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Z790-e gaming wifi optical audio frequent dropouts

Xmptroubles
Level 9
Asus rog strix z790-e gaming wifi. Optical audio out is cutting out/dropping several times per minute. It happens when plugged into multiple different DACs, and using several different optical cables. No problem with my older PCs optical out.

Happens on a clean install of windows 10.

Not using any extra audio stuff like dts, avolute, etc.

Using latest Realtek drivers 6.3.9600.2345. It also occurs on the older Asus provided drivers on the mobo support page.

Usb audio and hdmi audio are both working.

Lowered bitrate/sample rate and unchecked exclusive mode, nope.

Used the msi utility to turn on msi for the hd audio device, nope.

Can anyone confirm that optical out is working for them on a z790 board? Thanks.
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11 REPLIES 11

bluestealth
Level 7
I am having the exact same problem with my new board. I upgraded from a Maximus XI Extreme and 9900K, which had no such issues.

Here is my current setup:

  • Z790 Maximus Extreme
  • 13900KF
  • G.Skill DDR5 6000 mt/s XMP I
  • Windows 11 Pro fully updated


My optical audio cable is connected to a Fiio K9 Pro ESS DAC/AMP. I am using the current latest BIOS revision (0703) for my board, and have tried both of the audio driver downloads from the official ASUS support portal, with no luck.

Is an ASUS employee able to escalate this problem to the proper team(s), so we can get a fix? This is a really bad problem, and almost makes the audio unusable. Would be happy to provide any other information that may prove to be useful.

Thanks!

Xmptroubles
Level 9
It's probably the Realtek drivers causing it. I haven't bothered trying out older drivers because I swapped to usb audio which is working fine.

I'll try mine tommorow and post back if it's bad. Just thought I'd mention I tried the Line-In and I get nothing...no sound though the drivers detects something is there and 'line-in' appears in the panel, but no sounds no matter what so far.

Audio is by far the weak point on these Asus boards it seems. My z490-e was pretty bad too. I used to run my own cards for the longest time, when they all sucked, maybe they sill do...

Xmptroubles
Level 9
 

 

Jiaszzz_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hello, Xmptroubles.
Could you please describe the situation if the optical audio has frequent dropouts again?
Does it just occur in certain circumstances or when a particular software is run?
Additionally, could you clarify which motherboard port your optical audio cable is attached to and whether you have attempted cross-testing with various connections to see if the issue persists?
Thank you.

Asus rog strix z790-e gaming wifi. Optical audio out is cutting out/dropping several times per minute. It happens when plugged into multiple different DACs, and using several different optical cables. No problem with my older PCs optical out.

Happens on a clean install of windows 10.

Not using any extra audio stuff like dts, avolute, etc.

Using latest Realtek drivers 6.3.9600.2345. It also occurs on the older Asus provided drivers on the mobo support page.

Usb audio and hdmi audio are both working.

Lowered bitrate/sample rate and unchecked exclusive mode, nope.

Used the msi utility to turn on msi for the hd audio device, nope.

Problem still occurs after the new usb audio firmware for the strix-e.

When the audio cuts out, there is silence, not any kind of noise or interference.

The optical audio signal light isn't going out. It's solid.

Xmptroubles
Level 9
Problem still occurs after the new usb audio firmware for the strix-e.

Jiaszzz_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hello, Xmptroubles.

May I ask if the optical cable connect to the rear side panel?
Will it occur in every circumstance or just some of them? When playing YouTube, is sound going to be absent?
Could you help to confirm the question below as well?
- the brand and model of DACs that have been tested
- the current BIOS version
- the serial numbers of your motherboard and GPU via pm
- the brand and model name of the CPU, DRAM, GPU, and PSU currently installed
- the OS version and OS build

Thank you.