DTS DCH Driver for Realtek HDA [DTS:X APO4 + DTS Interactive]

[Ferather]

I was helping someone with a fresh install of the latest Win11, He installed the driver, but Windows got stuck and essentially updated the Microsoft driver that a fresh install starts with.
The device will show as 'DTS DCH Audio Device' but does not actually install (which is really weird). Ideally follow post 1 and remove the Microsoft device.

If you did not remove the Microsoft device, you will need to open 'Device Manager' then remove 'DTS DCH Audio Device' (don't delete), show hidden and delete ghosts.
Then 'Action' > Scan for hardware changes. The driver is Windows 10/11 compatible, so this is just an odd Windows issue.

You will also need to remove the added Microsoft ghosts in 'Sound, video and game controllers', one it re-installs the device. Then restart.

 

[skymeows]

im on windows 11 aswell, did try to install your driver and ended up with almost the identical result -> windows driver being stuck.. i did as you advised and ended up in a bluescreen loop. with driver errors rtlkvhd.sys being the problem.

 

[Ferather]

Must have got muddled between Microsoft data and the Realtek file. I guess they changed something in Win11.
After the above he had everything working strait away including DTS Interactive.

Nothing specific I can do about it.

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On a fresh install make sure you remove the generic Microsoft device first. Same as post 1, should disappear.
The driver works in full on Win11, its just a fresh install with the generic in place.

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Post 1 install guide updated slightly.

 

[skymeows]

i managed to get into safe boot and resolve it pretty fast and easily so no worries

 

[Ferather]

Good to know. Thanks for the feedback. On a side note, here is my Latency, playing music, a day after installing (a settle in period, probably Microsoft).

 

[skymeows]

dammnmnn, thats the dream!
on w10 im doing pretty good too;P

 

[Ferather]

If you want 5.1 passthrough for Gaming (on SPDIF), see here (starting at post #91, top right).
You can add EAPO to VAC (Speakers) if you are using the upmixer.

You can disable 'Stereo Mix' as its no longer needed.

 

[Ferather]

Forgot to mention, I added 'DTS Mode' to 'DTS Settings', if you are using SPDIF only, you can edit-apply it.

 

[Ferather]

If you are using only SPDIF-Optical, you can setup Equalizer APO for Optical only, 6 channels.

 

[Kabal81]

If you are using only SPDIF-Optical, you can setup Equalizer APO for Optical only, 6 channels.

What does "selectedChannelMask" does?
For me its set to 0

 

[Ferather]

It specifies the number of channels and the channel config (speaker layout). With 5.1 there is two, the standard 5.1 (rear) and 5.1 surround (side).

The standard setup (rear), allows us to downmix 7.1 (side and rear), and get virtual side (between front-rear, both played).
The surround setup (side), wont allow you produce a virtual rear between speakers in the same way.

I have pre-programmed SPDIF to specify 7.1 channels with side missing, this tells Windows to virtualize side (with most 7.1 audio).

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Side note, you can also use the 'Stereo Mix' trick mentioned in post 1, also on analogue to reduce initializations and in some cases delays.

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Also so you know the driver is in completed form, there is the possibility of a little DTS APO4 file patching for stereo in the future, but that's all.
The bass boost, and spatial selection features in custom can be a little odd at times, in some cases, but they do work.

In terms of Realtek, as you probably know by now, there really isn't anything to fix (software wise).

 

[Kabal81]

It specifies the number of channels and the channel config (speaker layout). With 5.1 there is two, the standard 5.1 (rear) and 5.1 surround (side).

The standard setup (rear), allows us to downmix 7.1 (side and rear), and get virtual side (between front-rear, both played).
The surround setup (side), wont allow you produce a virtual rear between speakers in the same way.

I have pre-programmed SPDIF to specify 7.1 channels with side missing, this tells Windows to virtualize side (with most 7.1 audio).

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Side note, you can also use the 'Stereo Mix' trick mentioned in post 1, also on analogue to reduce initializations and in some cases delays.

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Also so you know the driver is in completed form, there is the possibility of a little DTS APO4 file patching for stereo in the future, but that's all.
The bass boost, and spatial selection features in custom can be a little odd at times, in some cases, but they do work.

In terms of Realtek, as you probably know by now, there really isn't anything to fix (software wise).

