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

[mortb]

I experienced that audio volume was "pumping" up and down when I reinstalled the HP audio drivers.

It turns out that this is an "audio enhancement" that can be turned off:

1. type SRS in the search box in the start menu. If you installed the HP audio drivers the search will find "SRS Premium sound PRO" application.

2. Open the found application.

3. Click the "listening experience" tab.

4. Uncheck the "audio enhancement" checkbox.

For me sound became more plain and less bassy, but the "pumping" compression is *gone*. 

I would guess that this "audio enhancement" is designed so that you should be able have more bass in more silent parts of the music, but it sounds crap.

[who_N]

Hello.

As far as I'm aware, there is a fix for realtek audio drivers exists and it predates the creation of this thread!

All that needs doing is updating the driver.

Doing this from the driver settings does not solve this issue - the executable must be downloaded from realtek's official site here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsview.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownT...

Download the ~220mb "Vista, Windows7, Windows8, Windows8.1, Windows10 Driver (32/64bits) Driver only" (exe or zip) and run it. It'll uninstall the current driver, prompt a restart, install the new driver, prompt another restart and done!

For what it's worth, beats audio stays intact, albeit without the compression.

[SteveHP99]

Once you eliminate Beats Audio, you loose its built-in EQ (as well as its compression) on all music sources. Consequently, you'll need to use the EQ settings of whatever app (e.g., iTunes, WMP, etc.) you are playing your music through to make up the difference. The problem you are having with a tinny sound from your external speakers isn't a Beats Audio problem per se - you just need to get EQ from another source (e.g., via iTunes, WMP, etc.).

I do agree, though, that Beats Audio/HP should add a disable button in the app so you have choice to tun ON or OFF the compression (as opposed to the current method of enabling/disabling the entire app).

[StuartW154]

Thanks for this, updating the driver has improved the sound a lot. I haven't had time to thoroughly test it but it's definitely better....

[RLDEE]

Same problem here...audio compression and unable to turn it off.

I disabled the HD driver and installed the generic driver and the compression was gone.

I saw the post above about the new Realtek 220mb driver so I tried that and the compression is back.

Back to the generic driver for me. Compression now gone.

[Lemagex]

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@SteveHP99 wrote:

Beats Audio/HP should add a disable button in the app so you have choice to tun ON or OFF the compression (as opposed to the current method of enabling/disabling the entire app).

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This really needs to be a feature and it really shouldnt be that hard for them to implement at all.

It's 2016 and there's been posts complaining about forced compression since 2010 (that i can find)

If I had known this laptop had forced volume compression with no solution (No, using generic drivers that force the audio on the headphone port to be untied with the internal speakers when some applications dont switch is NOT solution) then I would never have gotten a HP.

I've steered a lot of family and friends away from HP until this is fixed in an acceptable way. (BUTTON, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GIVE US A TOGGLE!)

[dortkface]

hilariously awful.

hp, where is the fix for this? 

i had it sorted with a generic driver, but the forced update to win 10 about a month ago set everything right back to factory garbage. now i can't see how to change it.

the hp-product-gobbling hordes await your service. we know you care dearly about us.

[Lemagex]

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@Lemagex wrote:

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@SteveHP99 wrote:

Beats Audio/HP should add a disable button in the app so you have choice to tun ON or OFF the compression (as opposed to the current method of enabling/disabling the entire app).

---

This really needs to be a feature and it really shouldnt be that hard for them to implement at all.

It's 2016 and there's been posts complaining about forced compression since 2010 (that i can find)

If I had known this laptop had forced volume compression with no solution (No, using generic drivers that force the audio on the headphone port to be untied with the internal speakers when some applications dont switch is NOT solution) then I would never have gotten a HP.

I've steered a lot of family and friends away from HP until this is fixed in an acceptable way. (BUTTON, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GIVE US A TOGGLE!)

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Please HP it's been a very long time now. I just started my own thread because I did not see this one, and I feel like an idiot for missing it. There is no excuse or reason to not give us a toggle!

Every other company that I have purchased laptops or desktops from provides a toggle, why can't you?

After all of the posts complaining, and the threads with pages and pages full on not just here but all third party forums, you cannot take a hint can you?

Please do not become another "Dell"... then again at least they do not have this problem. I will definitely not be purchasing a HP system ever again and I will stop providing them for contracted companies.

[Lemagex]

huh. so it might not work for all laptop models, but for my p108tx i installed this http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp72001-72500/sp72094.exe after removing the old driver, rather than just being the generic realtek driver that sounds like absolute tin can stuff or losing your tied outputs or microphone enhancements, this keeps all those features, replaces the beats audio control panel with the realtek one (but still keeps your speakers enhanced and all channels and subwoofers enabled) so it is essentially beats, BUT, and this is the best part, it has a "Loudness Equalization" toggle which seems to completely disable volume leveling while keeping all the GOOD parts of beats and HP's tweaks. I'm happy for now.

[GTGamer5]

I found a fix!

This only applies to those with Reaktek HD Audio as their driver

Go to this link http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsCheck.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTyp... Definition Audio Codecs and download the 64 Bit High Definition Audio Codec at the top.

Install that and reboot your computer, Once done look for the Realtek HD Audio Manager (Which is the BeatsAudio control panel in disguise) which should be in C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\HDA. Then launch the application 'RtkNGUI64.exe'. Once that opens your speaker will be sounding good without any volume swings. You'll be able to use BeatsAudio EQ settings just like normal

This worked for me. I use an HP Envy 15 k001tx