[SOLVED] Audio passthrough issues with new monitors

Bongert

Reputable
Jul 30, 2020
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OS: W10
New Monitors: LG 27GP95R
Old Monitor: Acer XB273U
Motherboard: MSI X570 A-Pro
CPU: 5800X3D
GPU: 3060 Ti

I just bought two new monitors and im having trouble setting up audio passthrough for my games consoles.

Ive drawn a little schematic to illustrate my setup.
the images also include a little more explanation
Image1
Image2
Image3
Image4

To keep it short. I have my Nintendo Switch hooked up via HDMI to my monitor. I also have my PC hooked up to that same monitor via DisplayPort. When i want to use one or the other i would simply switch the input, but leave everything turned on, even when not directly in use.
The Switch sends its audio signal along with its image signal over the same HDMI cable. If i were to use a TV or monitor with built in speakers, the Audio would come out there. When i plug in an audio cable into the Line-Out port of the monitor, the audio *should* go out through there. That cable then plugs into the Line-In port on my PC, where i can set it to "listen" to the port and send any audio to my default audio device, ie my headphones.
The general wiring can be seen in Image1.
The path that audio originating from my PC would take can be seen in Image2.
The path that audio originating from my nintendo Switch would take can be seen in Image3.

Now the problem is that this doesnt work anymore. And i say "anymore", because this exact setup used to work with my old monitor. I got a new monitor today and tried reconfiguring everything but i cant get it to work.
Ive tried testing around myself a lot and the gist is that i can send audio out to the monitor from my PC, and then feed it back to my PC, confirming that the line-out from the monitor and the audio cable itself are both working.
trying the same with the switch however simply doesnt work.
See Image4 for some more explanation

i also tried getting the switch to play audio out of the monitor directly, by connecting my headphones to the line-out port of the monitor. But this doesnt work either.
The monitor doesnt have built-in speakers, so the Line-Out port is the only option for the monitor to play audio at all.
I also swapped my old HDMI cable for the ones that came with the monitor.
This whole setup worked fine for years with my old monitor, but i cant get it to work with my new one. And like i said, i was able to test the audio passthrough earlier, it should really not be down to "this monitor isnt compatible" or "get a refund".
 
No sound from the headphone port:

• Make sure that the headphone port connections are made properly.
• Try increasing the volume with the joystick at the monitor
• Set the audio output of the PC to the monitor you are using. On Microsoft Windows, go to Control Panel > Hardware and
Sound > Sound > set the Monitor as default device. (The settings may differ depending on the operating system (OS) you use.)
 
No sound from the headphone port:

• Make sure that the headphone port connections are made properly.
• Try increasing the volume with the joystick at the monitor
• Set the audio output of the PC to the monitor you are using. On Microsoft Windows, go to Control Panel > Hardware and
Sound > Sound > set the Monitor as default device. (The settings may differ depending on the operating system (OS) you use.)
the headphones are connected properly
the volume of the monitor itself is at max
tried the third point, but its obviously not doing anything
 
did you try headphones on the monitor audio output directly?
yes, plugged my headphones into the line-out port of the monitor and tried playing both the switch audio, as well as from my PC. The PC plays audio just fine when i set my monitor as the output device in foobar while having my headphones directly attached to the monitor itself.
when i try and change my whole systems audio output to the monitor i dont get any audio, but that could be down to some other misconfiguration.
when plugging in my headphones to the monitor and switching over to the nintendo switch, plugged in via HDMI, i dont get any audio.

And I am wondering about that "little detour" - seems to be a loop.

Take a closer look at the plugs and ports (TR,TRS, TRRS) and pinouts in general.

All devices being connected per your images.

There are different HDMI's

HDMI pinouts.

Also:

https://www.cablechick.com.au/blog/understanding-trrs-and-audio-jacks/
i dont really know how to check the pinout of the audio port of the monitor, but the cable im using is a TRS cable, and this whole setup worked fine with my old monitor, so i dont think it necessarily needs to be TRRS.
im also using the same HDMI cable that i used with the old monitor, so there shouldnt be any reason for as to why its not working now. i also changed the HDMI cable to the one that came with the monitor, but that didnt help either.
the test detour i showed isnt a full loop, because the audio doesnt get fed back into the monitor but out my headphones. i could build a loop by selecting the monitor as the output device while also listening to it on the line-in port, but there wouldnt be really any way for me to listen in on anything being played because its obviously going in a loop at this point.
 
