Z690-F Audio Issues

[Rusty_Gunn]

Only have a few days before I have to decide if I am going to return it, so I would appreciate any last ditch thoughts to try! The audio issues have been frustrating to no end, although the choice of boards, ASUS or not, without a Realtek 4080 chip set are pretty slip pickings (and it seems all of the boards with this audio chip are suffering these issues to some degree). I have tried pretty much every forum, reddit post, and thread I can find, but still no go. A quick summaries of my issues:

Windows drivers used: Random static on optical out. Once a day minimum and requires a restart to stop. Teams works fine.
Realtek Drivers Used: Webcam and USB Headphone DAC randomly drop out when using Teams (I don't recall the same issue with Zoom, but I don't use Zoom much). Also sometimes static on optical out, but pretty rare.

The crackly pop issues persist no matter what driver I use. The mic input levels are low and relies on a bit of gain (which only work with the Realtek drivers) which introduces noise.

I've scrubbed my driver installs, tried multiple versions, tried all the Realtek firmware updates, intel usb firmware updates, and ASUS board updates. Tried turn aura off, hibernate off, usb power control off, etc.

All I want is a clean digital out that doesn't crash. Thoughts?

[xeromist]

If you like the board otherwise you could grab a dedicated sound card. I have a Sound Blaster Z which can be found relatively inexpensively on the used market and it supports both DD and DTS on the digital out (or stereo of course).

Later the onboard sound issues may vary well be fixed with driver updates or it could end up being some physical defect requiring RMA. So it's up to you whether you want to roll the dice on that.

Note: if you do decide to add a discrete card you might want to disable onboard audio in the BIOS so there's no chance of it messing with your machine.

[Rusty_Gunn]

xeromist wrote:
If you like the board otherwise you could grab a dedicated sound card. I have a Sound Blaster Z which can be found relatively inexpensively on the used market and it supports both DD and DTS on the digital out (or stereo of course).

Later the onboard sound issues may vary well be fixed with driver updates or it could end up being some physical defect requiring RMA. So it's up to you whether you want to roll the dice on that.

Note: if you do decide to add a discrete card you might want to disable onboard audio in the BIOS so there's no chance of it messing with your machine.

Thanks for the reply. Seems wrong to spend money on a separate sound card to get this board to do something it already should. I noticed the less expensive board Prime Z690-A actually uses a different audio chip which might be the way to go (too bad it is white though when I have an all black setup!). I have a few days left to return to the retailer at this point so I'll have to decide soon!

Are you using windows 11? Just wondering how driver support is. Did it work without installing the Creative Drivers and the bloat that comes with them?

[xeromist]

Rusty_Gunn wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Seems wrong to spend money on a separate sound card to get this board to do something it already should. I noticed the less expensive board Prime Z690-A actually uses a different audio chip which might be the way to go (too bad it is white though when I have an all black setup!). I have a few days left to return to the retailer at this point so I'll have to decide soon!

Are you using windows 11? Just wondering how driver support is. Did it work without installing the Creative Drivers and the bloat that comes with them?

Yeah, I'm not trying to talk you into keeping the board. It just seemed like you were hesitant to make a change so I offered an alternative.

Haven't really feel like I needed to install Win 11. But on my Win 10 I installed all the Creative stuff so I'm not sure what still works with only whatever Windows wants to install. I'm doubtful surround sound over digital would work as that is licensed software and that's what I needed. The software hasn't really caused any problems that I'm aware of anyway.

[Rusty_Gunn]

xeromist wrote:
Yeah, I'm not trying to talk you into keeping the board. It just seemed like you were hesitant to make a change so I offered an alternative.

lol, you're right, I don't really want to send it back. It is a good board besides this one issue and they are a pain to change out, let alone the process of returning it and getting another one. Newegg doesn't have a great reputation for returns either! I've been flip flopping on if it is going back or not. Not a cheap board and it pains me to spend that kind of money on something that doesn't work as advertised.

[Zardoc]

Rusty_Gunn wrote:
Only have a few days before I have to decide if I am going to return it, so I would appreciate any last ditch thoughts to try! The audio issues have been frustrating to no end, although the choice of boards, ASUS or not, without a Realtek 4080 chip set are pretty slip pickings (and it seems all of the boards with this audio chip are suffering these issues to some degree). I have tried pretty much every forum, reddit post, and thread I can find, but still no go. A quick summaries of my issues:

Windows drivers used: Random static on optical out. Once a day minimum and requires a restart to stop. Teams works fine.
Realtek Drivers Used: Webcam and USB Headphone DAC randomly drop out when using Teams (I don't recall the same issue with Zoom, but I don't use Zoom much). Also sometimes static on optical out, but pretty rare.

The crackly pop issues persist no matter what driver I use. The mic input levels are low and relies on a bit of gain (which only work with the Realtek drivers) which introduces noise.

I've scrubbed my driver installs, tried multiple versions, tried all the Realtek firmware updates, intel usb firmware updates, and ASUS board updates. Tried turn aura off, hibernate off, usb power control off, etc.

All I want is a clean digital out that doesn't crash. Thoughts?

Hi,

I'll be blunt, If you can dump the board. Dump it. The sound chip issue does not seem to be a priority with Asus or any other board maker for the fact. I will not by another board with this chip until Asus gets their head out of their... and fixes this very annoying issue.

They think that since we are silent we don't care. Wrong Asus, were aren't buying this crap!! 😞

[Rusty_Gunn]

Thanks Zardoc! I think your right.

Anyone have experience with the Prime Z690-A board and how it's audio performs? Is it USB based audio too despite being a different Realtek chip?

[quickster2]

I found on my TUF Gaming that if I uninstalled the drivers and then installed them after everything else is updated then everything worked. I have two of these builds now. On the 2nd build I initially did not install the Realtek drivers at all until everything else was complete. This worked for me as well. Good luck.