Realtek 5.1/7.1 surround speaker issue in Windows 11.

Anonymous
2021-10-30T22:21:25+00:00

Hi,

Since I upgraded to Windows 11 a few days ago, I now no longer have the option in sound settings to enable 5.1 or 7.1 surround support, as I did in Windows 10. At least I believe that I had that option in Windows 10, all I have now is stereo only and I miss the added depth of sound of my 5.1 speakers. Am I failing to see the obvious, or is this an oversight in the programming. If anyone has any thoughts on solving this issue it would be most welcome. I admit I have not tried installing the Realtek Audio Manager, as that file looks as though it may not be compatible with Windows 11 although it did function in Windows 10.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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  1. JosephT71 9,220 Reputation points
    2022-12-07T20:12:50+00:00

    As I said it earlier, if your app can bitstream dolby digital via spdif, then you have 5.1.

    So if you have a dvd burner and windvd, it will send 5.1 via spdif.

    If you have netflix app, it will send 5.1 via spdif.

    If you have vlc (or whatever open source video player), you can force it to bitstream 5.1.

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  2. JosephT71 9,220 Reputation points
    2022-12-07T01:19:04+00:00
    1. there is no such model as msi ge73 9rf
    2. there is such a model as msi ge73 8rf --- it has an 8th gen intel cpu (which means that it is made in 2018)
    3. which means that it came with windows 10 and 2018 8th gen intel cpu is eligible for windows 11 upgrade. There is no such computer made for windows 7 back in 2010 that is eligible to upgrade to windows 11.
    4. there is no such thing as MSI "stop" paying dolby. It's either they paid for it in 2018 or that they didn't because your existing dch

    driver would have worked in both windows 10 or windows 11.

    1. spdif is old technology. Dolby Digital is old codec. Useless to spend money of sound blaster x3 as it has dolby digital live ac3+ encoder. It means that when you watch a youtube video (which has a much newer opus audio codec), your computer has to decode it into pcm audio and send it to the x3, the x3 has to re-encode it into dolby digital to send it back out to spdif.

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  3. JosephT71 9,220 Reputation points
    2022-08-06T19:41:35+00:00

    What apps?

    Music is stereo so spotify is going to be stereo only. Youtube videos are stereo so youtube on internet browsers are stereo only.

    If you want music to play in all 5 speakers, you have to enable speaker fill.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-08-06T18:19:22+00:00

    I have followed all suggestions, installed all drivers, the realtek Audio Console is installed and from that the 5.1 speakers work, but when I open an app I get only 2 speakers, the standard stereo setup. The Realtek Audio service is enabled at startup and the 3 software components are installed.

    How can I get W11 to use the 5.1 config and not the 2.0? I know on my old pc with W10 it works. Now I have a new one and this is not what I expected.

    I have a Gigabyte Aorus Elite V2 mobo with a 5700X.

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  5. JosephT71 9,220 Reputation points
    2022-03-22T22:25:52+00:00

    in my case realtek audio console just states "Realtek Audio console doesn't support this device"

    Go to device manager and see if you have these 3 Realtek software components.

    If you don't have them, then re-install the realtek audio driver using the installer (often called setup.exe).

    If you have the 3 items, then go to task manager and make sure the Realtek HD universal audio service is enabled on start-up.

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