DTS Audio Control Panel Audio Enhancements dont stay off

[daxliniere]

Well done. Perfect solution.

Incidentally, after I uninstalled the RealTek I2S rubbish, DTS control panel is removed from Windows Control Panel.
There is still a link if you search start menu, but it doesn't run anything. Great!

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EDIT: If I uninstall RealTek I2C, it is automatically reinstalled on restart, even when driver auto-update is disabled.

[GX9]

Thanks dax and andrew, so im guessing you both have permanently disabled the DTS "enhancements". I've kinda learned to live with this bug by manually ticking and unticking the enhancements everytime I want to listen to music, as it hopelessly makes all audio crackle and pop. I'll try to download the realtek drivers and hopefully solve this problem. Thanks a lot guys!

[andrewiam_com]

Great to hear it worked dax! Hopefully manufacturers will eventually learn we don't want our audio "enhanced". Apple seems to get it.

[andrewiam_com]

Uh oh, the crackles came back.  I tried uninstalling the I2S driver from Programs and Features but it just reinstalled itself.  Then I tried uninstalling the HD Audio driver and it stayed uninstalled but the crackling was still there.  I then tried removing the EXEs from C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\IIS because they were mentioned in the I2S driver details, but all that did was break the control panel so the enhancements were permanantly on.  Putting them back and launching them reenabled the control panel.

I thought I had fixed the problem because I was leaving my headphone plugged in during reboots instead of plugging them in each time.  I'll keep poking at drivers and report back if I find anything; as always, feel free me to bump the thread if I don't reply in two days. 

[andrewiam_com]

After some attempts, here are my findings:

There are two kinds of distortion when the enhancements are enabled: crackling with suppressed mids, and a "robotic sounding" distortion. 

Once the effects begin enabling themselves on boot, there is no way to disable them from happening on the next boot. 

There is no way to pare down the driver to remove the crackling without directly modifying the files. 

There does not appear to be a command line arguments to send to any of the EXEs I checked that would disable enhancements. 

I don't see any consistent changes in Registry keys when enabling and disabling the enhancements. 

At least in the Realtek drivers (I'm too lazy to test the HP drivers), the type of enhancement (Music/Voice/3D Movie) sticks between boots.  Voice does less distortion than Movie which does less distortion than Music. 

[andrewiam_com]

After looking at the registry and Program Files, I think I've found the actual solution.  The file C:\ProgramData\SRS Labs\APO\slconfig.xml appears to control all of the enhamcements.  I just installed Notepad++, opened it as administrator, opened slconfig.xml (after backing it up), and used Find and Replace to switch out every instance of ">1<" with ">0<".  This disables every enhacnement that was enabled.  Unfortunately, you can't delete it or DTS will just revert to the previous defaults.  There is a signature at the bottom of the file but it appears to be ignored. 

When disabling all the enhancements, bass is suppressed and volume is generally lower, but compared to the previous enhancements, it's much better.  I'm going to test reenabling certain settings and deleting parts of the file to see what settings are actually being read and what they do.  There's about 3,400 lines (a lot of them redundant) so it might take me a few days to comb through them all.  As always, anyone is free to nag me if I don't post anything after 3 or 4 days.  I want to help everyone fix their Realtek drivers and the stupid "enhaancements". 

[GX9]

Wow, thanks so much Andrew, you are really going out of your way to fix this problem and help everyone with this weird bug. I'm very sorry I can't help much with the config file since I'm just not well versed with deep computer stuff (just a normal user here). But really thanks so much for all your help.

[daxliniere]

Andrew! What a dude! 🙂

Thanks so much for this, even though HP/RealTek should take responsibility for their own mess.

On further inspection, it seems that uninstalling  the RealTek I2S driver/software has fixed the issue permanently (power-off persistent) for me on Spectre x360 (13-4009tu), so I'm sorry to hear you're still having problems.

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EDIT: If I uninstall RealTek I2C, it is automatically reinstalled on restart, even when driver auto-update is disabled.

[daxliniere]

Unfortunately, the dreaded DTS panel invited itself back all on its own! Yes, RealTek I2S somehow reinstalled itself and can be seen in my Programs & Features list. I noticed this because the awful distortion & general poor sound quality returned.

I've been meaning to post this for the past week, but have been too busy.

HP and RealTek, can we PLEASE get a fix for this horrible thing?!?

[daxliniere]

Geez, this is so frustrating. I uninstalled the Realtek I2S again and can confirm it definitely fixes the problem - HOWEVER - there is no guarantee that it doesn't just re-install itself... as it has done on my system.

I have Windows updates disabled and I definitely didn't get any notification that Realtek I2S was being re-installed or the other Realtek software was being updated, so I've no idea how it came back, BUT...

Right now, the DTS control panel opens, but doesn't affect audio at all. If I toggle the Audio Enhancements checkbox, it makes absolutely no difference. (WINNING!)

The only other thing that changed is that I disabled the microphone noise reduction ("HP Noise Cancellation" under Recording Experience tab of DTS control panel.)

Maybe you guys who are still afflicted could try that? It makes the microphone sound awful anyway, so it's worth disabling as well.