Sound volume increases and increases randomly, when watching Youtube and playing games

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1

Hi all,

I would like to preface my issue by saying that I in no way think FXSound is necessarily responsible for my issue, I am asking here primarily because there are VERY knowledgeable members here who may be able to shed some light on my issue.

So, on to my specs:

Windows 11 25H2

USB Multi-Channel Audio Device (CMedia CM6206 Chipset)

Logitech Z506 5.1 Speaker System

FXSound Version 1.2.9.0

I actually have one issue and one question, so I will do both here, if that is acceptable.

First, my issue: While watching Youtube videos or playing PC games, the sound volume will fluctuate between loud and soft, eventually seeming to settle on the softer volume and staying there, even after a reboot. It is almost like some or other “boost” is kicking in and then stopping or something. Other times, the sound will as it should be, which is “normal” for want of a better word. I have checked ALL possible settings I can think of and find and no “volume normalization” setting seems to be anywhere that I can find that would cause this. Could anyone please shed some light on what settings or fixes I could check/apply, please?

Secondly, the reason I am using the USB Audio device is that it offers “proper” speaker fill (using a technology called Xear 3D) when watching Youtube, so that I get sound from all 6 speakers which is great. I would obviously prefer to use my motherboard’s onboard sound (Realtek® ALC892/ ALC897 Codec) As I just prefer a neater setup, however, in all forums I have looked at, it seems Realtek removed their version of “speaker fill” from their drivers, hence my using the USB Audio Device. Is there perhaps a function like “speaker fill” the FXSound offers that I am unaware of?

Thanking you all for your time and consideration.

EDIT: It seems I may have fixed my issue with the random volume increase and decrease by setting the Mater Gain and Normalization to -10Db and +10Db respectively, as I saw advised on another thread in this forum. I will keep an eye (ear?) on it and see if it is in fact now resolved.

So, now it is just my question that I would appreciate a possible fix for.

Thanking you.

2

hey chief, I’d check if youtube setting “stable volume” is on, that usually is the culprit, you can also disable everything else except fxsound and your audio headphones/speakers in sound panels to reduce the bloat cuz who knows it could be 10 other things fighting each other to get control of your audio. [1]

are you talking about spatial audio when you said “speaker fill”?

fxsound doesn’t seem to support any speaker configuration (it’s best at stereo, 2 channels only no 6 speakers :'/ ). So id say if you like fxsound then no need to stress over other setup as the spatial sound don’t necessarily make ears happier. [2] Also Master gain i think you can set as low as you feel comfortable it shouldn’t cause issue, but normalization +10db is where I kinda have doubt for you, not tryna tell you what to do, but it seem like the norm usually is supposed to be 0db/off as far as I’ve seen in a few different audio apps. If i were you I’d check some more references to see what +10 normalization actually do cuz it might not be cooking.

  1. you can exclusively set fxsound as output per application in windows “Volume Mixer” ↩︎

  2. I personally hate it, dolby is a scam ಠ_ಠ ↩︎

3

Good day @coreywillei thank you for your reply. Firstly, there is no “stable volume” option in the Youtube settings anywhere I can find.

Secondly, I do not have any other “bloat” enabled in any sound panels, there is ONLY my speakers and FXsound enabled.

As regards “speaker fill”, no, this was an option offered in earlier versions of the Realtek audio driver. Regardless, as stated, I have resolved that issue as well, as I have found a browser extension that does exactly what I wanted.

As regards your response to my settings of Master Gain and Normalization, I do not quite understand exactly what you are trying to say, however, the settings I have applied have fixed my particular issue, so I will be sticking with those settings.

4

after some researching, and from what I understood: stable volume[1] setting seems to work similarly to normalization –– they are meant to make your audio stay at the same loudness, meaning any peaks or dips will theoretically neutralized back down to the chosen volume’s “equilibrium”.

also sorry regarding my earlier wannabe cool comment that caused you confusion, simply put I was telling you your 10db settings are heeeellaa bad, but only in my opinion and has zero control over your next choice of action. But cheers to you already done fixing it :clinking_beer_mugs::clinking_beer_mugs:

  1. you will need to do more image searching to see where it is, I am not aware of anyway to “hide” or disable this setting in Youtube to this day –– in other words, it is literally a forced setting on every single Youtube platform, and it turns on automatically whenever you clear everything of browsing history (at least you get an option to turn it off in the video) ↩︎

5

I also have this issue and especially in very dynamic scenes (action + voice dialogue) either the action or the voice is very quiet.

I have the latest beta version of Fxsound (1.2.9.0) and everything set to default (Normalization 0).

What could fix/improve this?

6

depends on the platform you’re watching the scenes on, I only know Windows so here some ideas for you:

  1. Exclusive mode in sound panel (off for both fxsound and your audio device). Sounds like Dynamic scene could be something which uses exclusive mode or Wasapi by default (mpv does this in my case)
  2. If you have other driver similar to fxsound (realtek, asio e.g.), they don’t play well together. (likely not your case since this usually just don’t play any sounds at all cuz they busy fighting)
  3. if on Youtube, have you try toggling the stable volume? It will try to keep your loudest and quietest sounds stay in the same range when on (this might explain the voice gets quiet)
  4. I mean it could also be the video’s problem too, for example sometimes you may notice you only hear the sound in one ear, but this is just how the video is made so nothing much can be done. (this is relevant imo cuz for instance, if the mic physically far away from the dialogue when recording then it’ll be quiet)
  5. I have a bunch of things i would go through quickly but it’ll be beating around bushes cuz idk what your issue and setup look like. So good luck but if need few more cents you’re welcome to show some vid/pic too that’ll help
  6. well you can play with fxsound to help this, since you set all to default you can start by changing one thing at a time, easiest would be mastergain[1], use one of the presets for voice[2], or try turning up Clarity+Surround[3]+Dynamic Boost [4]+Bass[5].

that’s all I can chaotically give you for rn friend, goodluck. if you need some more personal ideas about the EQ there’s another post of mine which you are welcome to check out whenever.

  1. this came before the volume setting which personally I keep it negative number, but you can turn it up 2-3+ db as long as you don’t hear anything weird or popping ↩︎

  2. you can look on the pinned post for the link to community presets ↩︎

  3. panning audio imo but this should be the smallest number in this combo ↩︎

  4. as recommended officially, use this to boost sound up but remember to lower your computer’s volume as needed to avoid clipping (generally keep every volume settings below 80%/ don’t max out is good enough to keep your sound away from clipping). Also this should be the biggest number out of the four ↩︎

  5. low-lowmid range make the voice fuller imo, some people do have deeeeeep voice ↩︎

7

Thanks for the detailed answer.

This is how it looks like and the applied General preset has everything in neutral/0dB setting:

image
image1405×460 59.2 KB

It happens in video games, so it has nothing to do with videos.