1 Topic by goodkeys (edited by goodkeys 2021-05-15 13:01:49)

  • Registered: 2021-05-15
  • Posts: 13

Topic: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I installed a new Aio Pro into my newly built pc. It is a clean install, so everything is new and on latest drivers. My Aio Pro runs well, but the sound that it puts out is unnaturally bright and trebly. As if there was an eq boosting everything above 8kHz or so by 12db. The bass is anemic in comparison. On 'Orinoco Flow', for example, the bass guitar is only audible if I turn up the volume quite a bit.

My Aio Pro is connected to a Palmer Monicon L (passive monitor controller) via cinch (unbalanced analogue breakout cable). From there I am going to my studio speakers via XLR.

I have tried different PCIE slots, and in everyone the cards sounds bright and trebly. Running audio through the onboard Realtek driver, everything sounds normal. Also with my previous audio card (ESI Juli@), the sound is normal.

Oddly, in device manager the card is listed as RME HDSPe Aio (without Pro). And the playback device in device manager (called 'Analog 1 + 2 (2- RME HDSPe AIO)') shows a driver version 10.0.19041.1 signed by Microsoft, not RME.


Is there anything I can do to solve the problem, or is my Aio Pro card defect?

Thanks for any help.



Specs:

Windows 10 Pro, version 10.0.19042 Build 19042
RME driver 4.3.6.0. Used the Flash tool to update the firmware to v20 too.
TotalMix v1.7
Mainboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro rev. 1.2
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5950x
GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 760 Twin Frozr
RAM: HyperX Fury 3600 Ram (2x 32 GB)

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-05-15 13:30:13)

  • ramses
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Re: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

Does this "trebly sound" also happen when using the ASIO driver ?
Try e.g. MusicBee and load the RME asio driver for music playback: https://getmusicbee.com/
Or install the DAW reaper (does not require much time): https://www.reaper.fm

Maybe screwed up settings of the WDM device in Windows sound, check its properties. Maybe Enhacements activated or Room Sound, etc ... ? You know what I mean and where ? Look here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfioqaer7x4mrzr/windows%2010%20sound%20settings.jpg?dl=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hu99ib2tnb2bjzb/MusicBee%20Sound%20settings%20ASIO.jpg?dl=1

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

3 Reply by goodkeys (edited by goodkeys 2021-05-15 14:56:52)

  • Registered: 2021-05-15
  • Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

Thank you for your help ramses!

With the Asio driver it sounds trebly as well, the same as the WDM driver. I checked with Cubase. Audio enhancements and room sound are turned off. I can't find any other effects that would affect audio quality.






Edit: deleted as it's not true. The only difference to your picture is that if I tick on 'Analog (1+2)' under 'Speaker' in the WDM device configuration (point 5 in your picture), it then vanishes from the playback devices in Windows 10. Can't play audio through it then. So I had to uncheck this box again.

  • Registered: 2021-05-15
  • Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

One step further. Could it be a problem with the RCA input of my Palmer Monicon device, or the breakout cable? I connected a different sound system to the SPDIF out of AIO Pro, and this sounds as it should. So it might not be the card after all, but something in the signal path (either the breakout cable, or the Palmer Monicon).

5 Reply by MC

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Re: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

goodkeys wrote:

Edit: deleted as it's not true. The only difference to your picture is that if I tick on 'Analog (1+2)' under 'Speaker' in the WDM device configuration (point 5 in your picture), it then vanishes from the playback devices in Windows 10. Can't play audio through it then. So I had to uncheck this box again.

Not true. It comes back and is called Speaker now (as mentioned in the manual).

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • Registered: 2021-05-15
  • Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Aio Pro - bright and trebly sound

Switching to to the XLR-outbreak cable and the main input on my Palmer Monicon solved the issue. The sound is as it should be now and everything works as intended.