Windows Extremely low volume from analog output

Right...

So that new amplifier I got has analog input and Win10 is being a wee bit silly. Cranking up the volume on that amp I can barely hear whatever is playing. Hooked up one of my old phones to using a cable and it was flawless, music over bluetooth is fine as well. Sound is fine when using headsets, so was optical output pre-blue smoke finding A Way Out. Analog output is the issue here (yes, tried a different cable, no improvement)

The thing is, I'm not entirely certain what I'm missing here. Done the usual system restore, driver shenanigans, tried EqualizerAPO, Fxsound or something which did make a difference but not a meaningful one

Could be a hardware issue as well. Can't say for certain as this particular motherboard has not had a cable plugged into the analog output before

I'm out of ideas so lend a hand?

 

Its in the "lime" output which the amp is definitely expecting

 

Heha actually tried that already! Nope, no difference

Edit: leaning towards buying an El Cheapo sound card

 

Is a Fiio Taishan D03K any good to you? Optical or coaxial digital input to 2-channel analogue output. Supposedly supports up to 192kHz/24bit...

It's been sat unused in a storage box for 4 or 5 years now, I've got absolutely no use for it at all - you're more othan welcome to it if it solves a problem for you.

EDIT: I've also got a Fiio Olympus 2 that you're welcome to (MicroUSB version, not Type-C). I know it's ostensibly a headphone amp, but it does have 3.5mm TRS line out as well as a coax digital output. Has also been sat in a (different) storage box for years, so I'll happily post it over if it solves a problem for you.

 

I'll give those a bloody go mate!

 

Sure, drop me a PM with your details and I’ll get them out as soon as I can.

I do need to test the Olympus first through. I have this nagging feeling that it had a dodgy USB connector, but I don’t remember whether it was the cable I was using or the port on the device. (Srsly, MicroUSB sucks, and it always did!)

 

Highly appreciated mate!

I'll give this thing a go first, was El Cheapo on the rainforest. Had a twitchy trigger finger and reasons

 

No worries, let me know how you get on

I can’t use the on-board audio output from my PC either. Although in my case it’s because there’s something extremely noisy on the same electrical circuit that causes a lot of noise in the on-board analogue audio hardware.

The Taishan DAC was my first solution. Then I got the Olympus 2 when my amp went pop because the cheap replacement I bought didn’t have a headphone output.

These days this takes care of audio input/output duties for me:



Behringer Flow8 - 8-channel mixing console, with 8-in/10-out USB audio interface, a headphone amp that can drive 250ohm headphones, and separate main/monitor buses.

Really neat bit of kit, despite being Behringer… Got it for doing streaming - I hardly do any streaming any more, outside of a (usually) yearly charity stream, but it’s pretty handy for voice chat as well. Channels 5/6 and 7/8 on the mixer can be swapped between the physical mixer inputs and a pair of USB audio output devices. Meaning “general PC sound and music playback” and “Discord voice chat” have their own separate mixer channels with independent physical hardware controls. Because each physical input also has its own USB audio input, I can send just the channel for my mic into Discord without any software trickery/wizardry.

I still do get noise from somewhere (I wish I could isolate the device causing it!) but at normal listening levels it’s basically inaudible with a USB audio device.

 

You will need a hammer to get windows to not delete old sound blaster drivers.

 

I'm more used to these kind of consoles Was a sound engineer at one point in life



Soundcraft Ghost was THE THING back in the day

Ehh I'll skip those overbloated drivers, whatever slop 10 crams in is close enough

 

Oof - beast! That'd take pretty much my entire desk! Yeah, if I'd known you'd worked as a sound engineer I wouldn't have gone on so much...

It was actually quite a challenge to find a reasonably-priced mixing console with the features I wanted - specifically, a USB channel for each physical channel (or stereo pair). There were a couple of Zoom models that were close to what I wanted, but they were a lot more expensive and still didn't have enough USB output channels. Plenty of well-known brands at similar prices - Yamaha, Roland, Allen & Heath, etc - with USB interfaces, but they're pretty much all 10- or 8-in and 2-out. I really didn't want to get Behringer again, but no one else offers the same features at the price points they do... And of course, because it's Behringer, there had to be something that bit me in the arse: the USB channels are all pre-fade sends except the stereo main mix channel. I kinda wanted post-fade send, but I made it work.

Doing the job pretty well so far though. I used to have a pure analogue mixer with no USB interface, so I'd have 2 or 3 audio cables or interfaces hanging out of my PC for all the channels I wanted. Very much a nice change to have just a single USB cable.

 

Haha yeah I have HIGH taste when it comes to professional audio

Should do a few live gigs. Absolutely loved those back in the day and I'm a natural for live sound

 

In a roundabout way, that’s what started me down the path of using “Pro Audio” kit at home.

About 15 years ago, I was helping an ex-colleague record live gigs for a live band night he was putting on at a local club. He already had a proper sound engineer, so literally all he wanted was for someone to record the main mix coming out of the desk and help set up the website that the recordings would be hosted on. Enter me, with my laptop. The recorded mix was… not great. But that’s obviously because he was mixing for what was coming over the club’s PA - you don’t need to boost the drums an awful lot because obviously they’re naturally pretty loud in a small club. I got chatting to the sound guy and he made a couple of suggestions. He could set up a bus for each instrument group and feed each bus to an external output. So if I got a small 6-8 channel mixer or audio interface, we could have separate live and recording mixes. Bonus points if I got an audio interface because then I wouldn’t have to worry about nailing the mix on the day - just set the maximum gain on each channel, record all channels in DAW software, then mix afterwards.

There were plans to mic up the crowd and start recording video as well as audio, but the whole thing kinda fizzled out before I got my hands on any gear better than a basic 2-in/2-out stereo “audio interface”. Still something I’ve always been kinda interested in since then, but there’s no way I’d switch careers and try to make a living doing it. My cushy little office job pays too much!

 

Hopefully they fixed the thing where they recognize the entire device as "headphones". Honestly, I couldn't get any sound out of default win10 drivers. I think they are placebos. They do the same thing to 'old' printers.

 

Had to plop Creative drivers in... Eww

So the Audigy is in (took a day because lazy). Save those for someone else in need, everything works 100% so I don't have the need. Once again, your offer is highly appreciated!

 

No worries

 

Now comes the fun part where every windows update deletes the working drivers, and replaces them with the fakes.