13.32dB
75% > -12.57dB
90% > -11.09dB
99% > -3.47dB
Linearity 3.0bits @ 0.5dB error
Reference: Recording_WiiM_Ultra_EKG574.wav[?] 8197596 samples 96000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Comparison: HP_AllEnhancementsOff.wav[?] 4038720 samples 48000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Settings:
Gain:True, Remove DC:True
Non-linear Gain EQ:False Non-linear Phase EQ: False
EQ FFT Size:65536, EQ Frequency Cut: 0Hz - 0Hz, EQ Threshold: -500dB
Correct Non-linearity: False
Correct Drift:True, Precision:30, Subsample Align:True
Non-Linear drift Correction:False
Upsample:False, Window:Kaiser
Spectrum Window:Kaiser, Spectrum Size:32768
Spectrogram Window:Hann, Spectrogram Size:4096, Spectrogram Steps:2048
Filter Type:FIR, window:Kaiser, taps:262144, minimum phase=False
Dither:False bits=0
Trim Silence:True
Enable Simple Waveform Measurement: False
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Discarding Reference: Start=0s, End=0s
Discarding Comparison: Start=0s, End=0s
Initial peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -16.238dB
Initial RMS values Reference: -28.071dB Comparison: -33.171dB
Null Depth=20.093dB
Trimming 1 samples at start and 32 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
X-Correlation offset: 65453 samples
Trimming 17697 samples at start and 0 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Drift computation quality, #1: Excellent (1.02μs)
Trimmed 0 samples ( 0.00ms) front, 0 samples ( 0.00ms end)
Final peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -11.511dB
Final RMS values Reference: -28.001dB Comparison: -28.443dB
Gain= -4.7222dB (0.5806x) DC=-0.00001 Phase offset=1363.504185ms (65448.201 samples)
Difference (rms) = -38.14dB [-40.02dBA]
Correlated Null Depth=33.85dB [29.75dBA]
Clock drift: 14.13 ppm
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=1.38%) at 16 bits
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=0.01%) at 24 bits
Files match @ 50.0041% when reduced to 6.36 bits
---- Phase difference (full bandwidth): 10.9027313251203°
0-10kHz: 15.44°
0-20kHz: 11.66°
0-24kHz: 10.90°
Timing error (rms jitter): 34.7μs
PK Metric (step=400ms, overlap=50%):
RMS=-39.1dBr
Median=-39.2
Max=-34.7
99%: -36.09
75%: -38.22
50%: -39.21
25%: -40.39
1%: -43.59
gn=1.72229579731356, dc=-1.08447143280226E-05, dr=1.41258970517906E-05, of=65448.2008602937
DONE!
Signature: 15f26dbeafada68f486163cf02ee82ed
RMS of the difference of spectra: -125.266070017546dB
DF Metric (step=400ms, overlap=0%):
Median=-13.3dB
Max=-3.4dB Min=-18.1dB
1% > -17.06dB
10% > -14.94dB
25% > -14.12dB
50% > -13.32dB
75% > -12.57dB
90% > -11.09dB
99% > -3.47dB
Linearity 3.0bits @ 0.5dB error
The HP OmniStudio X is in white and the WiiM Ultra is in blue. Here you can see that the HP has a slightly brighter tilt. Some of this may be added harmonic distortion versus some sort of signal processing.
The PKMetric is -39 dBr which means the difference between the HP OmniStudio X and a WiiM Ultra *should* be audible. (-50 dB is likely the threshold of audibility) I don't know if the HP is adding a tiny bit of echo or reverb in the music mode to give the impression of a combination of direct and indirect sound (which might explain the wobbly REW sweep). Even then, to my ears, the HP OmniStudio X sounds fine. There isn't a warbling effect with real content.
