Is this just a standard characteristic of Linux or is there some way I can EQ all the audio?

I've had nothing but problems with audio sounding like a scratched record in Linux. It would skip, crackle and break up no matter the source or volume. Found a solution that one to simply remove PulseAudio.

No more scratchiness, crackling or break up. But there is very little low end and high end. Everything in ALSA mixer is at 90%

I'm using Altec Lansing ADA885 speakers with 8" DVC subwoofer. System response is good down to ~28Hz but it sounds like a cheap boombox. Last time I had these hooked up to a Windows (XP Pro) system, the bass was deep and full. Very audible all the way down. Now it sounds like the audio is boosted at center frequencies and overly cut on high and low end.

I even tried putting in a PCI Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 5.1 card and the sound did NOT improve.

Any suggestions? I can't stand such low quality sound.

I've got very nice audio output on my laptop (headphones of course) running slackware.

You're running Ubuntu?

What's your source file? What program are you using to read it? Just for kicks, can you post the output of "sudo lspci -vv"?

My guess is the program you're using needs a little tuning on the EQ.

I've noticed that analog audio is a little richer than digital here, regardless of pulse, alsa, card, etc on 2 machines that have swapped locations and thus speaker sets. There is a small chance it has to do with speaker age, but I won't be able to prove that until I just have a few hundred dollars I'd rather spend on speakers than my kids' college funds which might be a year ......... or 14.

No problem with the speakers, I tried on a Windows system and both the low and high end become very audible. When on the Windows system my neighbors asked me to turn down the volume. Back on the Linux system I can hardly hear any lows or highs unless volume at max, but that drives amplifier into clipping.

I even tried connecting Linux system to my Sansui 6060 vintage receiver and get same result.

justinp526@justinp526-desktop:~$ sudo lspci -vv
[sudo] password for justinp526:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Region 0: Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [e4] Vendor Specific Information <?>
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 3.0
Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=2 Cal=2 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3+ Rate=x4,x8
Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=2 SBA+ AGP+ GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=x8
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: f4000000-f6ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-efffffff
Secondary status: 66MHz+ FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA+ VGA+ MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:06.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P Processor to I/O Memory Interface (rev 02)
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Region 0: Memory at fecf0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
Region 4: I/O ports at 9000 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 19
Region 4: I/O ports at 9400 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 18
Region 4: I/O ports at 9800 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
Region 4: I/O ports at 9c00 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 040a
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 23
Region 0: Memory at f7100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: f7000000-f70fffff
Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR+ NoISA+ VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt, intel-rng

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
Region 1: I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
Region 2: I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
Region 3: I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
Region 4: I/O ports at f000 [size=16]
Region 5: Memory at 20000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB (ICH5) SATA Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042e
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
Region 1: I/O ports at a400 [size=4]
Region 2: I/O ports at a800 [size=8]
Region 3: I/O ports at ac00 [size=4]
Region 4: I/O ports at b000 [size=16]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 042d
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 12
Region 4: I/O ports at 5000 [size=32]
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 0459
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 17
Region 0: I/O ports at b800 [size=256]
Region 1: I/O ports at bc00 [size=64]
Region 2: Memory at f7101000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Region 3: Memory at f7102000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Kernel driver in use: Intel ICH
Kernel modules: snd-intel8x0

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)
Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device a401
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 248 (1250ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
Region 0: Memory at f4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Region 1: Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Region 2: Memory at f5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at f6000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0
Status: RQ=256 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=3 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3+ Rate=x4,x8
Command: RQ=32 ArqSz=2 Cal=0 SBA+ AGP+ GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=x8
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidia, nvidiafb

02:0a.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2760 Wireless 802.11n 1T/2R Cardbus
Subsystem: RaLink Device 2760
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 32 (500ns min, 1000ns max), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: Memory at f7000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Kernel driver in use: rt2860
Kernel modules: rt2860sta

justinp526@justinp526-desktop:~$

Well, you didn't answer my question about what program and source file you're using, but...

I did a little googling (took all of 3 minutes) and found this guy: http://sourceforge.net/projects/rteq/. It looks like it was abandoned way back in 2007, but it might still work. Give it a shot. ("sudo apt-get install rteq" might install it from your repo. Man, it's been a long time since I typed "sudo apt-get". Brings me back!)

There's also this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578, but since it's PulseAudio based I assume you don't want that.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=940386 might be useful.

Thanks, I'll try to give it a look. Depends if it will load up in my firefox. Google doesn't seem to want to ever load up for me, just sits there saying loading and then the screen greys out and I have to hard restart system.

I'm using VLC player and source file I assume you mean what file type? I've tried everything from audio CD to .mp3 .wav .wma and all yield the same results. Why isn't there a graphic EQ? When I had Turtle Beach card installed with WinXP there was a graphic EQ that let me adjust frequencies from 20Hz - 20kHz.

As a side note, it looks like you're running Slackware.. correct?
Would you recommend I give it a try?

Alright,looks like vlc has a built-in graphical EQ (under "Tools" and then "effects and filters") and a parametric EQ under "tools" and then "preferences" and then you have to enable all settings down in the lower left of the preferences window, and then under the tree labeled "audio" and then "filters". Dang that took a lot of explaining.

P.S. Good choice on VLC. I like it- very light weight, stable, and generally a really good player.

Anyway, so you know it's a good source file and you know the hardware is good, just need to tweak it (hopefully).

There isn't a system-wide graphical EQ because nobody's ever written one (that has been immensely popular at least). You're free to write your own, but I have a feeling that's quite an undertaking ;-).

On the Slackware thing, I like it, but wouldn't recommend it based only on audio. It's pretty much a polar opposite of Ubuntu as far as how the system is controlled, maintained, ETC. IMHO it has to be something that you WANT to run.

Anyway, I hope you get it figured out.

So I still have not yet got this straightened out yet, but still working on it.. sorta

I gave Banshee a try, it has a nice EQ with it. But no help. I've adjusted all the EQ sliders and all make a significant change except for 29Hz. Basically something is limiting my audio output to be 59Hz and up. So bass guitar, bass drums etc are all inaudible.

I'm going to give rtEq a try and see if that does anything.

Makes me wonder if people even care about the actual quality of their music any more these days...

All my music is either MP3 files or the original CDs so I assume the source is digital. From there I'm guessing that the output is analog since I don't have any HD audio. I now use my vintage Sansui 6060 as amplifier, so I know for a fact that is analog

I'm no longer using the Altec Lansing set, mostly on account of I'll be moving soon and can't take them with. Sadly I have to get rid of almost all my speakers
Though I'll most likely end up getting new ones or better ones or something along the way, so not the end of the world!