Lenovo W520 audio dropouts, low volume Options

[LocrianGroove]

I have a Lenovo W520 with 2nd gen i7, 8GB RAM, running Windows 7 64 bit, and foobar2000. The audio skips during network activity when using the Conexant audio driver, but it doesn't have this problem with the Microsoft High Definition Device driver. This is even when the buffer in foobar2000 is set to 1500 ms.

The problem with the Microsoft driver, is the volume is limited (maybe 5 dB lower) than the Conexant driver. This is unacceptable when driving the Sennheiser HD 600 headphones with ReplayGain enabled, especially during quite passages. Is it possible to bump up the volume of the system when using the Microsoft driver?

[AliceWonder]

Have you tried a 3rd party USB sound card?
I have similar laptop (T520, quad core i7 8GB) and found that audio is much better using Logitech headphones that have their own built in USB sound card.
I have both cheap wired (USB - ~$20) and wireles (also USB ~ $85).

I never had good luck with the built in sound out. Maybe the difference was headphones and not the USB sound card, I really don't know, but I doubt the Logitech I have now qualify as good headphones.

I've not had any problems, native audio or Logitech, with audio skipping during network traffic. I've used when I'm docked (cat5) or not (802.11n). That may be a hardware problem.
I don't know which wireless you went with, I did not go for the fancier 2 band internal wireless but went with the basic, figuring I didn't want the extra internal heat and rarely am far from a hot spot.