ALC4082 drops the start of audio (Z690 Hero)

[BobVul]

When going from an idle/silent state to a sound playing, the beginning of the sound gets cut off/never plays.

This is also apparent when short notification sounds are played. For example, sometimes almost the entire Discord message notification sound will be missed, sometimes the second half of it will play.


The most reliable way to reproduce the issue is to use the Windows sound output device "test" button, which plays a test tone on each channel sequentially. As long as no other audio is playing, some 25-50% of the time you'll hear the first tone (left) play, and then the second tone (right) will be missing the first 0.5s.

Following some forum diving, a workaround that's currently working for me is to enable listen to this device against Stereo Mix, and then set its volume to 0. The explanation offered is that this keeps the audio hardware awake, preventing the delayed wake-up issues. Doing this, the "test" button now works correctly, and I no longer have issues with notification sounds.


Here's a video of the test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuWOuM19oFM

Test 1: shows the issue
Test 2: apply the stereo mix listen workaround, issue no longer occurs
Test 3: remove the workaround, shows the issue again




My current audio driver version is 6.3.9600.2297, the latest available on the support site at https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_download.

Also can confirm that none of the BIOS versions 0237 (original), 0702, nor 0803 (newest) have any effect.

Have also tried driver version 6.3.9600.2306 from MoKiChU's package, which did not have any effect either. The problem remains the same as shown in the video linked above.


I strongly believe this is basically the "wake up delay" problem described in previous threads, e.g. https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?125652-Fed-up-with-the-ROG-STRIX-Z590-E-GAMING-WIFI-audio-..., but I was told to create a new one for the different board.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi BobVul,
Thank you for your new thread.
Did it also occur with other speakers? Are they analog or digital output? Which audio port do you connect to?
Have you restored bios to all default settings but it is still the same?
Thank you.

[BobVul]

> Did it also occur with other speakers?

I do not have any other compatible speakers, however the same issue occurs with headphones when connected via the front panel port.

> Are they analog or digital output?

All analog, again I do not have anything compatible with a digital output.

> Which audio port do you connect to?

Speakers via the rear line out, headphones via the front headphone port.

> Have you restored bios to all default settings but it is still the same?

I will note that this occurs with a brand new board, and also after all BIOS updates. The only settings that were configured differently from default were those relating to Intel VMD/RAID, and I cannot disable/change that without damaging my RAID array.

---

Also, given that testing has shown that this only occurs when the audio codec wakes up from an idle state, a way to achieve more consistent test results is to first set the default audio output to a different device entirely, e.g. a USB or GPU based audio output device. This ensures that there is no background audio stream keeping the Realtek hardware awake.

[Jozh89]

Noticed the same issue on the z690 Hero. Same as you, no difference on different bios/drivers.

BobVul wrote:
>

> Have you restored bios to all default settings but it is still the same?

I will note that this occurs with a brand new board, and also after all BIOS updates. The only settings that were configured differently from default were those relating to Intel VMD/RAID, and I cannot disable/change that without damaging my RAID array.

I have VMD disabled, changes nothing.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi BobVul,
Is it possible to record a video about Discord message notification sound missing and normal condition?
If you reinstall the audio driver and use the inbox driver, does it still occur?
May I have the following information?
- the serial number of the motherboard
- the brand and the model name of the CPU, RAM, graphics card, hard drive with OS, PSU, speaker and headphone you use with the issue
*Please check the specific model name of RAM such as G.SKILL F5-6000U4040A16GX2-RS5K.
- OS version and OS build
Thank you so much.

[BobVul]

> Is it possible to record a video about Discord message notification sound missing and normal condition?

Not easily. It is not a reliable test, and requires some arcane combination of waiting many minutes between tests along with coordinating with someone else to send a message and trigger a notification. Frankly, I have spent far too much time on this already; I have already provided concrete video evidence of the issue occurring with the audio test.

Please follow my previously described test steps for a reliable reproduction. I will repeat them here:

1. Make sure the default audio output is not set to a Realtek output, to allow it to idle. Using a GPU or USB based audio output as default works.
2. Make sure as few programs are running as possible, as some may hold an audio output active.
3. Use the Windows sound control panel's "test" option.
4. Observe that the initial bit of sound is missing, additionally there is often a popping sound as the sound comes in.


Note that step 1 (different default output) is not required to reproduce, but it makes the issue occur more reliably as it removes other sound sources from interfering with the test.


However, if you want a reasonably accurate example of what the Discord example sounds like, taking the Discord notification sound from e.g. https://www.myinstants.com/media/sounds/discord-notification.mp3 and deleting the first 0.3s in Audacity etc. provides about the same effect as a worst-case occurrence.


> If you reinstall the audio driver and use the inbox driver, does it still occur?

The issue occurs with the Microsoft default drivers. There is no combination or version of drivers I could find that avoids this issue; only the workaround of keeping the audio output permanently active/preventing idling, whether by using a loopback listen or otherwise, seems to work. The Windows default driver seems a *little bit* better in that the missing sound is either shorter or maybe occurs less often, but it is definitely still there in a way that is obviously deficient compared to when the workaround is applied.

> - the serial number of the motherboard



> - OS version and OS build

Windows 11 21H2 22000.348

> - the brand and the model name of the CPU, RAM, graphics card, hard drive with OS, PSU, speaker and headphone you use with the issue

Are you suggesting a specific CPU, RAM, GPU or *hard drive* model, of all things, could be affecting the audio output of the motherboard in such a way? Please consider that people in the other thread have essentially confirmed that this issue impacted the Z590 boards first, which most certainly do not share those parts.

Just for the sake of completeness:

i9-12900k
2x Crucial CT32G48C40U5, previously 2x Kingston KVR48U40BS8K2-32
GTX 1080
Samsung 960 Pro
Corsair AX860i
Logitech Z313
Some random Xiaomi headphones I had handy for the extra test

I will note that everything here (minus the CPU + RAM) worked correctly with my previous build (of Z270 gen), notably *not* using a 408x codec, and that this issue does not occur with USB-based audio outputs (e.g. Corsair headsets) that do not go through the Realtek path.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi BobVul and Jozh89,
There is a tool for ALC4080/ALC4082 audio FW update on our support site.
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_bios
Could you please help to update it and then try again?
Thank you.

[Jozh89]

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Hi BobVul and Jozh89,
There is a tool for ALC4080/ALC4082 audio FW update on our support site.
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_bios
Could you please help to update it and then try again?
Thank you.

Already running that new firmware 😞

[BobVul]

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Hi BobVul and Jozh89,
There is a tool for ALC4080/ALC4082 audio FW update on our support site.
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_bios
Could you please help to update it and then try again?
Thank you.

Thanks for that.

The firmware update from 0007 to 0011 appears to have improved things slightly such that my 100% test (with the Windows control panel test) no longer reproduces the whole effect. The initial piece of audio is not missing, but there's still some crackling on wakeup.

Unfortunately I am still missing significant portions of other notification audio, e.g. Discord. I'll see if I can figure out a way to reproduce that one reliably.

The "keep it active" workaround (listen to stereo mix, etc.) still works.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi BobVul,
Thank you for your reply.
May I have the video about the crackling on wakeup and missing significant portions of other notification audio with new audio FW?
Thank you very much.

Hi Jozh89,
May I also have the video about your audio issues?
Thank you.