Windows 7: How do I have an audio file loop constantly in the background?

This is a strange problem, but I have an AVR hooked up to my PC and the audio stream in windows 7 cuts out when there is no sound playing, so when a sound begins, my AVR has to re-initialize and re-acknowledge my PCM bitstream that is coming from the computer. This process takes a couple of seconds and results in me not being able to hear any of my system sounds and video playback losing small chunks of audio after periods of silence.

I have looked this up and found that it is referred to as the "Silent Stream Bug" and is a common problem with nvidia sound cards. I found a program that is supposed to work here: Marc's Apps however this program is not aggressive enough and my AVR still drops audio and has to re-initialize.

Short of forgetting about HDMI audio streaming entirely, I am convinced that I can cure this by having an audio file of something inaudible loop in the background at an extremely low volume could solve this, but I don't know how to do this without having my system open this in a program (such as winamp or VLC) which I do not want to do as I use those programs often for real content.

My question is, is there a way to have this sound file (a .wav file) loop in the background at zero volume in the background without having it play in a program, plus be able to automatically start with windows?