REW incompatibility with some new Windows PCs - solved

[Dave MacKay]

I searched the forum to see if this issue had already been addressed, but didn't find anything. I apologise if I'm going over well-trodden ground.

My brand-new HP dy5088 laptop will not work with REW because of a mismatch between the audio format the laptop supports and the audio format REW requires.The Windows Audio Input (for a USB microphone) on the laptop can only be configured for "2 channel, 24 bit, 48000 Hz, (DVD quality)" format whereas the Windows version of REW requires 16 bit format. Unfortunately, the laptop doesn't support "2 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz, (CD quality)".. Because Windows is sending 24-bit values and REW is expecting 16-bit values, REW cannot interpret the information from the microphone correctly. In my case, the SPL meter almost always hows 27 dB from my UMIK-1.

The Linux and Mac versions of REW can accommodate 24-bit format, but the Windows version requires 16-bit format.

I believe that the laptop's restriction may be due to the underlying Realtek hardware or driver. The same restriction may affect other laptops.

That restriction isn't in place for my family's older laptops (one running Windows 10 and the other running Windows 11).

I tried using ASIO (via ASIO4ALL) instead of Java to get around the problem, but wasn't successful. I haven't tried using an external sound card in place of the laptop's built-in audio capabilities.

I wanted to bring make other REW users aware of this problem, since it means some new laptops will not work with REW.

 

[John Mulcahy]

REW does not require 16-bit data. The Windows JavaSound implementation will only pass 16-bit data to REW but that is independent of the data format of the interface. All UMIK-1 have 24-bit 48 kHz as their default format, for example, the default format choices are governed by the device, not the OS. The problems you are encountering must lie elsewhere. A common feature of newer Windows builds is to apply noise cancellation by default on any mic input that provides stereo data, that can usually be prevented by disabling all enhancements on the Windows audio properties for the mic input, on the Enhancements or Advanced tabs. Some laptops also install other audio processing applications, such as Waves MaxxAudio, which may have their own control panels.

 

[Dave MacKay]

John, thank-you for replying to my post. It's a privilege to hear from you.

After reading what you wrote, I checked again to see if there was something that was affecting the audio that wasn't showing up in the "Settings" menus on my PC. It turned out there was. You were right. Thank-you for pointing me in that direction.

Mea culpa

My HP laptop comes with an application called "HP Audio Center". I hadn't ever run it, nor was it evident from the "Settings" menu. But when I ran it I came across this screen:

When I set the noise cancellation in "HP Audio Center" to "off", the UMIK-1 started working correctly (in that the REW SPL meter was showing correct values). Problem solved.

For the benefit of others who may get tripped up by something similar, it's worth noting that the HP Audio Center doesn't show itself in the "Settings" menus. Here's the Sound properties screen:

And, when one selects the "Advanced" choice under "Enhance audio", it's not evident there either:

I was misled by thinking that, since I couldn't change the settings from "2 channel, 24 bit, 48000 Hz, (DVD quality)" format, that must have been the cause of the problem. It wasn't. All that was needed was to find "HP Audio Center" and change some settings there.

John, thank-you.

I tried to change the title of the post to show that the problem had been solved, but wasn't able to.

 

[Wirrunna]

Dave and John - thank you both for this thread.
I had purchased a Dell Inspiron 14 7000 with AMD Ryzen about a year ago to replace an ageing Asus Vivo Book, but until finding this thread today I could not get a good measurement with REW on the Dell.
The measurements show how bad the Dell audio enhancements are, the measurements are of my tri amped K-horns with a miniDSP UMIK-1 and with sound enhancements off, match the Asus Vivo Book.

I wonder how many new REW users with Win11 PCs have had crap results.
The Dell has similar obscure controls to Dave's HP.