# Headphones problem. Windows 10 and VIA HD Audio



## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

Hi, First off not sure if this is the right forum. It's an audio issue but I'm almost certain that it's some sort of conflict/issue with Windows 10. Was fine on 7. Don't want to roll back though because Win10 works much better for me.

Need some help getting these two things working please. I have a 5.1 speaker system and some headphones.


The speakers always work fine but I cannot get the headphones working. I've tried loads of different VIA drivers and they're all utter rubbish. Depending on which I use, I get two different problems:


1. Headphones will work but distort vocals. As if trying to push surround sound through stereo headphones. Can't find any setting in the VIA software to change this.

2. Headphones play fine but there's no left/right split. As in playing a 2 channel (I use a right/left audio test video on YouTube) will play both sounds through both sides of the headphones. Mono sound I guess?

Also depending on the driver, I might get just Speakers listed under playback devices, or speakers and headphone.


Last thing I did right now was uninstall all the drivers and let Windows update them by default. Under playback devices atm both speakers and headphones are appearing, so I'm on issue number 2.


Thanks in advance


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

If that's a factory-brand computer, advise what brand name and model name and model number it is.
If that's a self-built computer, advise what brand name and model number its motherboard is.

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I haven't owned or used a computer with VIA devices in a long time, but I don't believe they support the newer operating systems.

Here is the VIA drivers download site.
As you can see, it doesn't provide drivers for an operating system newer than Windows XP.

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I ran across this article about VIA audio and windows 10 that may help you.

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## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

flavallee said:


> If that's a factory-brand computer, advise what brand name and model name and model number it is.
> If that's a self-built computer, advise what brand name and model number its motherboard is.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> ...


Hi. Thanks for the reply.

The computer was custom built by a company. The motherboard is ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3 (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 3Gb/s). I'm trying to use the front/top headphone jack, ZALMAN Z11 PLUS BLACK MID TOWER CASE case. It came with Windows 7 but I upgraded it to Windows 10.

One of the drivers I tried was actually from that site you listed. If you select "Microsoft Windows" from the first drop down, it will give you the option to select "Windows 10" from the second.

I also ran across that article and tried that, to no avail 

I did actually get it working perfectly once after upgrading (Not sure which driver it was) so it's definitely a software/driver issue. But after playing around with the audio enhancements it reverted to broken again, maybe Windows automatically installed the default drivers or something, not sure.

Again, thanks for the reply. Would love to hear if you have any more suggestions. I'm struggling.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

> One of the drivers I tried was actually from that site you listed. If you select "Microsoft Windows" from the first drop down, it will give you the option to select "Windows 10" from the second.


My mistake.  It does list a Windows 10 audio driver.









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ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 motherboard

It has an integrated *VIA VT1708S 8-Channel High Definition Audio* device.

Its driver downloads section doesn't list a driver for Windows 10 32-bit/64-bit.

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Unless you take control over how Windows 10 installs updates and drivers, it does it automatically.

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## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

flavallee said:


> My mistake.  It does list a Windows 10 audio driver.
> 
> View attachment 250624
> 
> ...


Ye I disabled auto driver installs, still can't get it working.

Anything I can do? Looking like I need to revert to Win7 atm.


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## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

Sorry for double post. Been looking on the ASUS site and I think I found my mobo. There's no audio drivers for Windows 10 there either and stuff like this is a lil concerning :

"If the model name of your motherboard is not included in the list , or Windows 10 driver for your motherboard is not provided on ASUS support site,

it means your motherboard might not be able to support Windows 10."

Prob a dumb question but can't I use Realtek or something, install that? It's my brothers PC and mine uses Realtek and i've had no issues with Windows 10. It's just this silly VIA stuff.

Finally. Would an external sound card solve the issue? Or maybe something like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-Ex...qid=1469322678&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+sound+card

Very cheap, might be worth a go


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

That motherboard has integrated VIA audio, so installing the Realtek audio driver won't work.

I haven't installed a dedicated sound card in well over 10 years, so I don't know which models are available now for Windows 10.

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## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

What about one of those adapters, 3.5m to USB?

The headphones work perfectly when plugged into the jack at the back of the PC tower. I'm thinking maybe it's just the front ports that are affected.

If not, any other ideas? 
Thanks


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

I've never used an audio adapter or a headphone set with a computer, so I can't comment on them.

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## TheGMan2k16 (Jul 23, 2016)

Well I contacted VIA but doubt I'll get a reply. Might just have to downgrade.

Thanks for all the help anyway


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

You're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.

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