WiiM Ultra vs. VAIO SX14-R
DeltaWave v2.0.13, 2024-12-29T13:04:48.1503137-08:00
Reference: Recording_WiiM_Ultra_EKG574.wav[?] 8197596 samples 96000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Comparison: SX14R.wav[?] 4207200 samples 48000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Settings:
Gain:True, Remove DC:True
Non-linear Gain EQ:False Non-linear Phase EQ: False
EQ FFT Size:65536, EQ Frequency Cut: 0Hz - 0Hz, EQ Threshold: -500dB
Correct Non-linearity: False
Correct Drift:True, Precision:30, Subsample Align:True
Non-Linear drift Correction:False
Upsample:False, Window:Kaiser
Spectrum Window:Kaiser, Spectrum Size:32768
Spectrogram Window:Hann, Spectrogram Size:4096, Spectrogram Steps:2048
Filter Type:FIR, window:Kaiser, taps:262144, minimum phase=False
Dither:False bits=0
Trim Silence:True
Enable Simple Waveform Measurement: False
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Discarding Reference: Start=0s, End=0s
Discarding Comparison: Start=0s, End=0s
Initial peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -12.951dB
Initial RMS values Reference: -28.071dB Comparison: -33.373dB
Null Depth=12.78dB
Trimming 28311 samples at start and 72964 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Cross-correlation found periodic/simple waveform! Trying simple measurement option!
X-Correlation offset: 66961 samples
Trimming 16189 samples at start and 0 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Drift computation quality, #1: Excellent (0.12μs)
Trimmed 0 samples ( 0.00ms) front, 0 samples ( 0.00ms end)
Final peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -7.767dB
Final RMS values Reference: -27.97dB Comparison: -27.97dB
Gain= -5.1881dB (0.5503x) DC=-0.00001 Phase offset=1395.06313ms (66963.03 samples)
Difference (rms) = -80.52dB [-83.31dBA]
Correlated Null Depth=72.09dB [74.33dBA]
Clock drift: -15.57 ppm
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=12.12%) at 16 bits
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=0.05%) at 24 bits
Files match @ 50.0034% when reduced to 13.33 bits
---- Phase difference (full bandwidth): 0.760146210381986°
0-10kHz: 0.66°
0-20kHz: 0.75°
0-24kHz: 0.76°
Timing error (rms jitter): 268.4ns
PK Metric (step=400ms, overlap=50%):
RMS=-83.1dBr
Median=-82.8
Max=-81.3
99%: -81.53
75%: -82.27
50%: -82.77
25%: -83.76
1%: -94.76
gn=1.81720114005842, dc=-1.15416868419006E-05, dr=-1.55737315473056E-05, of=66963.0302422365
DONE!
Signature: 0250ad0414f4ffd0f6bc23707c52abb9
RMS of the difference of spectra: -132.685373992313dB
DF Metric (step=400ms, overlap=0%):
Median=-55.3dB
Max=-7.9dB Min=-61.9dB
1% > -61.51dB
10% > -58.43dB
25% > -57.22dB
50% > -55.33dB
75% > -53.83dB
90% > -51.16dB
99% > -8.41dB
Linearity 25.6bits @ 0.5dB error
Reference: Recording_WiiM_Ultra_EKG574.wav[?] 8197596 samples 96000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Comparison: SX14R.wav[?] 4207200 samples 48000Hz 24bits, stereo, MD5=00
Settings:
Gain:True, Remove DC:True
Non-linear Gain EQ:False Non-linear Phase EQ: False
EQ FFT Size:65536, EQ Frequency Cut: 0Hz - 0Hz, EQ Threshold: -500dB
Correct Non-linearity: False
Correct Drift:True, Precision:30, Subsample Align:True
Non-Linear drift Correction:False
Upsample:False, Window:Kaiser
Spectrum Window:Kaiser, Spectrum Size:32768
Spectrogram Window:Hann, Spectrogram Size:4096, Spectrogram Steps:2048
Filter Type:FIR, window:Kaiser, taps:262144, minimum phase=False
Dither:False bits=0
Trim Silence:True
Enable Simple Waveform Measurement: False
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Resampled Reference to 48000Hz
Discarding Reference: Start=0s, End=0s
Discarding Comparison: Start=0s, End=0s
Initial peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -12.951dB
Initial RMS values Reference: -28.071dB Comparison: -33.373dB
Null Depth=12.78dB
Trimming 28311 samples at start and 72964 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Cross-correlation found periodic/simple waveform! Trying simple measurement option!
