Asus B350-F Audio Issues Windows 10 Pro 1909 "Speaker Fill" not there.

UberOriginal · 11 Jan 2020

Hey all, I have been having problems with the audio drivers from Asus for my B350-F mobo. The additional software for Sonic Studio and Sonic Radar was not functioning properly. I went on Asus ROG forums and a genius recommended that I try the driver for the Z370-G GAMING as it has the same audio chip(ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC S1220A) so I blew out my computer, did a clean install of Windows 10 Pro Ver. 1909, installed the driver and it worked! I was able to launch and configure my settings in Sonic Studio 3 and Sonic Radar 3. I could not find the "Realtek Audio Console" that came with my B350-F driver, that's because now in the tray there is an icon for "Realtek HD Audio Manager" which works better than the "Realtek Audio Console" app.

I have a great audio setup I am very lucky that I worked in electronic stores a lot and got major discounts and dibs on clearance stuff. I have a BOSE Cinemate 15 which is a small (but incredibly powerful 12" bar) it has a "four-element speaker array" inside that produces massive sound and a massive subwoofer that is almost as big as a mid-tower computer case. I can shake the entire house if I turn it up past 60%. This setup works as my left-front, right-front, center, and subwoofer. I still have my Bose Companion 2 computer speakers set and using those as my left-rear and right-rear. So I have a 5.1 Speaker setup. Got the Cinemate 15 for less than 200$ and the Companion 2 set for 40$. It's a 700$ setup. They are my most cherished possessions.

I noticed that my rear speakers did not play system sounds (any Windows sounds), also tried and they do not work in Firefox and Chrome, neither will play rear audio. I have the Xbox Game Pass for PC, none of the games have rear sound. In the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" you select what speaker setup you want, Stereo, Quadraphonic, 5.1, or 7.1. I have it set to 5.1 and when I do the test that plays test sounds through each speaker FL, FR, Center, Subwoofer, RL, RR all the speakers work, when I do the 5.1 full test or click on each speaker individually they all sound the test audio. Media Monkey plays all of my mp3s and FLAC files in full 5.1, well I think the front audio is just playing through the rear speakers, I don't know if there are 5.1 music files.

I know there is normally a setting in Settings> System> Sound> Sound Control Panel> Device> Properties> Enhancements, which is called "Speaker Fill" As I remember this allows all audio that doesn't have native 5.1 to play the stereo sound to the rear speakers. This option is now completely missing. I've spoken to Asus and Microsoft for over a week with technical support and I have not received a solution. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this I'd be very grateful. I have my full system specs in my profile for the desktop. If you have any questions please ask. Thank you all for reading this, for your time, and experience.

UberOriginal · 19 Jan 2020

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Pluginz · 20 Jan 2020

Good morning 😊

Okies, there could be a very easy solution for this, so I’ll start with my first thoughts from reading your post.

The Supreme FX audio support is normally an actual sound card that slots into the small pci-e slot above the graphics card. This isn’t the case with your system.
Looks like the Supreme FX is actually integrated into the mobo, nice!!

So, when you mentioned Realtek, I thought eh? That cant be right surely.
The Supreme FX and Realtek are actually two seperate audio systems and won’t ever be able to work along side each other.
From my understanding now, it looks like you will only get the Supreme FX surround features if you only use the Optical output. If you use the standard jacks in any way, the machine goes, “right, let’s disable Supreme and enable Realtek. That’s why you are seeing the Realtek icon. The jacks auto detect input and initiate the software.

In the Bios, you should have Audio control options. You may find options like disable Realtek or choose between AC97/HD and also front panel options.
I would try and disable Realtek in Bios first. Then in Windows, uninstall or just disable any Realtek. Give her another reboot.
Then boot up the Sonic Radar and Studio Software and see if you can at least get stereo support from the jacks using the Asus Supreme FX only, that should work.

Unfortunately for any speakers running more than stereo, I believe it’s Optical only, sorry.

Seems like alot of manufacturers are going this route. Apple ditched the 3.5mm jack on iPhone yonks ago !! My TV is the same, only optical audio out. Pretty shit really.

Im not stereotyping people, but you can blame modern people for that. These modern folks have probably never owned a single vinyl record or cassette tape in their life, with no intention of ever using them, shame. The only music they have is internet based streaming.
When these peoples broadband packs up on a Saturday night, theyre screwed, cant listen to anything now, can ya

And when Microsoft and the likes push new hardware on consumers, this eventually phases things out.

Hope this gives you some ideas, good luck bud

Edit: Damn TV remote !!