Watch out for computer "audio enhancer" settings when mixing!

[des0free]

I had been doing mixing/mastering on my Dell Windows 10 computer sometimes using the internal "Realtek" audio (via the headphone jack).  Then I would try playing back my mixes on other devices (e.g., via usb audio interface, via iphone,  via car stereo) and wonder why it sounded a bit different.

Finally I realized that windows, deep down in the "speaker settings" had an "audio enhancement" function set on, which seems to do things like a bass boost.  It kind of pisses me off because I just want to hear my pure unadulterated sound.

I found it under Sound > Device properties > Additional device properties > Enable audio enhancements (uncheck this!).

I had already discovered before that Dell pre-installed something called "MaxxAudio Pro" which also imposes some audio enhancements including a Bass booster and spatial "dimension" simulator.  I had already figured out how to turn those off a long time ago after figuring out they were distorting my sound. Then I thought I had pure sound.  But no, windows also had some crazy enhancer going on all along on top of that!

I'm not sure whether this also affected the audio thru my Mackie Onyx Blackjack USB interface or not, but probably not, because the sound seemed more natural when I had the headphones plugged into that.  But sometimes I didn't feel like getting out the USB interface, and just wanted to use the headphone jack on the laptop.

[Bishmanrock]

Good tip!

For some reason I had to take a really longwinded route to get to my device list, couldn't do it direct as you (and many websites when I looked) listed. Not sure if I'm running an older/newer version of Windows 10 that may affect that.


Anyway, when I got there the it looks like my device doesn't have any options for Enhancements at all! I've Googled it and comparing screenshots against what I see - the tab/section that holds that information just doesn't exist at all on my end.

Not sure if it's elsewhere or because I'm using an audio interface the drivers know not to include those options, just something to be aware of if anyone else sets off down that rabbit hole...

[Ferryman]

Yes, good tip. Those "audio enhancements" are awful, they really mess up the sound. I use the BR800 as a soundcard, so I get pure unadulterated sound from that.

[AndyR]

Another thing to watch out for is the sample rate in use on the sound driver(s).

My understanding is that, for consistency, you want it set to the same on all the devices ("sound cards") that you are likely to be using for playing back or, more importantly, for rendering new audio.

In your case, you want the windows driver sample rate to be the same as whatever you've got set on your main interface.

I'm using 44.1K on my PreSonus interface (when used in conjunction with Bit depth 16, this is "CD quality")

A week or two back I (thought) I set ALL my sound drivers to 44.1K (windows, or something, defaults them to 48.0K or "dvd quality" apparently, and that is what I found when I looked)

But at the weekend I discovered this is NOT the case - had not set them ALL, especially the one I'm most likely to use when my PreSonus interface isn't plugged in...


Like you, I sometimes don't want to be lugging the interface around (to the living room!).

However, I've had to STOP using the headphone out socket on my laptop (it's becoming unreliable connectionwise, AND the realtek crap has gone screwy since updating to Windows, even with "enhancements" etc turned off, I always did have them off, the sound from the socket is weedy and horrid since the update, I couldn't fix it)

Instead, for general use I've switched to using one of those little USB things with a driver inside and two stereo mini jacks (my wife discovered them when her headphone socket died) - that's perfect for playing music off the laptop through the stereo when the main interface isn't available.

But, of course, the device isn't available/visible when that isn't plugged in... and I did my "set the sample rate on all drivers" tidy up when it wasn't plugged in.

My understanding is that mismatches in your workflow/processing chain can cause you problems in "not getting the sound you thought you were getting".

I didn't have any evidence of this, it just seemed sound advice from an internet dude explaining how to tune your PC for music production.

Then on Saturday night, me and Mrs R heard the evidence for ourselves...


What we found was that an mp3 rendered earlier by Studio One through my main interface sounded very different to an mp3 rendered later - from the same audio - by Audacity through the little USB driver.

When we spotted that I started thinking - uhoh, better not include Audacity in any processing from now on...
But I rendered again from Studio One - and that sounded different again!!

Then I realised I was rendering 320K mp3s from Studio One but only 256K from Audacity.
I fixed that, and...
Both Audacity and Studio One rendered the same but...
They STILL sounded different to the original!!!

Then I checked the USB driver's sample rate - it was set to 48.0K

I set it to 44.1K and both Audacity and and Studio One were rendering identical sounding audio, that now sounds the same as the original mp3 we were checking for "shall I post it?"

That's a bit of a relief, because I still might to want to use Audacity sometimes.

(Btw, that mp3 we were checking is not good enough, sadly, so I'm not posting it yet... The "crap" versions rendered at the different sample rate of 48.0K fixed some of the issues but actually lost a lot of the "good stuff" in the one we were checking - Mrs R preferred the original, even though it was somewhat compromised on the mastering front... and that was enough for me to decide that I have still more to do).

But... Horrifyingly... this means that every mp3 I've posted in the last x years has been slightly compromised because I've used Audacity running though a driver set to a different sample rate than I was using on my recording machine!!! I'd spend all that time recording/mixing/mastering on the BR1600, carefully checking, etc, etc... and then quickly whooshed it through Audacity at a different sample rate, barely listening, to create the mp3 LOLLOLLLLOL

I always thought all the "degradation" in sound was down to the wav to mp3 conversion... apparently not! 

It's not necessarly "degradation" but it ISN'T what I was creating.
It's like I made a lovely cup of coffee for you, but before she gives it to you, my wife ALWAYS adds a teaspoon of something else...
Just because she can, and that's how she likes it...
You wouldn't ever be drinking the coffee I made.
You might prefer it, you might not.
But we'll never know or be able discuss our tastes properly until we find out that she's been changing every cup I make for you.



By the way, on aside issue, both me and Mrs R were stunned to realise we could both hear marked differences between the 256K and 320K mp3s of the same material (and she's nearly deaf in one ear!!). My understanding was that most mortals couldn't hear the difference... Or maybe it's down to the windows audio driver in the usb thingy - and if I did the same tests on the PreSonus interface I wouldn't hear any differences...  ... life's too short for that, right at the moment, though!

[guitarron]

I wonder if that audio enhancement had something to do with my Bluetooth headphones sounding like did crap.
When I went on a trip recently, I didn't pack my ur44 interface. I had my Bose headphones with me and the sound quality was awful.
I will investigate this further, although this is not my normal practice when traveling, I usually bring the interface