Windows 10: Audio switches to Windows Sonic instead of Dolby Atmos

Every time I boot up my pc my spatial sound switches from Dolby to Windows Sonic. Is there any way I can stop this from happening?

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:)

 

dolby atmos for headphones vs windows sonic

Thanks for your reply. as the pay of $15 is to windows store not publisher. The source you provided is programming parameters still not explain in detail difference windows sonic and dolby atom for headphone.

The dolby atom for earphone states it can turn any set of earphone into dolby atom experience, that means it convert existing audio source into dolby atom channels then output to earphones?

also, I searched all over the web cannot find any information from Microsoft about windows sonic and dolby atom for earphone.

 

dolby atmos for headphones vs windows sonic

Hi,

With regards to your concern about having to pay $15 for Dolby Atmos for Headphones, we suggest that you contact the publisher of the application as we have limited information about their product.

Secondly, to compare Windows Sonic/ Spatial Sound with Dolby Atmos for Headphones, click
here. You'll be able to get the information or specifications about Spatial Sound and compare it with Dolby Atmos
for Headphones.

Let us know if you have any other concerns.

 

Windows Sonic For Heaphones and Dolby Atmos For Headphones NOT in use Even Though they are enabled in spatial sound settings

Sir my audio card doesn't support any hardware acceleration feature and the "turn of hardware acceleration" checkbox is not present and even the enhancements tab is absent in first place. I am using a generic Microsoft audio driver. The problem is with spatial
sound API I think because when I enabled "windows sonic for headphones" there is no sound signature change that u can feel and one more thing I need to tell about windows sonic is I am not even seeing the message near the taskbar telling me " windows sonic
for headphones in use " whether u play a 5.1/7.1 content that can be upscalable or Dolby atmos content windows sonic effects aren't being applied and it's strange. Its almost like, we can assume that "spatial sound is not supported by this device/ spatial
sound isn't available right now / windows encountered a problem while turning on spatial sound / spatial sound tab is greyed out" .....all these bugs in different forms lead to a common source and I had seen many consumers complaining about those above mentioned
4 cases in different scenarios and the all of them has a common root.

Now that a new bug discovered by me with my system is.... windows will not let its users know that it encountered a problem while turning on spatial sounds rather ... it would simply allow users the option to enable spatial sound effect by scrolling to
the either windows sonic or Dolby atmos while still actually it is not applying any DSP effects to sounds. It like you can turn on spatial sound but you may or may not get the effects and for this, you need to analyze audio by yourself either by hearing it
or simply by watching down at sound icon towards the taskbar for any message that tells you, " windows sonic / Dolby atmos for headphones in use". Unless it tells you that way .... make sure you may not get any spatial sound effects.

One interesting thing that you need to know about Dolby Atmos is ....unlike windows sonic, Dolby atmos processor is inbuilt inside the Dolby access app itself whereas windows sonic processor is present inside the core of windows os somewhere. Though Dolby
atmos audio processor is present within the Dolby Access app i.e outside of windows os, it's been linked with windows sonic audio processor in such a way that the workflow is mentioned below

Digital audio first arrives at the windows audio processer where it checks for user's input, if the input is "windows sonic" then it processes the sound there itself and that processed spatial audio signal comes out as a bitstream to the endpoint headphone
jack\ HDMI without going to Dolby atmos audio processor ...Now if you enable "Dolby Atmos for headphones"...the digital audio signal arrives at windows audio processer and there it will get bypassed automatically by Dolby hence the signal is now bypassed the
windows sonic audio processor as a bitstream and arrives Dolby atmos audio processor where it gets it's effects applied by Dolby and ejects out to headphone.....What happened here with my laptop or anyone who is suffering spatial sound issue is their windows
sonic audio processor stopped functioning completely therefore the audio signal has only one way left out, i.e the Dolby atmos processor and so we are seeing results in such as the following scenarios.

