[davidc2]

I have HD800s headphones that I listen through, via an Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt dac/amp, and from a Dell XPS 15 7590 laptop using mainly the Amazon Music Unlimited HD source. I have just noticed a curiosity:

In Sound in Windows 10 Pro's Control Panel, I have found that in the AQ Cobalt driver properties, disabling the "Disable all enhancements" drastically changes the sound of my headphones even when none of the four specific sound enhancements are already selected.

I was expecting this to have no audible effect at all. Can anyone please explain to me what is going on? What extra enhancement is being removed? It makes the headphones sound thin.

It has made me question how much effect the laptop has on the sound. Is this the result of using the AQ Cobalt driver rather than the native Realtek driver? Maybe it's nothing to do with that.

I would like to feel that what I hear through usb/dac/headphones is not affected by native laptop software. I would like to understand what is happening.

Thanks for any help with this.

 

[Twenty-One Twelve]

That probably has to do with something that the "Enable raw stream processing" checkbox does in Jukebox 2112 (see the pic, the dialogbox -- everything in JB has tips so you can find out more by hovering on that checkbox). That checkbox applies only for shared mode processing; it has no effect for exclusive modes (no reason for it).

If you have a player that offers an exclusive mode, switch the player to that mode and see if you always notice the lack of bass. The option in the sound control panel about disabling all effects (nevermind nothing is checked) won't affect exclusive mode, or shouldn't -- drivers can do anything, almost, so who really knows these things. If it's always thin in an exclusive mode, then you can surmise the driver or something installed with it is altering the sound. Say, tone boosting the lows and maybe highs.

If you want total control, with lots o' options from which to choose, look for Jukebox 2112.

 

[davidc2]

Thanks. I find this subject pretty confusing. When I use the Dragonfly Cobalt it appears as the playback device in the list of playback devices...I assume that if it requires a driver that is being supplied by W10. I thought that disabling all enhancements meant no other software (like a Realtek house or native driver) would effect the sound. But now I wonder if I am hearing pure headphones/Cobalt/laptop or headphones/realtek software enhancement//cobalt/laptop. I thought I was shaking off the audio enhancement by the Realtek and Max Audio Pro software included by Dell to make the puny speakers sound fuller. I don't mind the enhancement when I'm listening to the laptop's speakers but don't want it when I'm listening via usb/dac to headphones.
I mostly just play material from Amazon Prime Unlimited HD using their primitive player.

 

[Twenty-One Twelve]

...

Look for another setting in the sound panel that you can't indentify. Maybe there's a Custom tab, with an

[x] Loudness

setting. Or look in the Levels tab, maybe there are controls for bass and treble. If one or more of those is present, Disable all enhancements probably disables them, too. If you don't see anything unexpected, it could you need software that came with device to control whatever is being disabled.

The onboard device (Realtek) won't have any control over another device, so you can rule that out. That presumes you are plugged into the USB audio device and not the laptop.

 

[davidc2]

Look for another setting in the sound panel that you can't indentify. Maybe there's a Custom tab, with an

[x] Loudness

setting. Or look in the Levels tab, maybe there are controls for bass and treble. If one or more of those is present, Disable all enhancements probably disables them, too. If you don't see anything unexpected, it could you need software that came with device to control whatever is being disabled.

The onboard device (Realtek) won't have any control over another device, so you can rule that out. That presumes you are plugged into the USB audio device and not the laptop.

Thanks. Turned out to be a Dell installed program called MaxxAudio Pro that has a loudness/added bass button that seems to be present all the time no matter what audio usb device you have plugged in. When you switch off the Disable All Enhancements in Windows/sound... it goes too.