Spatial sound not working after eAPO install/uninstall

[Jack Vogel]

I thought Dolby Atmos and DTS:X spatial sound available from the ms store were pretty crap, Windows Sonic as well. So I figured, hell let me try something else. Installed Equalizer APO and HeSuVi. The setup didnt work well with the GPU hdmi output, so unistalled it.
After that, Windows 11 native support for spatial sound is gone.
I can download Dolby Access and DTS Unbound, enable their solutions, but it makes no difference to sound. Not even Windows Sonic works anymore.

I've tried some thing to correct it..
Used DDU to clean the system of all GPU/MB audio drivers, reinstalled everything, with and without multiple monitors connected.
Used powershell to reset all licensing tokens and reinstall the official Dolby/DTS software.
Done several runs of SFC and DISM in between.
Rebuilt all audio endpoints with external tool.
Cleaned out the registry both manually and with tools.
Reinstalled both eAPO and HeSuVi to reset options and disable all features.

Nothing seems to work.
I'm out of ideas.

Anyone here have any advice, or could it be that the system is screwed from the ground up and a fresh os install is the only option? :/

Edit: Did an in-place repair, and problem still persist.

[Peter Verbeek]

Obviously you did many things so it's unfortunate that they didn't work. But there are a few others things you can check.

When using the Windows spatial effect on an audio device check if the Audio enhancements is on Default Effects and Spatial Sound is On. The attached screenshot is showing an audio device page as present in Windows 11.

If this doesn't work, it might be that something went wrong with the uninstallation of Equalizer APO. Btw. This must be done with its installer, not with any uninstaller apps like Revo or Bulk Crap Uninstaller. These apps won't restore the audio devices (or be specific, undo the rerouting done by the Device Selector). So if you did use the Equalizer APO uninstaller (through the normal Windows apps page) then check if the DisableProtectedAudioDG key value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Audio is reset to to value of 0. After changing this key value you need to restart the Windows Audio service. A computer restart does this.

[Jack Vogel]

Thanks for the suggestions, I truly appreciate it.
The sound panel is properly configured and I did use the eAPO uninstaller.
I didnt have that reg key at all but made one with that exact name and set it to zero, though it didn't help.

After deleting chunks of the registry containing endpoint keys and letting windows rebuild it, spatial sound is working on the onboard Realtek audio, which atleast confirms the proper data is present somewhere in the system.
I've used several tools to pinpoint the active keys for each endpoint and whichever applied apo effects, and been down a rabbit hole to shuffle them around until a working config is found.
But nothing seems to activate spatial sound on the GPU audio out again, which my whole setup is built around.

Tbh, I'm at my wit's end. I've spent probably 24 real hours troubleshooting, and just thinking about the registry and boot logo makes my mind blank.
If had any more leads I'd go for it in an instant, but I don't know what to search for anymore.

I'll be sure to check in here regurarly as it's probably the safest bet I'd ever get it working again.

But thanks again

[Peter Verbeek]

Reading your post you did everything right. It seems you're on the right track. The amount of hours you put in is staggering.

Another suggestion by me was to fully uninstall, restart and install the software of the audio device, in this case the GPU audio. I guess that audio support is bundled with the graphic software so that's a total uninstallation of that too. But I guess you have gone through this whole process already.

Thanks for reporting back. For years I'm giving the main support for Equalizer APO, as developer of the popular Peace equalizer app and as supporter of Equalizer APO. As such any piece of info is helpful for others.