Please do not force Windows Audio Enhancements on
A system-wide equalizer for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11
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#259 Please do not force Windows Audio Enhancements on
I am seeing some unwanted behavior caused by turning on Windows Audio Enhancements.
Specifically, Windows Audio Enhancements appears to be gradually fading the volume in and out depending on what sound is currently playing. When you play different sine wave tones, you can hear it fade the volume level up and down as you change the frequency. This badly interferes with trying to calibrate speakers.
So now the issue is that Equalizer APO Configurator (the device selection program) is forcing Windows Audio Enhancement to be turned on every time you run it. I would really like a way to not force that on.
Does Equalizer APO function without the Windows Audio Enhancements functionality enabled? I wonder if those being disabled also blocks certain API access.
I've noticed that other USB audio devices from SteelSeries/Corsair/Razer turn on Windows Audio Enhancements for some reason.
When Equalizer APO is installed on a device, Equalizer APO is the "audio enhancement" ("audio enhancements" is the term Windows uses in its UI to refer to APOs). If you disable audio enhancements on a device where Equalizer APO is installed, then you end up disabling Equalizer APO itself.
Your request doesn't make sense because "Windows Audio Enhancements" are the term Windows uses in its UI to refer to APOs. You can't use Equalizer APO with "audio enhancements" disabled, because Equalizer APO itself is one of these "enhancements"!
Have you tried unchecking "Use original APO" in the "Troubleshooting options" of the Equalizer APO Configurator? This will disable the original APOs that came with the device driver, leaving only Equalizer APO to operate on the audio.
Last edit: Etienne Dechamps 2023-08-09
When I speak of "Windows Audio Enhancements", I'm talking about features that get turned on when you activate either of these two things: (Windows 11)
Both pictures refer to the same setting. Equalizer APO does still function when the setting is turned off.
I did not know about the "Use Original APO" setting in the configurator, I will give that a try.
I wonder if it could indicate if there are other APOs running, and make it more clear how to disable them.
Edit: It appears that the "Use Original APO" setting in the configurator is grayed out and cannot be selected.
Last edit: Dan Weiss 2023-08-09
That is surprising, I would expect Equalizer APO to be bypassed if you uncheck that box. It's possible my understanding is out of date and something changed in recent Windows versions.
As a noobie for this app, this is VERY confusing and I see a lot of conflicting information... and not even a little official documentation covering this. I've been trying to get this working for weeks now. Docs are very poor... heck, there is no real way to even know if a line item in the config is On or Off... who thought not using Red/Green icon and using an icon that is either black or faded would be a good idea -- what the heck is that universal for? Black = off and Faded = Maybe?
Last edit: ltekllc 2023-09-10
If Equalizer APO is working on your target device perhaps you can use the much easier Peace equalizer interface (fully documented) instead of the Configuration Editor of Equalizer APO which can be very confusing.
It's inky confusing because the UI hides the settings, unnecessarily, and
there is near zero docs in the app. The easy fix is not "install and learn
another app"...it is, simply don't hide the settings and just have a bubble
explaining them when you hover over
On Mon, Sep 11, 2023, 2:57 AM Peter Verbeek peverbeek@users.sourceforge.net
wrote:
Related
Tickets: #259
If you're talking about the Configurator, that's my main concern. It doesn't allow for good understanding what's going on and what to do when Equalizer APO doesn't work. If you're talking about the Configuration Editor, this app needs a built-in manual. Besides, it's pretty technical to begin with.
Is there any word on this?
Any idea where there would be an APO running for Realtek audio when enhancements are turned on, but still get other APOs working when the audio enhancements are turned off?
My Realtek device is VID: 10EC, PID: 0287
I would rather not need to build my own fork of the project to remove all dialog boxes that tell you to unnecessarily enable audio enhancements, or any other situation that forces them on.
(Just made a binary patch for "Editor.exe" to remove the prompt to run configurator if audio enhancements are disabled, it's easier to hack EXEs than install the QT development files)
Last edit: Dan Weiss 2023-12-01
I'm not aware of any change in Windows but there might be. It's difficul to find info on this. Perhaps Etienne has more knowledge on this. As said by him, it should work like this. Once the audio enhancements checkbox/switch is turned of, it should be a general instruction to Windows to bypass all APO's, well, perhaps only after a restart of Windows as the Windows audio service might need to be restarted for a general setting like this. The audio stream which runs through the APO's, should be rerouted to bypass them. Have said this, Etienne has more knowledge on this stuff than I.
So true.