Question HDMI to TV audio output and USB sound card questions

jonesmalaco

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Dec 29, 2014
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So my PC audio setup is pretty "crude", I have a desktop PC plugged (through an HDMI cable) into a wall mounted TV (a 4K Sony Bravia). I was playing some of this newer games, and I noticed when I turned the game "character's" left to the (ingame) sound source, the sound came muffled from the right ("built-in") TV speaker. Meaning the left was somehow muted (like the character was deaf on one ear, in this case, the left one). Surely enough, after testing with the (default) Windows (11) sound mixer, I realized there was no sound coming out of the left speaker. Not believing it was a physical problem with the TV speaker itself I switched Mono Audio (again, in Windows) to ON and the left speaker started emitting sound. Somehow not satisfied with this solution, I thought about undigging some old 3.25 stereo connector to Left / Right RCA cable, and connect an old receiver (with 2-speaker boxes... just for testing purposes), outputting from the 3.25 jack on the back of the Sony Bravia (yes, those TV's still have those, at least mine does... maybe at the time when Sony manufactured those, they still had stereo / not-wireless 3.25 connector phones in mind). The cable is just a little faulty on the RCA end, but to my surprise, just plugging the 3.25 end connector to the back of the TV (and not even plugging the RCA ends into the auxiliary receiver or plugging and NOT even turning the receiver ON) made the TV output Stereo again through the TV built-in speakers... surely enough, I switched Windows Mono Audio back to OFF and just like that, sound started to come out from the left TV speaker (which was not happening before)... The temporary solution was to twist the end of the cable a little bit so it's outputting both from the TV and the receiver speakers in stereo... So I guess my (curiosity) question is: what explains this initial problem (the left speaker muted to begin with)? Is it the digital to analog conversion thing...? I'm kinda clueless here, but only 'cause of curiosity.

Unsatisfied with the whole ordeal, I then thought about (also) undigging a Turtle Beach Stealth 700 (wireless headphone) I bought a few years back (2018, maybe?) for my Ps4. I wasn't in general satisfied with the product, since it seems that it produced some crackling / pop on a constant basis while using it on the Ps4 (plus, the battery seemed not to last very long), but on my old computer, it seemed to run fine (I couldn't get an RMA from the company, since I live in a country where there's no Turtle Beach retailer: outside of US and Canada... since they said themselves that the crackling / poppinng was a manufacturing defect, whatever). As I said, that was happening only on the Ps4. Problem is, the old motherboard (an ASUS Maximus Hero VI or VII, don't remember) on my old desktop computer HAD an SPDIF output on the back. On my new computer, the new motherboard (an ASRock B650M PG Riptide) DOESN'T have the aforementioned SPDIF output... So I guess I'll need an USB soundcard of sorts (if I wanna plug the surround wireless headset)...? Second question: do you have any recommendations of reliable USB soundcards that have an SPDIF output? Or any simpler solutions on how to make this work?

Sorry about the long[language redacted] message... And thanks in advance !
 
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Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
You went with cables...but with cables that might be internally flawed if twisting them allowed audio to come through to the TV's end.

If I were you , I'd have tried reinstalling display drivers, after running DDU, then manually reinstalling the latest driver in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard?
 

jonesmalaco

Distinguished
Dec 29, 2014
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18,535
You went with cables...but with cables that might be internally flawed if twisting them allowed audio to come through to the TV's end.

If I were you , I'd have tried reinstalling display drivers, after running DDU, then manually reinstalling the latest driver in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700
CPU cooler: stock
Motherboard: ASRock B650M PG Riptide (BIOS version 1.28, latest non-Beta from August 2023)
Ram: 64GB
SSD/HDD: PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
GPU: Zotac RTX 4090
PSU: ATX Gigabyte 1000 W (Brand New)
Chassis: CoolerMaster
OS: Windows 11
Monitor: 4K Sony Bravia TV

I don't understand how the cables have anything to do with it. Yesterday I tested with and old iPhone (wired, 3.25 cable) earpods / earbuds (or whatever it's called). Sound was coming stereo from the TV yesterday. It's not a cable issue, 100% sure.

Now today, it seems it stopped working after I updated (unknowingly) the GPU driver. I might try uninstalling with DDU and then manually installing it after downloading it from nVidia. Not sure if that will help though.
Edit (update): uninstalled all related to nVidia display drivers with DDU, manually re-installed (the version before the last one (537.13), with administrator privileges, no dice: Regress to left-speaker (TV built-in) only playing sound when windows 11 set to Mono. No Stereo...

If outputting from the back of motherboard (line-out, Realtek R Audio drivers ) and to the receiver (+ outside speakers), sound plays Stereo normally. If I output from the back of the TV to the receiver, sound plays only on the right side (if set to Stereo, of course)... So to me, that's what it shows there's absolutely nothing physically wrong with the left built-in TV speaker. It's something wrong with outputting from the HDMI of the GPU to the HDMI input of the TV. Maybe switching HDMI cables? Again I'm out of ideas...

Any other input would really help... Also about my question regarding the USB soundcard, please.
 
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