Windows 7 Windows 7 Sound vs Windows XP Sound

[Ripture]

I figure here is a good place to put this, if not, please move it to a more appropriate forum.

The only problem I've had with Vista and now with 7 is the sound. I'm sure 98% of others are able to look past it and get on with what seems like a great OS. I have an on-board sound card and 5.1 surround speakers. In XP, with any program, the sound gets distributed across all 5 speakers and low sounds properly played fully on the sub. Music was the same way, encoded in two channels or not, it would distribute the sound and play a full bass when it needed. With Windows 7, however, it fails to do this miserably as far as I can tell.

Yes, I know about speaker fill, yes I know about bass management. Neither of these operate the 5.1 with the same quality that Windows XP naturally did. Yes, I know I'm an audiophile. Testing the speakers in Speaker Setup yields positive results: all speakers including the subwoofer work fine. Up to here, the experience is identical to XP. Once I open up Windows Media Player or Winamp, I am disturbed that only *some* of the sound is being processed to the subwoofer and no sound is being processed to the center or satellite speakers. Playing with the mixer levels, the subwoofer volume does not affect it.

It makes sense that songs that are only recorded in two channels be forced to play in only two channels, but why is XP able to do this and 7 not?

Also, I'm using Realtek's Vista HD Audio R2.22 drivers. The same version, for XP of course, works great for me in XP.

 

[reghakr]

Hello Ripture,

I had the same problem with my SoundBlaster 7.1 channel card.

I still don't think the manufactures have drivers for all sound cards that use 5.1 channel surround.

I actually uninstalled Windows 7 off my HTPC because of the is problem. Then someone ( I wish I could remember their name) posted beta drivers for the Creative card and I now get 5.1 channel surround through my Marantz receiver.

I couldn't take listening to Blue-rays in stereo.

You;ll probably have to wait for Realtek to catch up with beta drivers.

 

[Ripture]

I always leave the possibility that it's just the drivers. I've reinstalled Vista a few times over a few months testing the drivers to see if they work the same way they did in XP and I've reinstalled 7 a few times over a few months to do the same. Both of these, by the way, do this same thing with the sound.

I might just get a 5.1 card off Newegg that I can see has decent support and give that a try. I probably want a sound card anyway, so worst case is I go back to XP again and I have a 5.1 card.

 

[whoosh]

I always leave the possibility that it's just the drivers. I've reinstalled Vista a few times over a few months testing the drivers to see if they work the same way they did in XP and I've reinstalled 7 a few times over a few months to do the same. Both of these, by the way, do this same thing with the sound.

I might just get a 5.1 card off Newegg that I can see has decent support and give that a try. I probably want a sound card anyway, so worst case is I go back to XP again and I have a 5.1 card.

C-Media do a cheap 5.1 sound card works great with windows 7 . Good sound quality