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Audio drivers randomly setting "Amplify Level" to Extreme

TamiyaGuy
Level 7
Note: I'm having this issue with a PRIME Z270-A. I understand that it's not a Strix mobo, though it is (obviously) a Z270 board. Therefore if I've popped this in the wrong section of the forum, I do apologise.

I've recently bought a Z270-A board and am having some trouble with my headset (a Creative Fatal1ty) and the onboard audio. Basically, whenever I turn my computer on there's a ~50% chance that the Asus audio drivers set the "Amplification Level" to Extreme, with the Audio Manager saying "Your headphone impedance is equal to or higher than 110 ohm".

This results in horribly distorted audio that is physically painful to listen to, even at low volume.

When I set it to "Performance" the audio sounds the same as my old motherboard (i.e. fine), but it constantly resets to "Extreme" and the issue comes back.

I have tried:
- Reinstalling the audio drivers that came on the driver CD
- Updating to the latest audio drivers from ASUS' website and reinstalling those
- Trying front and rear audio jacks. No difference.

Is there any way to disable this automatic detection and just force it to whatever I set it to? After spending so long with a bottom-of-the-range AM3+ board, I'm surprised that a fancy upgrade to Z270 has had problems with something as simple as 3.5mm audio.

Thanks in advance for the help!
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12 REPLIES 12

xeromist
Moderator
I think you are not alone in this. See this thread here:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?90136-you-rear-line-out-impedance-is-equal-to-or-higher-th...

You could try uninstalling the driver and using the generic driver to see if that makes any difference.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Nate152
Moderator
It sets mine to Extreme automatically too but mine sounds good with no distortion, it's louder than the performance or powerful setting.

I'm using the Plantronics Gamecom 380 headset.

When I connect to the front case jacks it sets it to powerful.

Does playing with the settings in sonic studio 3 help with the distortion ?

64768

Apologies for the lack of response, but thanks for the advice and knowledge that I'm not alone in this. I've had a support ticket open in the meantime, and they recommended I re-install Windows 10.

After re-installing the audio drivers as well as Intel's Chipset Software Installation Utility, that's seemingly fixed the distortion. I'm still having the issue of the amplification randomly changing, though. Just now, I unplugged and re-plugged in my headset three times - the first time it was set to Extreme, the second Performance, and the third was back to Extreme!

Nate, I'm afraid I don't have Sonic Studio 3 since I'm using the PRIME Z270-A. This seems like a lower-level issue than software, though.

Is there any way of simply making sure that the motherboard remembers the amplification settings that I've set in between restarts?

Nate152
Moderator
Good to hear you got the distortion sorted that's one thing out of the way. 🙂

I would think it should keep the settings as long as you don't unplug your headset. I'll try setting mine to performance, reboot and see if it keeps it or changes it back to Extreme.

EDIT: Upon reboot it automatically changed to Extreme, I'm not sure why yours is randomly changing. Try letting it on the Extreme setting and don't unplug it, if it's still changing would you have another headset to try ?

First off, I'd just like to say thanks for the continued help in this matter.

I tried keeping my headset on "Extreme", rebooted and all seemed fine. Then I rebooted again and it switched to "Powerful", so that's... partly new. While I don't have another headset, I do have a pair of earphones that I use on the go, so I tried plugging them into the front audio port and found that they always landed on "Performance" (just as well, I think - with how tiny they were, I wasn't looking forward to what extra amplification would do to them).

Even then, though, since plugging a new audio device in causes the impedance to be detected for both devices, I saw my headset (connected to the rear) switching between Performance and Extreme again occasionally, even though I wasn't actually testing that headset at all.

This seems to be getting more confusing the more I look into it. I'm not sure whether I'm being incredibly stupid or the automatic sensing thinks it's much smarter than it actually is.

Sorry to necro, but was this issue ever resolved?

I'm using one of the back IO 3.5mms to my dedicated amplifier, which goes to my speakers. I'm trying to minimise double-amping, so I want it to stay at "Performance", but it resets to Extreme every time I restart. Any fix to this yet?

jjxakergm
Level 7
After installing the driver, simply uninstall with startup RtkNGUI64. in the end, the level of amplification will not work.
Again after launching the Realtek control panel the gain level will return to the previous extreme mode.
The fact that the gain mode after a reboot is not saved is a bios bug, driver reads the gain data from the BIOS before it starts. if the realtek control panel does not automatically start, then the bug does not manifest itself.

jjxakergm wrote:
After installing the driver, simply uninstall with startup RtkNGUI64. in the end, the level of amplification will not work.
Again after launching the Realtek control panel the gain level will return to the previous extreme mode.
The fact that the gain mode after a reboot is not saved is a bios bug, driver reads the gain data from the BIOS before it starts. if the realtek control panel does not automatically start, then the bug does not manifest itself.


Very smart workaround! I'll give it a try and report back in a few days.

Update: 3 startups later, it's working consistently. Don't need that program anyway, don't know who ever did.

To fix the issue of Amplify Level setting not preserving at reboot, you can install realtek audio driver v6.0.1.8339 for Windows 10 from Rog Zenith driver page: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-ZENITH-EXTREME/HelpDesk_Download/

Despite the driver is intended for Windows 10 and Rog Zenith, I can still install it on my Rog B250G with Windows 7. I believe the driver should work with any rog motherboard using SupremeFX.

However, there is also same issue in Sonic Studio -> Basic Mode. The Sonic Studio Effects setting (if enabled) won't get preserved at application exit or reboot, it always reset to "Gaming" at next start up.