A works, B works, C works, etc.. But some combination of them does not....

Seems to be evolving around the new monitor....

Does the new LG 27GP95R monitor have its' own drivers?

Or perhaps some other supporting software?

E.g.:

https://www.lg.com/us/support/help-library/lg-monitor-how-to-update-monitor-firmware--20153819322140

https://www.lg.com/us/support/help-...-the-ultragear-control-center--20153231479963

or

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-install-lg-monitor-driver-on-windows

Worth a bit of time and effort to delve into it all a bit deeper.

Not sure what else to suggest.
 
A works, B works, C works, etc.. But some combination of them does not....

Seems to be evolving around the new monitor....

Does the new LG 27GP95R monitor have its' own drivers?

Or perhaps some other supporting software?

E.g.:

https://www.lg.com/us/support/help-library/lg-monitor-how-to-update-monitor-firmware--20153819322140

https://www.lg.com/us/support/help-...-the-ultragear-control-center--20153231479963

or

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-install-lg-monitor-driver-on-windows

Worth a bit of time and effort to delve into it all a bit deeper.

Not sure what else to suggest.
the monitor has drivers, which i installed. the firmware was already uptodate
the supporting software is that onscreen control tool, which simply lets me use the monitors onscreen control without using that little joystick. instead im using that software to do the same tasks. i didnt see anything regarding audio other than the volume level and some fancy "WAVES MAXX Audio" which is enabled by default, but i already tried disabling it and it didnt do anything.

the only thing im not sure about: when i installed the monitor drivers, im still getting "Generic PnP Monitor" in my device manager
 
"when plugging in my headphones to the monitor and switching over to the nintendo switch, plugged in via HDMI, i dont get any audio."
check this in detail, only plug in HDMI and your headphones, unplug DP
maybe the hdmi settings are different in the monitor than for DP
Check audio settings in hdmi mode again in the monitor
check game console settings again, that hdmi is set for audio and nothing else
 
"when plugging in my headphones to the monitor and switching over to the nintendo switch, plugged in via HDMI, i dont get any audio."
check this in detail, only plug in HDMI and your headphones, unplug DP
maybe the hdmi settings are different in the monitor than for DP
Check audio settings in hdmi mode again in the monitor
check game console settings again, that hdmi is set for audio and nothing else
did as you said.
the monitor now has only the console input via HDMI, and my headphones directly connected to the line-out port. i checked the volume control of the monitor again, it stays at 100% and unmuted.
The console only provides Mono, Stereo, Surround and Automatic as "TV Audio" options, nothing else. I also tried all four and nothing changed.
 
Monitor(s) and HDMI....

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/hdmi-vs-displayport-which-should-i-use-for-my-pc-monitor

https://cybertechnosys.com/does-lg-monitor-have-hdmi-port/

From the second link:

"HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It’s a single cable that carries both audio and video signals between devices. Many modern TVs, monitors, and computers have HDMI ports, but it’s important to know which version your monitor has.

The type of HDMI port your LG monitor has will depend on the model. LG uses several different HDMI port types, including HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, and HDMI 2.1."
 
Monitor(s) and HDMI....

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/hdmi-vs-displayport-which-should-i-use-for-my-pc-monitor

https://cybertechnosys.com/does-lg-monitor-have-hdmi-port/

From the second link:

"HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It’s a single cable that carries both audio and video signals between devices. Many modern TVs, monitors, and computers have HDMI ports, but it’s important to know which version your monitor has.

The type of HDMI port your LG monitor has will depend on the model. LG uses several different HDMI port types, including HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, and HDMI 2.1."
my particular model uses two HDMI 2.1 ports.
my old monitor used HDMI 2.0, but i afaik every version of HDMI starting from 1.0 supported carrying audio.
 
Ive found some other drivers for my monitors, now the device shows up correctly in my device manager. but the original issue is still not resolved. Audio passthrough for the console doesnt work.
 
i managed to fix the issue. the german user manual has a troubleshooting section that states image and audio issues with an HDMI 2.1 compatible device can be resolved by changing the input compatibility version from HDMI 2.1 (PC) to HDMI 2.1 (AV)
after that, audio output from the console to the monitor to my headphones works, as well as passing on the audio to my PC and having the PC pass it through to my headphones, so everything i wanted works now.

i was not able to find an equivalent english manual however.
heres a snippet from the german manual as well as a link for the full document
5o8w7t.png
 
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