Voices in PC games very quiet only when using Schiit stack

[benjiiii]

I've noticed that in PC games, the audio seems super directional and when I don't face someone talking, the volume of their voice is very quiet. As soon as I start turning to look at them it gets louder until its back to normal when I face them.

My setup is:

Windows 10 x64
ASUS Maximus VIII Hero Alpha
- Onboard sound Realtek ALC1150
- ESS® ES9023P DAC
- TI RC4580 2VRMS audio OP AMP(s)
Schiit Modi/Magni 2 Uber via S/PDIF
Sennheiser HD598

I am using the latest drivers, I did try rolling back to a previous driver and it made no difference. The games either have no audio config settings or are set to stereo and/or headphones. When I plugged my headphones directly into the audio jack and switched from Digital Output to Speakers, the audio worked as expected. As soon as I plugged them back into the AMP and switched to Digital Output, the problem returned. Windows Spatial sound is disabled. My default format is 24bit 192k hz, I did also try 16bit 44,1k hz.

I'm totally out of ideas and would really appreciate any help people can offer. Many thanks.

 

[benjiiii]

Okay, so I got lucky while changing my drivers back and figured out the problem. I'm posting the solution here for anyone in the future that may search for a solution.

All the Realtek drivers ruin the audio, including the ones Microsoft will automatically download and install. Setting 'No' on automatically downloading manufacturers' stuff for your device (System > Advanced System Settings > Hardware > Device Installation Settings) will stop every single driver except the Realtek one (no idea why). In order to stop the Realtek driver downloading you need uninstall all Realtek drivers, but before you restart make sure you have an empty 'Realtek' folder in 'C:\Program Files', then right click the folder, Properties > Security > System > Tick all the deny boxes. This will block Windows' attempt at installing a newer driver. What this achieves is that Windows will only use the generic Realtek driver it already has and it is that driver that fixes the problem.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I've noticed that in PC games, the audio seems super directional and when I don't face someone talking, the volume of their voice is very quiet. As soon as I start turning to look at them it gets louder until its back to normal when I face them.

Try the same in real life and you'll get a subtle version of that - like try talking to somebody in the back seat while driving vs talking to someone directly in front of you (alternately, sit in the back seat and have someone talk to you like you're sitting across them instead of behind). The DSP software and probably coupled with the channel separation on the Schiits is just making too much of a deal out of it as it only distinguishes simulating your game avatar's ears and location for positioning, not for example how the effect will be less severe if you're in an enclosed area, ie, it doesn't distinguish between in game voices vs SFX.