Audio Drivers Solution for XPS 13 +More

Hello everyone,

I have bought a Dell XPS 13 9360 a few weeks ago, and have been mesmerised by the quality and performance of this machine. The only thing I have not been truly happy about is the audio.

By default, Dell XPS 13 9360 comes with its own Realtek drivers with Waves Maxx software which is awfully bad. So, to solve this issue, I have found out that installing an older driver from an older model, such as the XPS 15 9550 works wonders.

Firstly, I highly suggest you create a restore point, so that in the event if something goes wrong you can go back to the previous environment. Here is a video with the process: (74) Windows 10 - How to Create a System Restore Point - YouTube

Secondly, if you are using an XPS 13 or XPS 15 models from 2017 onwards, go into the DELL drivers support website (this is the UK version, but I believe it does not matter): Support for XPS 15 9550 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell UK

Next go on Manually find a specific driver for your XPS 15 9550, and press on Find drivers (A drop down with more information will appear). Next on Category select Audio (a Realtek audio driver will come up). Press it, and it will drop down to show more information. Press on Older versions, and select the driver from 2015, if it does not work, go for the one from 2017 or more recent.

Once you download and save the package executable file, run it, and it will uninstall your system's current audio driver. After it completes the uninstall, it will prompt you to restart.

After restarting, let your system idle for a little bit. The older driver you downloaded will install the older Realtek driver. If you get an error, that the driver couldn't be installed, go on the DELL website again, and download a more recent audio driver package from a newer XPS model.

Once the older driver is installed in your system, hopefully you will have the Realtek HD Audio Manager, if so happens, then you my friend, have SUCEEDED!!!

Lastly, on your Windows 10 environment, right-click the audio icon on the taskbar, and press on Sounds (A dialog box will appear). Go on the Playback tab and click on your Speakers/Headphone device, and select Properties (Another dialog box opens up). On this dialog box, go on the Advanced tab and change your Default Format to the highest one available (For me it was the, 24bit 192000 Hz).

I hope this little handy dandy tutorial helps everyone struggling with driver issues on the newer DELL laptop models.

For me, this is a night and day difference, I don't get muffled, and distorted noises on my laptop while playing music or hearing the news.

Cheers guys!