Thanks for elaboration. I just was curious why there was a difference. I changed the value to 3f(63) as your pictures show and as my MMDevices section already showed 3f(63) to me, so I changed it in the EApo Configuration value.
All this manual tweeks are confusing. Maybe you could find someone to write some sort of script, which asks you when installing the driver which sound system you have, to make all these little tweaks for you


What I still haven't fully understood are all the small registration changes (e.g. everything relating to Microsoft Sound System). I tried to follow your posts but I don't know if I succeeded.
In any case, test files from Frauenhofer are played correctly, which is a good thing. But I don't know, for example, whether Microsoft has a negative impact on my sound quality.

At this point, thank you again for all your work here.

 

[Ferather]

You pretty much just install the driver to be honest, the Microsoft ghosts are down to Microsoft, setting up Equalizer APO as you want is also normal.
Everything in 'DTS Settings' is optional, and-or, part of an extra optional step (such as installing, setting up Equalizer APO).

All the other utilities such the MSI Tool are also optional and separate from the main pack.

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Last thing you want is something like the image below, and then "Why isn't XYZ feature working properly?".

 

[Kabal81]

Meanwhile, I stumbled across another game that seems to have problems with its spatial sound. Avatar Frontiers of Pandora (Which is a game worth playing, WHEN your rig can handle it tho^^).
The funny thing is that it plays through the rear speakers (mainly with ambient sound as far as I can hear), but any kind of dialogue with NPCs is only played through the front speakers. So even if you turn around, you can hear the voices coming from the front speakers.
And all this while all the ambient sounds come from the rear speakers...

I don't understand that. Why is sound so neglected in so many games? Or are they all just relying on the players to wear headphones anyway?

 

[Ferather]

That's weird, normally in multichannel games if you turn as someone is talking it will change the speakers to rear.
They must have recorded dialogue in stereo only, no channel switching, re-mapping.

You are probably right, they likely did that for headphones, I am not sure.

 

[Kabal81]

That's weird, normally in multichannel games if you turn as someone is talking it will change the speakers to rear.
They must have recorded dialogue in stereo only, no channel switching, re-mapping.

You are probably right, they likely did that for headphones, I am not sure.

Yeah. I forwarded this to the support and they repeatedly asked about my settings n stuff.
I suspect that there is an internal error that may be causing the speakers not to be recognized correctly just for the dialogues. Or something else stupid.

 

[Ferather]

Definitely internal if it plays all speakers but fails to populate channels with certain audio, when its already detected and using all channels.
Had a quick look on the Ubisoft site here, it mostly looks like stereo, stereo, stereo, stereo, multichannel, lol.

The last option I guess you don't get to specify the number of channels, so it will detect (which seems to be working, if you get rear).

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@Kabal81, also to answer your question about the ghost devices, yes it effects audio, in a negative way.
You can also get duplicate 'Speakers' in the Realtek app in some cases (a ghost).

This is not a DTS DCH specific issue, Windows will do this to any device you install-uninstall.



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Tip: if you are adding Equalizer APO to an endpoint, make sure the endpoint has played audio first (has fully built, configured).
You only need to add EAPO to analogue if you primarily use multichannel and want a stereo upmixer.

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Post 1 guide updated slightly.

 

[Kabal81]

@Ferather
Thanks for taking a look. I thought the same. All sound options are stereo... only one is not. I guess thatz there is the problem. I would bet that they were just too lazy to implement proper surround when it comes to dialogues.

For the ghost devices: After you mentioned this the first time I constantly check my settings for this. What annoys me are all these useless additional devices. Webcam comes with mic, also my mic with speakers (or sort of), sound over GPU, streaming sound devices from microsoft and steam..... the heck.... so much crap.
I only use digital output via SPDIF and 5.1 multichannel.

I recently upgraded my rig. Having a strong GPU (7900XTX) with an QDOLED and HDR is fantastic. Avatar looks georgous. Simpply beautiful.
Thats why I'm so.... yeah angry, that the sound lacks. Thats why I'm interested to have the best possible sound (best in terms of worth the invest, you can burn a lot of money in hifi^^)

 

[Ferather]

I remove a whole bunch of AMD stuff, Nvidia do it too, so its not an AMD only thing. I remove the 'Software component' for AMD noise suppression, via registry.
The rest of the streaming stuff I then take out (also removing the .inf), as its probably not used without the extra AMD software.

I also have no use for the extra things that get installed (crap to you and me), as I also only use SPDIF-Optical and 5.1 multichannel (DTS).
You can also disable all endpoints you never use in the sound panel, reducing the load on Windows audio.



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I checked analogue stereo yesterday, without Equalizer APO, there was no obvious delay, if anything maybe 2ms. Stereo Mix has little impact to delay.
Admittedly I can just about notice a difference in delay with Stereo Mix on analogue, I would guess -2ms, and then 0ms (roughly).

