Infuriating automatic volume normalisation in Windows 7

kadison44

kadison44

kadison44

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My apologies if this has been covered before but a quick look didn't reveal anything.

After having driver issues with an Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 7, I added a Xonar DX to a recent OCUK order.

After installing, I noticed the same as my Audigy 2, that volume was lower overall and I still have to have the knob of my speakers turned up much more than I used to in XP. Sliding the main Windows volume between about 50% and 100% in Windows 7 hardly increases loudness at all, whereas between 0% and 50% gives a linear increase :confused:

My music seemed to have no punch; whole tracks sounded the same level. This was especially noticable in tracks starting quietly and building to a crescendo. The music never 'opened up' and it was like someone turned the volume down right at the point where it gets loud.

The only thing I could find on the issue was this post:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7music/thread/f9656c4a-b5e7-4cff-b029-7577f0efa549

There is a reply near the bottom suggesting lowering the Windows speaker volume to around 50%. I tried this, and although the speakers still have to be turned higher than in XP, music has regained its dynamic range.

Why does Windows 7 do this? Does anyone else have this issue?

Can I turn the flipping thing off?!

Thanks in advance
 
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dave-lew99 said:
Control Panel > Sound > [your device] > Properties > Enhancements > Loundness Equalisation
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I have the latest version of Asus's drivers but I don't have 'enhancements' listed under properties.

As a side note, I used a spare hard disk to install a fresh copy of W7 and it still did the same thing. I thought it might have been to do with many reinstalls of creative's drivers. I guess not :(
 
I don't have the Enhancements tab in my EssenceSTX properties either but I don't have the normalisation issue on my setup, I use a varied Windows mixer volume as I set a static value on my amplifier so Windows could be 25% or 20% or whatever, it's rare to go up to 50% as it's so loud my speakers would probably blow.

I turned off all effects in the Xonar CPL, set Windows Output bitrate to 24bit/48KHz (recommended) and then set the Xonar to 96KHz hardware output to my speakers (many say 96 is the ideal output rate to get the cleanest analogue out).

The only things that are quiet are DVD movies or files I have downloaded that have DTS or AC3 multichannel audio but these kinds of audio tracks in films are quiet by design anyway and so would need some volume gain on dual speaker setups (I have a value of +8 in the official AC3 filter and movies are as loud as an MP3 file being played in WMP/WinAMP which is what I use to reference check volume levels).

Win7 x64 btw.


Edit*

You might also want to check:

soundnormal.jpg
 
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I do have the comms thing set to 'do nothing' but it doesn't seem to make a difference whether it is or not.

Seeing as this loudness equilisation thing is provided by Microsoft (going by the screenshots i've seen), is there a chance Asus haven't provided a way to turn it off in their drivers?

I'm thinking there may be a registry entry somewhere which can disable it...
 
I thought I was doomed in finding a fix for this until I tried uninstalling the Windows 7 x64 drivers and installing the Vista x64 drivers.

The issue has disappeared! :eek:

Tracks sound so much better and if you are having sound issues like I was I recommend trying this fix :)

Edit: Maybe it's not completely fixed, if you turn up the L R sliders in the audio center it starts exhibiting the original behaviour a bit. Still it sounds much better than it ever did at the default lower volume there.
 
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