Windows 10: Im trying to use windows' built-in loudness equalization.

I tend to use my computer in very odd ways. For example, I watch movies, listen to music, and play video games, all on the same computer but never at the same time. The default windows audio settings work great for playing video games and listening to music. But I need to use loudness equalization when I watch movies.


I first had this issue about a decade ago on windows 7. my solution back then was to press a button on my remote control, that would run a little batch file, and that would open up the sound dialogue, select my audio device, go into the properties of that audio device, go into the enhancements tab and toggle loudness equalization and apply it. all in about 1 second. then it would launch my movie/tv app, then it would sit quietly in the background and wait for that app to close, and then undo the loudness equalization and close the sounds dialogue.


eventually I got windows 10, i had to rewrite stuff a bit, but it worked most of the time still on windows 10. But after plenty of updates and possibly other software, the sound dialogue box is just a little bit too random. sometimes the dialogue box doesnt get and keep focus, sometimes its position isnt predictable, sometimes there a teeny bit of lag, its just a bit too random to reliably work anymore. so i need an alternative.


Im looking for an automatic way to use the windows built-in loudness equalization only on the specific apps that have composed dialogue. and not on any other apps like music or video games or web browsers.


having me change those apps' settings would probably be impossible for the scope of this forum there's codecs and directx shaders, frame-interpolation, legacy audio mixing that doesnt have acceptable loudness equalization, and vr stereoscopic and spatial audio components but i can change audio output device on those apps


windows 10 home is updated, rtx 2080ti is the hdmi output audio that i am concerned with and has current drivers. nothing is broken. i need a howto, not a repair.

:)

 

Can't find loudness equalization

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you are unable to get proper audio output levels on certain videos.



Ideally, the level of audio depends on the type of file that you are playing. As you have mentioned that you are unable to find Loudness equalization, I would like to inform that certain audio devices and audio card does not provide the Audio Enhancements
options.



However, you may want to have a look at the Sound Control panel, and see if Loudness Equalization Enhancement is available. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press Windows Logo key + R, to open
   Run dialog box.
   
2. Type mmsys.cpl and click on
   OK.
   
3. Under Playback tab, double click on the sound device that you are using.
   
4. Click on Enhancements tab.
   
5. Select the checkbox for Loudness Equalization.
   
6. Click on OK.
   

If the issue persists, you may want to try updating the Audio drivers and check. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press Windows Logo key + X, and select
   Device Manager.
   
2. Expand Sound, Video, and Game Controllers.
   
3. Right click on the Audio
   device and select Update Driver.
   

Article for reference:
Update drivers in Windows 10.



We can try to use an alternate audio driver and see if that helps. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press Windows Logo key + X, and select
   Device Manager.
   
2. Expand Sound, Video, and Game Controllers.
   
3. Right click on Realtek Audio and select
   Update Driver.
   
4. Select Browse my computer for Driver Software.
   
5. In the next screen, select Let me pick from a list of available drivers.
   
6. Check the box Show Compatible Hardware and select
   High Definition Audio Device.
   
7. Click on Yes if you get any prompt.
   

If you do not see any change, you can use Update Driver option and Search automatically to revert to Realtek driver.



Let us know how it goes.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Loudness Equalization Issue with Realtek

Hi everyone,

I've been having an odd problem with Loudness Equalization. I have an ASUS TUF 505DT and primarily use headphones. 3 weeks ago without any reason (I checked for Windows Updates) the Loudness Equalization option, along with the addional EQ bars, randomly disappeared from the Realtek Audio Console. Didn't have any issues for 6 months. Since I checked the other thread, device manager has Realtek Audio listed and not Realtek High Definition Audio Device.

If I install the generic Microsoft driver I regain the Loudness Equalization option through Sound Settings but naturally Realtek Audio Console stops working. I wouldn't have minded it too much but to me the audio quality seems slightly worse with the generic MS driver. The weirdest part is if I unistall the device the Realtek driver returns and I regain the full capability of the Audio console but upon restart it's gone again. Also, while I regain the option, the audio seems vaguely hollow unless restarted when the audio console loses its options again but the sound is fine. It's amazing for music but both Netflix and games have incredibly low audio with the Realtek driver without loudness equalization so I'm forced to use the generic MS driver.

One thing I have noticed through many reinstalls is that the events log mentions Device not migrated. It still works though. I tried downloading drivers from ASUS which are the same as the default windows Realtek reinstall. I did notice that 3 out of 4 items fail to install in the cmd even when ran as admin which might be part of the problem. I should also mention the laptop comes with Dts Headphone X which also breaks when using the generic Microsoft driver but I haven't found much use for it anyway.

My only other guess is that the 2004 Windows 10 build showed up a few weeks ago. It failed to update a few days after my issues started and now I only see messages about it coming soon. Don't know if some pre-update files might have been added and messed up the Realtek driver. Current build from sys info is 18363.

While the Microsoft driver isn't horrible I would love if anyone has any suggestions or had a similar issue. My only option now seem to revert back to factory settings and reinstall everything again. Thank you!

 

Earphone volume too loud or too quiet on Windows 10

Hi I'm having a weird problem on my laptop running Windows 10 Pro. The earphone volume is either too loud or too quiet, and seems to switch between these two upon every restart. When it's too loud, keeping it at 1/100 is equivalent to 20-30/100 when sound was normal, when it's too quiet, keeping it at 100/100 is equivalent to 10-20/100 when sound was normal. Already googled extensively and tried pretty much every suggestion I found with no results:

• Enable/disable loudness equalization in playback device settings
• Enable/disable Windows Sonic for headphones in playback device settings
• Check for errors in sound devices in device manager - no errors
• Update sound drivers - all updated
• Try different earphones - tried like 4 already, definitely not an issue with earphones
• Even tried system restore, still not fixed

Screenshot of device manager: https://i.stack.imgur.com/HKSzf.png

Does anyone know what else to try?