Beats Audio compression and volume fluctuation - HP ENVY m6-1178sa

[burgerward]

I've just bought a HP pavilion 15 (p045tx) with the beats audio and exactly the same problem that everyone describes here .... fluctuating volume in music or unwanted sound compression, which was driving me absolutely nuts!

After trying a few things that others had tried on these forums (ie: registry changes, reinstallation of HP sound drivers) nothing worked.  In the end, there was someone who simply said that they went into their device manager, and under the sound devices they simply deleted all the items under there for sound hardware devices, then right clicked and allowed Windows to rescan for hardware updates and changes so that Windows reinstalls generic drivers for the detected hardware.  After doing this, the sound was perfect without anymore of that painfully frustrating sound compression.

The other thing I noticed as well after doing this, was that the beats audio app icon that usually sits running in the background (in the bottom right hand corner system tray area) was no longer there.  Good riddance!!

No idea of why this worked, I just know that my sound is now normal and listening to music via headphones or external amplified speakers is now perfect.  Hopefully this helps someone.

[ruhban]

What exactly does this do? What difference will I see? 

It's a pity to see that they've stuck with the same crappy solution from when this thread started. They obviously don't deserve our hard-earned cash if they're not listening to us. It so annoys me that this problem has been around for so long and the 'support technicians' claim not to know a thing about it.

[mickcoadykmg365]

My laptop (HP envy Touchsmart) has beats audio AND realtech drivers so his question is valid in this thread. I did the search for IDT drivers as mentioned above and none to be found. It must be remembered it's not uncommon for manufactures to install different types of sound, video cards or any other device in a laptop such as the envy Named computers. I too would like to get rid of the compressor type sound that affects my laptop. It's annoying

[Alley_Kitten]

Same here. I've seen a lot to imply that IDT is the only Beats Audio version, but the fact I have a system sitting right in front of my face with the Beats Audio crap on it that is branded as Realtek proves those assumptions are wrong. It's extremely frustrating to see easy fixes for the IDT versions and jack-squat for the Realtek versions. This laptop is starting to make me want to sell it on Ebay and get a brand with better audio (which at this point I feel amounts to literally any other brand out there).

[AlexCostanzo]

 I had the same problem with my HP Stream 14 laptop, beats were causing a volume fluctuation issue but I had Realtek not IDT. The way I fixed it was to go to Device Manager> Sound, Video and Game Controllers> Realtek Audio Device, then right click and Uninstall. Make sure you tick to unistall the drivers completely too! 

It should then ask you to restart your computer, when it does this it will install a generic audio device, my new one is just called High Definition Audio Device. If it doesn't then go back onto Device Manager>Action>Scan for hardware changes. Ever since I did this the Beats Audio icon has disappeared and so has the annoying volume fluctuation!

Hope this helps! 

[ruhban]

I've already tried this but the problem with mine is that I've got 4 speakers and 2 subwoofers in my Envy J143na which all pretty much deactivate when I uninstall the Beats-based drivers. They sound really good for laptop speakers but whenever I install generic drivers only 2 small speakers are left which are really quiet. That's my dilemma 😞
I even tried contacting support and they ended up claiming that I'm wrong for expecting my headphones to work. They suggested I go out and buy some Beats headphones.

[Alley_Kitten]

The default Windows audio drivers are extremely insufficient, both in the regard for systems with more than two speakers and in general features. It can't detect the shift between headphones and speakers well, and will often glitch out the volume control or the audio as a whole when swapping if you're playing audio or have an open YoutTube video at the time. It also lacks the Stereo Mix recording option, which can be a big issue for some users. Why Windows can't make a more decent audio driver is anyone's guess, but the fact that HP are basically saying to take these fairly expensive machines and either deal with horrid, subpar audio or... slighty less horrid, subpar audio is completely unacceptable and unfair.

[SteveCT99]

I have an HP Envy 17T I purchased in Jan. 2015 with Windows 8.1 and noticed the same issue of highly compressed audio when playing back music files no matter what app you used (Windows Media Player, iTunes, Virtual DJ, etc.). Like the rest of us, this has been driving me crazy. I can confirm that it is not a figment of your imagination - the compression is indeed caused by BeatsAudio. I find it incredible that a software app that supposedly claims a superior listening experience would overlook the ability to turn off such an annoying (and in-your-face) feature!!?? Oh well, so much for my soap box.

I stumbled upon a solution that involves disabling Beats Audio and substituting another audio device driver in its place. The following steps work for Windows 8.1 on an HP Envy laptop:

1. Go to Windows Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers section.
2. In the list of audio device drivers, look for Realtek High Definition Audio. This is the device driver for BeatsAudio (a little bit sneaky, wouldn’t you say?).
3. Right-click and select Disable. The downward arrow displays on this driver, indicating it is disabled. (NOTE: At this point, you won’t be able to play any music files.)
4. Right-click and select Update Driver Software.
5. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
6. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
7. You should see a window that says Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. NOTE: If you see a window that says something like This is the best driver for this device, exit the window and repeat steps 4, 5, and 6.
8. In the Model box, highlight High Definition Audio Device (this is the substitute audio device driver) and click Next.
9. At the Update Driver Warning window, click Yes. You should see a confirmation window with High Definition Audio Device displayed. Click Close.
10. In the list of audio device drivers in the Sound, video and game controllerssection, you’ll notice that the High Definition Audio Device now displays instead ofRealtek High Definition Audio.
11. At the prompt to reboot, click Yes.
12. Enjoy your music now with no compression!!

NOTE: If you miss the compression in your music, you can always go back to using BeatsAudio.

Use the same steps above, just replace High Definition Audio Device driver with the RealTek High Definition Audio driver.

[912837445]

Worked for me. 

[StuartW154]

I've got an HP Envy 17 and I can confirm that the method for disabling beats audio and installing the high definition driver works after the windows 10 upgrade. The sound is now great on headphones but is now really tinny over the speakers. I upgraded to this laptop as I do a lot of sound and video editing and neither sound option is acceptable.

What's needed is a way to just turn off the compression, I can't believe this got past quality control at HP, let alone Beats Audio and I find it astonishing that this problem hasn't been resolved by HP. The posts about this go back a couple of years.

So if anyone has found a way to turn off the compression and still retain a decent sound then please post here, better still, HP/Beats sort it out

Thanks