Windows 10: How can I tell which program is taking exclusive control of audio?

Subject says it all.


Context: I have an Oculus Rift, and the sound used to pop in and out. Now, when I say "pop", I do not mean mute and unmute! Rather, it switches between 3D audio that rotates around me depending on which way I face, and standard Stereo audio with two dumb outputs resting on my ears that are in no way at all tracked.

To solve this, I got a new USB3.0 PCIe card that many people recommended to fix the issue, and it did!

However, I now have a new problem: Skype got an update just at the same time that I put this new card in, and now I entirely lose audio after about one minute of being in the Rift. Restarting the Rift completely does fix it, but only for a minute. I found out I can resolve this issue by going to the Rift's audio settings and unchecking "allow applications to take exclusive control of this device". It immediately brings sound back! Yay!.. But it also brings the popping back, and it reliably comes in after a minute of use, just like when audio would normally cut out.

Clearly there's another program trying to take control of the Rift's output and messing with its ability to reproduce proper sound. I want to know which program in particular so I can try uninstalling it to see if my theory is correct. Skype seems like the likely culprit, but exiting it doesn't solve the issue, so I have some doubts about it.

:)

 

How can I tell which application is requesting the net access

Yes there is. PhoNetInfo. But I'm not sure if there is a version for S60v5. Google?

 

How can I tell which application is requesting the net access

well, thanks for the reply, but this is kinda obvious, isn't it?

so, there is no way to find out which application causes this in particular? something like a task manager?

 

Download and run the free Latency Mon program. It may point to what is causing the problem.
Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

 

Have you tried right clicking on speakers, then sounds...…to find the intruder?.....see attachment.

 

Geh, figures, turns out one of the USB cables was bad, or something along those lines. Switched it out and things are much better!

I'm not entirely sure why I didn't think to try that first. Oh well, at least it's fixed! (Hopefully.)

 

Glad to see you have got it sorted.