Volume Swings During Songs with Beats Audio Enabled?

[chryslerE]

Great to hear that - I'll try it myself later,as HP obviously doesn't plan to do anything about this - they have not even updated a single driver for my Envy since it was released. What a bulls*it company. Last time ever I buy something from this joke. No wonder their shares have gone to bottom.

[Lagerbaer]

Oh boy.

So, I think I ran into this system as something (I don't know) messed up the way headphones were recognized and I started messing around with what device was what (sound device vs communications device).

My system was the brand new HP Envy TouchSmart 17..3" (as of now only a few weeks old), so I was quite dismayed to see that this problem persists for such a long time.

What did the trick for me was to first wipe the drivers for all audio devices via the device manager (just go to the start screen and type "device manager"). I then went to the HP website (I did *not* use the HP Support Assistant), clicked through the menus and downloaded and installed the new drivers. As of now, the problem seems to be solved.

Given the incredible finicky nature of computers, I understand that this procedure wil not necessarily work for everyone else. There's a petition on change.org you can sign if you think that will actually do anything, but I'm sure the only language a company understands is that of lost costumers.

PS: I can't help but add a smug remark on operating systems. This is why Microsoft and Apple are in my opinion the bad guys and Linux are the good guys: Many people posting in this thread know *exactly* what's wrong and would have been able to provide patched drivers for each and everyone with little work if only they had access to the driver's source code...

[Lagerbaer]

Scratch that. The first few minutes after my "fix" worked fine, but soon after that the stupid swings reappeared. I did the brute-force fix of replacing the IDT driver with Windows' generic audio driver. Now the sound is great. Definitely better than on my previous computer, so I don't care for missing out on the Beats experience...

[merchan]

The default Windows driver has a enhancement called "Loudness Equalization". These Beats Audio IDT drivers are using this setting by default and they don't provide a way to disable it. This enhancement should never existed because it ruins the whole audio experience causing the reported audio swings.

HP please fix this or let us a way to disable this enhancement without losing the Beats Experience.

[copitlory]

So I first engaged in this particular thread when I bought an HP Pavilion one year ago, and loved everything about it, until I found out about the audio bug.  I have since sold the laptop and transitioned to a Dell.  The audio on my Dell Inspiron is surprisingly good, and you can read reviews which say the same.  But I don't think people should just sell their laptops and buy a different brand.  I don't know if this issue is in the newer laptops powered by fourth generation Intel processors, but if I were you, I would consider a new laptop, either selling or returning my previous laptop.  In fact I am even considered selling my current Dell and purchasing an HP.  I want to have that 4th generation processor to stay with the market and HP laptops do have sleek designs and well priced especially for sleek design.

[DrTune]

I found a complete fix for this on my HP - posted on page 30. I'll paste it here again for your convenience.

Please try this and report - this fixed volume swings and left everything else intact;

Quote:

Ha! This has been driving me mad also (HP Envy 17 3290) 

KGB999 on previous page is correct- you can fix this (and still retain use of of Beats volume, EQ, etc) by editing your XML presets..

Basically do what he said; 

a) Find your c:\program files\IDT\WDM folder

b) use regedit as he described to find out which file is in use (in my case 'VuittonEq5.xml')

c) Keep a copy, obviously, and edit it. You need to edit in administrator mode (e.g. right click notepad, do 'run as administrator' then open the XML file with  that notepad instance)

d) Set an "enable"s in the XML file to zero that you don't like the look of. My example file is here on pastebin and it's volume-ducking-free on headphones 🙂

e) Reboot (or go to device manager and disable/re-enable the IDT audio device)

Sweet!   Thanks KGB999

This fix should work for anybody with the IDT drivers and XML file config stuff - go find your XML file and fix your own audio!

Happy DrTune

http://pastebin.com/yNdqvtV4

[merchan]

That fix won't work forever because if you keep changing between the headphones jack and the speakers the beats audio panel will change the settings automatically making the issue coming back.

The only way to fix this issue:

-Open Program and Features

-Uninstall IDT Audio Drivers

-Reboot Windows

When you boot up, Windows will install the High Definition default audio drivers. Issue Fixed.

If you want Bass Boost:

-right click on audio speaker on system tray

-playback devices

-double-click speakers

-enchancements tab

-check 'Bass Boost' setting

-click ok.

[J_V]

It might hold if you mark the file "read only" in the properties?

[irreversal]

Hey guys, i think I've found the solution.

Here is the driver: http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SOUND-CARD/IDT/IDT-HD-Audio-Driver-61064860-for-Windows-8-64-bit.sh...

It is the latest one at the moment, and it is fresher than the one installed on the Envy laptops.

Good thing: you still are able to use Beats Audio enhancers, and there is even a setting which makes volume levelling (swinging) higher or lower. Also you can switch off the enhancers, and it will switch off the levelling as well. You may still use the equalizers after that.

Bad thing: it looks like it's a generic driver, it is not an HP version of the driver. It is even not Beats Audio branded, it is just IDT branded, even though it contains the same enhancers as the Beats version. So it does not support 5 laptop speakers and utilizes only 2 of them. It is not a problem for me, as I usually use headphones or connect external speakers to my laptop.

Just a quick instruction: the driver is a CAB file, the contents should be extracted and installed manually.You have to go to Device Manager, find your IDT High Definition Audio Codec, open its properties, click on Update Driver and then "Browse my computer for driver software". Just browse the folder to where you have extracted the CAB file.


Of course it's a SHAME that HP cannot provide us with the proper driver, and we have to find all these workarounds...

[merchan · Accepted solution]

HP Support Assistant today notified me with updates and one of those updates includes a new version of IDT Audio Drivers. It appears the volume swings are finnally fixed! Thank you HP