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June 26th, 2021 09:00
Realtek HD Audio Manager on XPS 8940?
I'm again trying to help a friend with their new XPS 8940 desktop and he's been complaining about poor audio quality output to his speakers and claims to be getting better sound playing uncompressed WAV audio files from his laptop. He uninstalled Waves' MaxxAudio Pro, disabled all enhancements he could find and he thinks it's now resolved.
But while helping him I began wondering about Dell's Realtek audio driver. On my many 'non-Dell' PC's that use Realtek audio the installed driver is named "Realtek High Definition Audio" whereas the Dell driver is simply "Realtek Audio" . In the Control Panel I cannot find the Realtek HD Audio Manager, which I'm used to seeing, nor a Dell Audio entry that my Optiplex 3020 MicroPC has.
Where is the Dell audio control panel on the XPS 8940 to customize the inputs and get access to the custom settings that are usually more elaborate than what the basic Windows10 ones offer?
Was it the Waves' MaxxAudio Pro interface that provides those customizations and should he download and re-install it to restore those features?
Thanks for any help
Russell
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RoHe
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June 26th, 2021 18:00
Are these stand-alone speakers, internal in a monitor, headphones, or a 5.1 surround system? And how are they connected, standard audio cable(s) from PC to speakers or monitor, or via HDMI to monitor?
Realtek doesn't have it's own control panel. You have to use the Win 10 Audio screen. And make sure Mono Audio is disabled on that screen.
This PC is probably optimized to use Waves MaxAudio for best sound. So you may want to re-install it. Then open the Waves control panel and click the Playback icon. Scroll down to Advanced and expand it. If the "show popup" box isn't checked, put a check there. If it's already checked, uncheck it, close the control panel, re-open it, and check that box again.
Now close the Waves control panel, disconnect all audio output devices from PC and reboot. Back at the desktop, plug in only the front speakers into rear Line Out (see setup guide). If this is 5.1 surround, only plug in the front speakers. Now wait... Don't do anything until Waves pops up and asks what device was connected. Choose the right option.
If there are rear L/R speakers, plug them in next, and wait for Waves to pop up to choose the option. And if there's a subwoofer, plug that in last and wait again to choose...
When all that waiting is done, open the Wave control panel and click Playback icon. On that screen, move the little "playback enhancement" slider to the right to turn it on. Make sure "Select Output Device" is set to the correct option. Then you can use the EQ Profile list to select the type of music and, if you want, use the various dials and buttons to adjust the sound to your liking. FWIW, "Revive" enhances high frequencies, which, at least for my desktop speakers, sounds better.
You probably have a newer version of Waves than I do, but if you have a Dimension icon, click that and move the little slider to turn that on, and see what options are offered there.
Once that's all set up, click the "disk" icon next to the trash can icon on the Playback screen and save the profile. Give it a unique name. Don't use any of the preexisting profile names because that may cause problems.
You can create/save multiple different profiles depending on type of music, output device, and other sound settings. Give each one a different profile name. The last one used is typically the one that's loaded when PC boots.
See if that helps...
rproulx
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June 28th, 2021 19:00
Thanks Ron,
Ah ... so Waves is the Audio Manager. I'll recommend they re-install it to make use of the input/output configuration and whatever other options it offers. I think that's what we're looking for. Thanks.
Russell
RoHe
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June 29th, 2021 11:00
@rproulx You're welcome.
Tell them to follow my instructions because Waves gets uncooperative if you don't do it their way. Been there, done that, and wasted days trying to get it to recognize my speakers correctly.