1 (edited by Robertm394 2019-06-01 23:07:24)

Topic: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Right click on the speaker icon in the Windows Task bar and select "Sounds."

Once you get there, right click on the 1+2 Adi2 Dac icon in Playback, and go to the Enhancements tab.

There's an option to "Disable all enhancements."

Wondering if this should be selected, unselected, or is irrelevant?

https://imgur.com/Z5sZug7

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

And you can't answer this yourself and come to conclusions ?

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

3 (edited by Robertm394 2019-06-02 01:49:16)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Was it easier to post the above post than to answer the question? The rudeness on this forum towards genuine questions can be really off putting.

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

It depends on what you are up to.

5 (edited by bejoro 2019-06-02 07:17:13)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

A good strategy is always: If you do not know what it is, do not change it, leave it at the default setting.

A second strategy: Google "windows output enhancements" and you find your answer.

6 (edited by ramses 2019-06-02 15:00:45)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Robertm394 wrote:

Was it easier to post the above post than to answer the question? The rudeness on this forum towards genuine questions can be really off putting.

Rob, frankly said, if you post a "facepalm question", which surely happened to everybody of us in our life, then you also have to live with certain reactions that are not meant insulting, but kind of "shaking ones head".

I was not rude. My counterquestion should give you the opportunity to re-think and re-phrase as the question was really not a hard one.

You opened this thread and presented yourself as somebody who is very selective and picky about very good sound quality: ADI-2 DAC, monitor system for $4000, internal DSP or not, avoiding additional AD/DA, who designed the HEDD and so on: https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=28649

And now you post this question whether you should activate or deactivate features in the Windows 10 sound system where it is self explaining from the name of the feature, that it will (severely) modify your (excellent) sound, which is fully against your high stakes / requirements for monitor selection in terms of good sound and quality.

This simply does not match.
Therefore my counterquestion with the best intention that you find it out yourself.

To your question / the different settings of Windows 10 sound system:

1. low frequency protection: cuts low frequencies. You spend $4000 for 3-way monitors with capabilities to reproduce low end frequencies in quality and ask whether you should activate this feature ? Makes no sense.

2. virtual surround: this will significantly change the whole character of the sound and sound stage.
This has nothing to do with high quality and is a clear "no go".

3. room correction: would be too nice if Microsoft will deliver to you a high quality solution to optimize audio for your non-treated room (bundled with the operating system at no cost). Ever saw a calibrated measuring microphone bundled with Windows 10? No. So better lets forget about it. Better get the high quality monitors, unmodified sound and better optimize your room in the usual way following best practices.

4. Loudness Equilization: you have $4000 quality monitors and a $1000 quality DAC with Bass controls, PEQ, dynamic loundess and think about whether or not to activate a bass booster deep in the Windows 10 settings ? Does not make any sense.

It should be clear to everybody with only a small basic understanding of HiFi that this is against good sound and quality and foremost against your high stakes / requirements in terms of good sound.

And now the most important thing:
if you use the RME ASIO driver which I regard as stongly recommended, then this all doesn't matter anyway, because an ASIO driver bypasses the Windows sound system entirely (in this case the above 4 settings have no effect at all).

All other applications, that do not support ASIO, like the Windows Operating, Internet Browsers (for Youtube, etc) would be impacted by activated settings in the enhanced sound settings.

Or - other case - if you should use the ADI-2 DAC
- without RME ASIO driver as "class compliant device" (using the Windows sound drivers) or
- if you should select a different sound driver than the RME ASIO driver in an application (like music player, etc.) or
- if you use a Windows application which is not ASIO aware
then such Windows 10 sound settings would also impact your sound negatively.

What to do ?
I would ensure
- to install and use the RME ASIO driver
- use music players that support ASIO
and deactivate these Win10 sound enhancements entirely, except if you have a certain use case for it (when perhaps using the internal sound for some stuff) or otherwise leave it at the default settings as suggested by Bejero.

If you want to enjoy music in highest quality, then I can only give to you the advice to stick to ASIO, because then it is guaranteed, that high quality / lossless audio is not being modified by the Windows sound system.

To proof that audio is unaltered in your signal chain (from music player up to your DAC) you can use the bit test files that RME provides: https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/bit_test_wavs.zip
Details please see handbook chapter 31.15: https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/adi2dac_e.pdf

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Wow, what a lot of unkind and unhelpful responses to this thread. C'mon guys, we're friendlier than that. The OP asked a reasonable question in a clear and polite way.

Robert, I had the same thought. I've been using RME gear since 2001 and have run a studio for just as long. I came across a process (audiodg.exe) which was locking a VST plugin from being deleted. I'd never seen it before, so I googled and found a video where it was shown some people are having problems with it running up high CPU. During the explanation on how to fix the CPU issues, I discovered the same setting you asked about.
As was eventually pointed out, using ASIO bypasses the Windows audio layer, hence avoiding any problem. Though it seems wise to disable something that might otherwise use CPU for no practical advantage.
Also note that these 'enhancements' are part of the Recording tab as well at the Playback tab.


All the best,
Dax Liniere.

Loyal RME user since 2001
[AMD 5800X, 32Gb RAM, Win10x64, NVidia GTX1080ti, UCX+UFX, REAPER x64]

8 (edited by Robertm394 2019-07-02 22:09:42)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Ramses, I don't care at all about your personal assessment of my question. I don't care about you, your opinion, or your supercilious, know-it-all attitude. I'm posting for information, a simple answer to enhance my understanding of the product. Not for your paragraph-length forum bullying  crap. Furthermore, in your rush to demonstrate your superiority and insult my question, you completely misunderstood it, and spent several paragraphs answering questions I am not even asking.

This forum is hardly worth visiting for exactly this reason.

Thanks Dax for the insightful, non-insulting answer.

9 (edited by Robertm394 2019-07-02 21:58:31)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

bejoro wrote:

A good strategy is always: If you do not know what it is, do not change it, leave it at the default setting.

A second strategy: Google "windows output enhancements" and you find your answer.


A better strategy: If you don't have anything helpful to add, say nothing. I'm not interested in a generic answer on this feature from Google, I'm interested in how these settings interact with the $1,100 Dac I bought from this company.

10 (edited by ramses 2019-07-03 19:06:30)

Re: Windows users - "Disable All Enhancements" setting? On or off?

Robertm394 wrote:

Ramses, I don't care at all about your personal assessment of my question. I don't care about you, your opinion, or your supercilious, know-it-all attitude. I'm posting for information, a simple answer to enhance my understanding of the product. Not for your paragraph-length forum bullying  crap. Furthermore, in your rush to demonstrate your superiority and insult my question, you completely misunderstood it, and spent several paragraphs answering questions I am not even asking.

This forum is hardly worth visiting for exactly this reason.

Thanks Dax for the insightful, non-insulting answer.

When I know something, I say it to share my knowledge or to help someone. Not more, not less. Nobody has complained about it except maybe 2-3 people, on the contrary. I also don't know since when one should feel "guilty" in any way if one knows something and shares this knowledge.

I have already explained why I wrote it this way and I stand to it. If you still do not understand why I reacted this way ...

From me one could have let this 1 month old thread rest in peace and everyone could have drawn his personal conclusions from it, but unfortunately there are people who have to revive long finished discussions *sigh*.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13