Missing Equalizer in Windows 7 Enhancements Tab

scirto · May 18, 2012

So I bought some computer speakers that are a little heavy on the bass. Originally, my main computer was my laptop (Samsung r780). It was easy enough to just go into the sound properties, enhancements tab, and fiddle with the equalizer there.

However, I just built a new desktop. The motherboard I bought was an AsRock Extreme4 Gen3. It uses the Realtek ALC892 chipset. I still have the same speakers, so I went to tweak the sound using the EQ... But the only thing in the enhancements tab is Loudness Equalization. I know I can EQ sound through various media players, but I'd like to avoid doing that for now if possible.

Are there different factors that determine what enhancements are in the sound enhancements tab? I have the latest Realtek drivers. Thanks in advance

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boohbah · May 18, 2012

welcome to seven forums,
you say you have the realtek drivers, then im presuming you have the realtek audio manager in control panel.
if you do the equalizer is in there. as well as other sound features like the environment

scirto · May 18, 2012

Thanks for the kind welcome.

I forgot to mention that I also looked in the Realtek HD Audio Manager in Control Panel and it's not there, either. The tabs I get are Speaker Configuration, Room Correction, and Default Format. Here's what I'm looking at:

DavidE · May 19, 2012

When you look at the properties for your "Realtek Digital Output", is the equalizer listed?
I just looked at my Test PC, and some Playback devices have the equalizer, and some don't...
My PC has a different (older) Realtek chipset than you have...
I don't need the equalizer, so i never noticed this before...

You could try using a different version of the Realtek drivers.
If you don't have the latest, try those.
If you do have the latest, try an older version.

You may also want to try the drivers from the AsRock MB site, rather than drivers from the Realtek site (or Win updates).

boohbah · May 19, 2012

i see in your screenshot you have the sound effects tab missing , that is where the equalizer is located,
as suggested try a different driver ,latest version here...

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/3756-latest-realtek-hd-audio-driver-version.html

jimbo45 · May 19, 2012

boohbah said:
i see in your screenshot you have the sound effects tab missing , that is where the equalizer is located,
as suggested try a different driver ,latest version here...

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/3756-latest-realtek-hd-audio-driver-version.html

Hi there
thanks for posting this --BUT PLEASE COULD THE O/P STATE WHETHER THIS WORKED OR NOT.

Loads of us have got the "equalizer" problem so it would be nice to see if this worked -- and if it didn't also inform the user community.

I don't have access to my computer with this soundcard in it at the moment or I'd certainly try this myself.

Cheers
jimbo

scirto · May 19, 2012

When I installed the drivers with what was given with the mobo, it didn't have the EQ. So that's what prompted me to make sure I get the latest drivers -- still no EQ. I tried downloading from the asrock website, still no EQ. I will try an older version of the drivers to see if that works. So far no luck with what you've all suggested, but I do really appreciate it.

scirto · May 19, 2012

I installed an older driver version, still no fix. Still missing Sound Effects tab in the Realtek control panel and Equalizer in Windows Enhancements.

DavidE · May 19, 2012

I found a couple of posts about this issue, and what some say will fix it.
I can't guarantee anything about these posts, solutions, downloads, ...
But, take a look and see what you think.
I would create a system backup image before attempting this type of fix...

Get The Realtek Equalizer Back In Windows 7/Vista
How to Activate Realtek Sound Equalizer on Windows 7 : D-Install Blog

scirto · May 19, 2012

DavidW7ncus said:
I found a couple of posts about this issue, and what some say will fix it.
I can't guarantee anything about these posts, solutions, downloads, ...
But, take a look and see what you think.
I would create a system backup image before attempting this type of fix...

Get The Realtek Equalizer Back In Windows 7/Vista
How to Activate Realtek Sound Equalizer on Windows 7 : D-Install Blog

Yeah, I saw both of those when I was looking around for solutions. Didn't work. I get that whole light blue-ish interface, but towards the top where it has a "General" tab and a "Sound Effect" tab, I only get the "General" tab. It's literally mind-boggling to me at this point.

scirto · May 19, 2012

Ah HAH! Found it!

For those who were experiencing a similar situation to mine (where EQ settings in Windows or Realtek weren't showing up where they should), check and see if there is another program controlling sound effects and such on your computer. My mobo driver disc installed a THX program onto my computer that seemed to (poorly) be controlling sound effects. I uninstalled it and BOOM. Everything is the way it should be.