X-Correlation offset: 66961 samples
Trimming 16189 samples at start and 0 samples at the end that are below -90.31dB level
Drift computation quality, #1: Excellent (0.12μs)
Trimmed 0 samples ( 0.00ms) front, 0 samples ( 0.00ms end)
Final peak values Reference: -7.771dB Comparison: -7.767dB
Final RMS values Reference: -27.97dB Comparison: -27.97dB
Gain= -5.1881dB (0.5503x) DC=-0.00001 Phase offset=1395.06313ms (66963.03 samples)
Difference (rms) = -80.52dB [-83.31dBA]
Correlated Null Depth=72.09dB [74.33dBA]
Clock drift: -15.57 ppm
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=12.12%) at 16 bits
Files are NOT a bit-perfect match (match=0.05%) at 24 bits
Files match @ 50.0034% when reduced to 13.33 bits
---- Phase difference (full bandwidth): 0.760146210381986°
0-10kHz: 0.66°
0-20kHz: 0.75°
0-24kHz: 0.76°
Timing error (rms jitter): 268.4ns
PK Metric (step=400ms, overlap=50%):
RMS=-83.1dBr
Median=-82.8
Max=-81.3
99%: -81.53
75%: -82.27
50%: -82.77
25%: -83.76
1%: -94.76
gn=1.81720114005842, dc=-1.15416868419006E-05, dr=-1.55737315473056E-05, of=66963.0302422365
DONE!
Signature: 0250ad0414f4ffd0f6bc23707c52abb9
RMS of the difference of spectra: -132.685373992313dB
DF Metric (step=400ms, overlap=0%):
Median=-55.3dB
Max=-7.9dB Min=-61.9dB
1% > -61.51dB
10% > -58.43dB
25% > -57.22dB
50% > -55.33dB
75% > -53.83dB
90% > -51.16dB
99% > -8.41dB
Linearity 25.6bits @ 0.5dB error
White is the VAIO notebook and blue is the WiiM Ultra.
This is well below the -50 dB audibility threshold.
There should be no audible difference between the dedicated WiiM Ultra with 116 dB SINAD and the VAIO SX14-R with 79 dB SINAD.
Subjective
Subjectively, the HP OmniStudio X and VAIO SX14-R both sounds great. With a vintage Sony MDR-V4 (104 dB/W efficient), I don't notice intrusive noise or hiss. HP offers DTS:X for their sound enhancement whereas VAIO ships with Dolby Atmos. I'm not sure what the licenses for the software cost PC manufacturers, but buying Dolby Headphone as an end user is $14.99 and DTS:X Headphone is $19.99. With an upgraded DAC being just $9, it actually makes sense for the PC manufacturers to put the money toward a Dolby or DTS license instead of shipping with a premium DAC.
The MDR-V4 is not part of the DTS:Headphone X feature set, but I did try the MDR-V6 preset. Using this, compared to the generic over-ear headphones, there was not a big difference in 2 channel music playback. However, using the DTS's positional demo where you can drag the sound source behind the listener or adjust the height of the sound did work better with the V6 preset over the generic playback. I couldn't find a list of all of the headphones supported by DTS, but they have the MDR-7506, MDR-V6, and MDR-CD900ST from Sony! With Sennheisser, they only had the HD650 for some reason.
Conclusion
Many PCs today will ship with "performance enhancing" software for the audio. In some cases, like the HP, these enhancements are enabled intrinsically with the audio driver and are not trivially defeatable without losing functionality. In these cases, getting "transparent-to-the-recording" playback does requiring buying something like an external DAC. This is not the case for other PCs which have different approaches. However, the ability for notebook manufacturers to provide specific tuning for their built-in speakers and offering software that supports headphone-specific tuning is an interesting approach. Even though the Apple USB-C dongle is $9, if these were my own PCs, I wouldn't bother with the upgrade just to use headphones, as long as I had sufficient output power. Certainly, the combination of an Apple USB-C dongle and DTS:Headphone X license should give me the best of all worlds.
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