Latest Realtek HD Audio Driver Version [archive]

Hi,

That is assuming this clipping occurs in the digital domain.
When it happens in the digital domain you'll hear a sudden silence during a fraction of a second as the chip is recovering.
If you're recording in a studio, you can tell as it goes "tick" then nothing and then it goes on until the next stage saturates.
What I heard was clearly in the analogue domain though. Gates saturating.

When viewed on the monitor of a scope (or pc for that matter) is a sine wave with a flattened crest instead of a nicely rounded one. Hence the "clipping" metaphor.

Electron tubes are known to clip much more gracefully than semi-conductors. Which is one reason (there are others) why lots of electric guitar players like valve amps to amplify the sound.

Cheers,

fdegrove said:

Hi,

That is assuming this clipping occurs in the digital domain.
When it happens in the digital domain you'll hear a sudden silence during a fraction of a second as the chip is recovering.
If you're recording in a studio, you can tell as it goes "tick" then nothing and then it goes on until the next stage saturates.
What I heard was clearly in the analogue domain though. Gates saturating.

When viewed on the monitor of a scope (or pc for that matter) is a sine wave with a flattened crest instead of a nicely rounded one. Hence the "clipping" metaphor.

Electron tubes are known to clip much more gracefully than semi-conductors. Which is one reason (there are others) why lots of electric guitar players like valve amps to amplify the sound.

Cheers,

That's exactly what happens when the audio level (in the digital domain) is above the maximum. The sine wave becomes flat and this sounds like a square wave (robotic-metallic sound distorting the quality of the soundtrack). We are describing the same thing. The point is that this is the result of a faulty audio driver that operates the audio circuit incorrectly. When uninstalling the faulty driver and replacing it with a better version, the audio circuit is operated within specifications, the audio level is inside the circuit's capabilities without any clipping.

CountMike said:

Afraid we are stuck with Gigabyte version which is probably ugliest ever. I tried everything short of changing HW-id for motherboard and nothing helped. It's not only looks that are different but some functionality like equalizer are missing comparing to MSI and Asus for instance.

well here's the ASUS version of the Realtek HD Audio manager control panel tool when I installed the R280 (8004) drivers on a friend's ASUS M5A78L-M LE USB3 motherboard:




the ASUS M5A78L-M LE USB3 board is using Realtek ALC887 audio chipset using hardware ID "HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0887&SUBSYS_10438576" and the driver was installed thru the HDXRT4.INF file because that INF file mentioned that specific hardware device ID.

edit: have you tried installing the drivers thru a different INF file, CountMike? maybe I could try installing the same drivers but thru a different INF file like HDXRT.INF instead of HDXRT4.INF for example. I delete the other INF files in the driver package because most of the time, the Realtek audio drivers are usually installed thru the HDXRT.INF file (except for certain realtek audio chips in certain name brand computers).

ComputerGeek said:

fyi... My curiosity was piqued. Was it the h/w id of the mb or the audio chip that makes the difference? Curious and with some time to kill before the evening, I inspected the latest Realtek download for an answer. It's the audio chip h/w id! Discovered some more (I thought) interesting / useful stuff I thought to share. (Though it all makes sense now in retrospect but at least can now definitively state)Not surprisingly, separate folders for 32 vs 64-bit drivers. WIN32 folder contains 83 different INF files. WIN64 contains 94. I had a closer look at the content and differences between half dozen INFs i chose at random

• Also not surprising, a single h/w id was found in two different INF files: one for 32, one for 64-bit installs (though given 83 vs 94 INF files, there must be some h/w ids only supported by 64 bit INFs.)
• Searching within a single folder (i.e. 32 vs 64), showed each INF defined its own unique set of supported HD audio h/w ids

Sticking to WIN64 folder for discussion:

• The latest Realtek driver download is actually a collection of 94 different 64-bit driver file configurations (each defined by its own INF.) Each INF defines its own unique set of supported HDAUDIO h/w ids
• The Realtek driver download is the union of all the driver files needed to support the sum total of all the INF configurations
• Many driver files are common across INF files. Tho there are some distinct differences too where a file appears in one INF but not another
• That means that while everyone appears to install the same "latest Realtek driver" Windows could be selecting any one of the many different INF files for the various PCs. Many driver files are common across all INFs. Some files distinctly different.
• Would also be why there are some common problems and some people report distinctly different results with different PCs installing different driver file sets (could also be differences in registry setup, and services started as well)

Below is a snapshot of a compare of the CopyFile section of two different INFs. You can see the file differences. Also note one INF includes Toshiba in its name. Other includes files with Yamaha in its name/* EDIT */Also worth noting that all the different INFs install showing the same Realtek driver version and date

In that case you can isolate the INF file with the hardware ID that has the most software (while being compatible with your audio hardware) and force-install this specific driver by manually replacing the driver in Device Manager. Windows will warn you that the driver might not be compatible with the device, you just ignore this warning and proceed. If the driver is indeed compatible with your device after a restart you should have a working audio device and all the settings enabled! If it is not compatible you either play a sound and you hear nothing or the device has a yellow ! in the Device Manager with error 10 (Device cannot start). In that case try a different driver.