Dolby Atmos processor is a DSP that has Dolby ProLogic 2 z coding inside the Dolby access app of win 10 and it can send the audio signal as it is unprocessed if it is a Dolby Atmos signal. It identifies such a Dolby atmos signal simply by reading the Dolby
metadata encryption. IF any audio signal that doesn't have Dolby metadata encryption that means it is a non-dolby atmos signal and therefore Prologic will logically upscale and encode it to Dolby atmos and then outputs it to headphone/home theatre. And Dolby
company till now only provided its ProLogic 2 z processor to upscale only the content if it is a 5.1 or 7.1 signal only to full 7.1.4. Dolby ProLogic 2 z processor doesn't upscale 2.0 / 2.1 audio signal and send it as it is, this is a limitation set by Dolby
on it ... That is why whenever you play 2.1/2.0 media files on your pc you don't get any message at the taskbar telling you "Dolby Atmos for headphones/home theatre in use" But when you play a 5.1/7.1 non-dolby atmos files...you WILL get the message in this
case because it is being upscaled to 7.1.4. On the other hand, as you know, if you play a media file that is encoded in native Dolby atmos 2.1.2/2.1.4/5.1.2/5.1.4/7.1.2/7.1.4, obviously you will get the message telling you Dolby atmos for headphones/home theatre
in use"

Therefore now as you understood how Dolby atmos audio processor is outside of core windows but still linked with windows sonic audio processor and the Dolby ProLogic 2 z processor's limitation with 2.1/2.0 files you can now easily conclude what's going
wrong with many win 10 users facing the issue with their spatial sound. So lets come back to the root cause, when the windows sonic audio processor is silent / non-funtional means it can't read an audio file and cant conclude if the incoming signal is 2.1
or 5.1 or 7.1 file, therefore, it handovers the signal as a 2.1-standard only to the endpoint that is headphone or home theatre irrespective of the signal being a 5.1 /7.1 ..so if the spatial sound is not functional or even if you successfully enabled it
somehow, the output signal will be only stereo. This is the case with windows sonic for headphones. OK now coming to Dolby atmos for headphones as we discussed earlier since the Dolby atmos processer solely rely on the input to arrive and wait for it from
windows sonic audio processor, Now if you enable Dolby Atmos for headphone/home theatre, the failed windows sonic processor will bypass the signal to Dolby ProLogic 2 z processor as the above discussed standard stereo-only signal. And now u can expect the
rest....i.e the signal will not be upscaled because Prologic thinks it is a 2.1 signal. In this way you will be at loss even with the content you play maybe a 5.1/7.1 file and your either headphone or receiver reads the signal as stereo only. The only advantage
that you may get by using Dolby Atmos for headphones in such a failed spatial sound scenario is still you can get Dolby atmos limited only with content created in it or if you send a pure Dolby atmos signal...

This is what happened with me and any other users like me with their failed spatial sound features. Means they will get Dolby atmos if and only if the content is available in Dolby Atmos and if and only if they apply Dolby atmos for headphones/home theatre
in the settings. And if they enable windows sonic instead they won't even get that small advantage also.Actually, according to the Dolby×Microsoft, users shall enjoy Dolby atmos on win 10 for the native Dolby atmos media that they stream and also for non-Dolby
atmos audio like normal 5.1/7.1 files encoded in DTS or Dolby digital plus, etc to full Dolby atmos and this is what for we are paying to get the Dolby atmos experience via Dolby access purchase

Why did I say all this to you? because we must be aware of this new bug yet an old one that is "something went wrong while turning on spatial sound" issue and its been yet unresolved by Microsoft that originally started in 2019 May from win 10, 1809 build
onwards... Microsoft recommended its users who ever complain about it is to "update their drivers from the manufacturer site" without actually fixing the windows sonic audio possessor coding.....What's more this issue arrived again this April 2020 but people
are unable to recognize it innocently .... sounds ok good right... why? According to the above explanation, this new bug will not let its users know that "something went wrong with their spatial sound" and doesn't log any errors to the Microsoft to report
it ...instead, it misleads and even allows users to enable spatial sound effects either windows sonic or Dolby while still not doing the actual job..... Now this issue must be urgently addressed by Microsoft and resolve it. You can even check by yourself..........
Go to any pc that is having a problem with turning on spatial sounds because of its incompatible audio driver and just update it to the 1909 version and this April cumulative update released 1 week ago and there you go ...this time you may not get an error
message and you can turn on spatial sound but again please cross-check with demo files and test tones either with headphones or AV receivers from that pc and you may easily discover the bug.