Thanks to those who tried to come up with solutions. Helped me narrow things down a lot.

DavidE · May 19, 2012

Good work, and thanks for posting the solution !
I'm sure it will help others looking for a solution to this problem.

boohbah · May 19, 2012

well done, glad you have it fixed.

DavidE · May 19, 2012

DavidW7ncus said:
I just looked at my Test PC, and some Playback devices have the equalizer, and some don't...

Guess I should mention why I don't have the equalizer on some devices.
On the PC I looked at, the HDMI output is using an AMD (GPU) driver.

Realtek is the provider for the equalizer enhancement.

It makes sense I don't have the equalizer on this HDMI device - I'm not using the Realtek driver.

I'm sure I could change HDMI to the Realtek driver and get the equalizer, but i don't need it...
Just something else to check if the equalizer is not available.

pcrosby86 · Jul 15, 2012

Surprising

I have this same problem, I've had my laptop for about 2 years and never have found a solution. I tried downloading realtek drivers and whatnot, but nothing seems to work. I'm really surprised this hasnt been a bigger issue, with the way people listen to music nowadays, but I guess this generation only cares about a stupid bass booster button which is all too easy to find these days. My realtek sound manager has as many presets as I know what to do with, but nothing I can do custom. Oh well there is a box I can check off that says "equalizer" and it makes the audio sound a little different, but there is no clue as to what it sounds like. "Well does it sound good" is just not good enough for me. I guess I'm kind of anal about my music. WMP has a tiny eq if you can find it its like hidden in a skin or something. I wish there was something that could personalize my music experience with streaming audio across the pc and without paying for some dumb poorly written internet program, or worse downloading one for free.

Skoony · May 5, 2013

scirto said:
Ah HAH! Found it!

For those who were experiencing a similar situation to mine (where EQ settings in Windows or Realtek weren't showing up where they should), check and see if there is another program controlling sound effects and such on your computer. My mobo driver disc installed a THX program onto my computer that seemed to (poorly) be controlling sound effects. I uninstalled it and BOOM. Everything is the way it should be.

Thanks to those who tried to come up with solutions. Helped me narrow things down a lot.

Yes, I'm betting this is what happened to me as well. At first I installed the Realtek HD Audio Manager from the official Asus drivers download page. Then I installed (Creative) THX TruStudio Settings from the same page, and sure enough, the [Sound Effects] tab disappeared after a reboot.

Even though I love how THX equalises my audio, there were some fun effects in Realtek, and I don't get why it's like "no, forget it. You're not allowed to run to equalisers at once". I want to have the "conert hall" effect whilst still having the equaliser from THX!

Edit: Just to confirm, I uninstalled THX TruStudio and rebooted, and the Sound Effects tab in Realtek came back, and it works.

sueling · May 17, 2013

Hello.
Thanks for asking this question.
My enhancement tab only has "Disable all sound effects" option.
How do you check if there's another program controlling sound effects?

Faladu · May 17, 2013

Hello sueling,

Look at your Add Remove programs list.

And....

Run msconfig.exe from a run box and check both Startup and Services tabs for offenders.

You can look in Device Manager under Sound... and see if you have a secondary driver as well.

I removed the HDMI audio driver, I don't use it, and I still don't see an equalizer still in my Realtek HD Audio Manager, but fortunately I don't care.

I do have a physical TONE knob on my 2.1 speaker rig though.
Music wise I use 1by1 and foobar2000 players which have some adjustments within, if needed anyway.

sueling · May 18, 2013

Faladu said:
Hello sueling,

Look at your Add Remove programs list.

And....

Run msconfig.exe from a run box and check both Startup and Services tabs for offenders.

You can look in Device Manager under Sound... and see if you have a secondary driver as well.

I removed the HDMI audio driver, I don't use it, and I still don't see an equalizer still in my Realtek HD Audio Manager, but fortunately I don't care.

I do have a physical TONE knob on my 2.1 speaker rig though.
Music wise I use 1by1 and foobar2000 players which have some adjustments within, if needed anyway.

Thank you.

IndigoCrow · Dec 21, 2015

I totally just found my solution to this issue! So I had the same issue as some of the others.. the only option I had in Enhancements was Disable all options.. so I instead went into Playback tab, clicked on the speaker, then selected properties... then onto the General tab and into the properties of the General Tab. Next I selected the Change settings option and I rolled back the driver to the previous one. This one got it back for me...
Hope this helps!

Missing Equalizer in Windows 7 Enhancements Tab

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