That's + audio quality, without any real added delay. Multichannel mode seems to have no delay, no matter what.

I'm using visual to audio cue. I have used and configured MSI mode on all devices.

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Note that Realtek have programmed a safety delay on analogue at the start of Windows, to prevent a high energy power pop.
I guess the amp comes on before impedance detection, or similar. If you have start-up sound, disable it.

 

[Kabal81]

Yeah, it's standard to me to disable all unused endpoints. I will take a look if I can uninstall some thingis.
With my nvidia card before, I've had some trouble with the drivers when I deinstalled the Nvidia sound drivers. He always tried to put some sort of driver to the device, so it was the better way to have the nvidia driver installed but just keep it disabled.

 

[Benten]

Thanks for your nice work. I have probs with DTS custom. Driver works perfectly. Motherboard Asus TUF B550 Gaming Plus supports DTS Custom. I already used it with Tuf B450 Gaming Pro. No bug no glitch. My headphone was reaching to high end level with extra boost and sound quality. But... I cant get this succcesful proceed on my new mobo B550. I did all adjustments on Realtek Audio Control. Using latest driver, When I activate DTS Custom ( same sound chipset S1200a with B450) DTS works fine and sees heaphone. But in game sound surprised me. It is awful, terrible and still is. In game sound is kind of digital, cybernetic or sth. In Crysis 2 remastered hear overcrystalized sound or GOW cant hear sound effects evenly. When I deactivate Dts sound gets back to normal. Good but non extra boost or non effect. I was really disappointed. Tried lots of thing, however it doesnt heal. Cant deal it. And I'm not new to use DTS Custom. Is there anyone fix this.

 

[Ferather]

@Benten, I have had that with a fresh install of Windows, not actually sure what the cause is, other than somewhere in Windows.

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Clean Install:

Uninstall, See Post 1 (+ pnputil), Install New Driver (as per normal) > Disable Windows Audio Services (see here *) > Restart.
Clean Out Ghost Devices (see below) > Enable Windows Audio Services > Shutdown > Leave for 10 mins.

When you shutdown, turn the power off at the wall.

 

[Benten]

@Benten, I have had that with a fresh install of Windows, not actually sure what the cause is, other than somewhere in Windows.

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Clean Install:

Uninstall, See Post 1 (+ pnputil), Install New Driver (as per normal) > Disable Windows Audio Services (see here *) > Restart.
Clean Out Ghost Devices (see below) > Enable Windows Audio Services > Shutdown > Leave for 10 mins.

When you shutdown, turn the power off at the wall.

I did a new good installation and DTS x Ultra works but it doesnt recognize my headphone. I experienced this before with my former DTS, then I have had changed from speaker to headphone selection. I cant now do that cuz Realtek Audio Control page keep spinning. It doesnt come over desktop. It doesnt open now. What I gotta do. Thanks by the way

I did a new good installation and DTS x Ultra works but it doesnt recognize my headphone. I experienced this before with my former DTS, then I have had changed from speaker to headphone selection. I cant now do that cuz Realtek Audio Control page keep spinning. It doesnt come over desktop. It doesnt open now. What I gotta do. Thanks by the way

Alright I made it. Deleted the [.dat] file. and I replaced 'RTKHDAUD.dat' to system32 drivers and then restart windows. Now I see Control Panel

 

[Ferather]

@Benten, interesting. All is working now? Not sure why you need the extra policy though. Have you tried without any added policy (RTKHDAUD.dat) ?

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If you are one of the unlucky people who have Nahimic constantly re-installing if you remove it, even with automatic drivers disabled (Post 1).
You need to delete the Nahimic service (CMD-Admin: sc delete NAME), use 'Services' to get the full service name.

sc delete NahimicService

Now right click uninstall, plus tick delete driver, all points in 'Device Manager', also use 'Driver Store Explorer' to find: Nahimic, A-Voulet.
Restart, then follow Post 1 again to remove any ghost Nahimic devices, restart again, and now it should all be gone.


Nahimic is literal malware no matter how you uninstall it's program or try to remove it's drivers it keeps coming back
Guide: How to uninstall Nahimic completely from your system : r/MSI_Gaming (reddit.com)


Also note, based on previous installs and debugging (TeamViewer, other), MSI comes up the most issue prone, audio wise.

 

[Benten]

I havent had any Nahimic matter. Then I remember I should install Realtek Audio control 1.41. Well now it works perfect. Plus Ultra has great mode options, if compared Tuf B450 B550 standart Dts custom version Thanks man. Thanks alot. Otherwise I was goin to refund my Mobo