Dolby Audio acting up

First thing's first, I've got an Acer Aspire A715-71G. This laptop is running Win 10 ver. 1903 and comes with Dolby Audio Premium.
I was pretty happy with it a while ago, but for some reason, Dolby just failed to work.
I mean I connect my headphones in and select "headphones" on the list of inputs and I hear sound, but Dolby Audio does absolutely nothing.

I tried picking "headset" instead and that worked for a while... until it just didn't...
This is honestly weird and I have no idea what to do.
I have tried:
- Re-installing/updating/rolling-back drivers
- Picking every single type of audio device from the list that comes up every time I plug in a device
- Updating Windows

Refreshing my copy of windows is not really an option because I have a huge amount of programs installed, all of which I can't afford to spend time re-installing sooooo any help in this would be much appreciated :)

dalchina said:

.. by way of a comment, not a suggestion here, you might like to be aware of an in-place upgrade repair install - this fixes many problems - and keeps all progs, data and most settings.

There are also options with the DISM command that likewise keep everything.

And given your fear of loss, I hope you're routinely using disk imaging as is so often recommended here.

I honestly had no idea about all of this.
That being said could you tell me where I could find the option to repair without it uninstalling all my programs?

Also, no idea what DISM commands are, and by disk imaging do you mean restore points or do you mean ISOs?

Un-install the Audio driver and install the one from Acer support for your model.
Dolby Tray Icon disappeared - Manual launch of DAX2_API doesn't work — Acer Community

here's the direct download link to the original Realtek HD Audio driver (v6.0.1.8108) for the Acer A715-71G laptop.

if you need a newer Realtek audio driver version from Acer that is fully compatible with Win10 v1903 & greater, try v6.0.8703.1 from this link (listed for a different series of Acer laptops). this one is bigger and bundles newer versions of Dolby Audio apps that should work with the 1903/1909 releases

note that both of these audio driver packs are traditional HDA drivers, not the newer UAD driver versions.

Sorry I couldn't get back to u guys (got stuck with irl shtuff).
Anyways, I found a solution! And it's dang diddly weird.

I was originally skipping over this solution cause it seemed too far fetched but, as the old adage goes, If it looks stupid, but works then it ain't stupid (... or something... like that..... ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵠᵘᵒᵗᵉ ᵐᵉ ˡᵒˡ)

The TL;DR is that I installed a third-party software called "Equalizer APO" (Equalizer APO download | SourceForge.net) and followed Balatekie's instructions here: Dolby audio not working anymore. — Acer Community

Honestly, no idea why, but it worked soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