Hello everyone,
 
Built a new rig using the Z390 Dark a couple of weeks ago.  I installed the latest Creative and NU Audio drivers as the manual instructs and connected my headphones/mic to the front panel audio connections.  NU Audio detected my headphones just fine and I have been using the settings across the GUI scroll wheel depending on the content. 
 
Well, last night I was playing a game and all audio (in-game, Discord voice, etc.) got really distorted. Since this happened the NU Audio interface has only asked for me to link my headphones to device.  So, I reinstalled the SoundBlaster and NU Audio drivers several times as per the Z390 Dark's manual.  The SoundBlaster control panel sets up fine, I can test and use my headphones and microphone still connected to the front panel but the NU Audio app never discovers my headphones. 
 
I am at a loss.  I have read a couple of posts here regarding similar issues (One user NEVER got NU Audio to see their headphones and the other was just 'poor audio quality').  I tried some of those suggestions (such as shutting my PSU off - did so overnight - before restarting to see if the amplifier would reboot).  I am at a loss here - any other ideas?  Think a chip blew?
 
Thanks!

bcavnaugh
Welcome to the Forum
Did you reduce the Sound Format to say 24 Bit 48000 Hz?

Thank you! 
 
Yes, that's the default format for sound playback and that is what I have it at currently. 

bcavnaugh

barivard

bcavnaugh
Welcome to the Forum
Did you reduce the Sound Format to say 24 Bit 48000 Hz?

Thank you! 
 
Yes, that's the default format for sound playback and that is what I have it at currently. 

Go up one Level or down one Level and re-test.
 
NU Audio can drive up to 600ohm headphones,
Page 116
NU Audio is designed to work with 2.0 or 2.1 channel audio, such as headphones or speakers with or without a subwoofer.
However, if you wish to use 5.1 channel audio, you must select Speakers in the Creative Sound Blaster Pro Studio, choose 5.1 from the dropdown,
and use the output ports located on the I/O Panel of the motherboard (Page 16, Component 10). NU Audio will be disabled in this mode, however.
Note:
While the NU Audio exists separately from the Creative Audio, some system requirements, settings, and features crossover due to shared
Windows audio resources.
As a result, some changes made in the Creative Sound Blaster Pro Studio will have an effect on the audio output through NU Audio.
 
 
 

I went through the bandwidth and frequency spectrum and no dice. 
 
And yeah, headphone settings in the Sound Blaster Control Panel is what has had me running with the NU Audio for a few weeks now.  Had no issue with initial setup of this system.  Once all system sound distorted last night NU Audio has no longer recognized my headphones. 

Windows was satisfied with the Sound Blaster driver.  Interesting enough there is no NU Audio device under the sound controllers.  Let me mess with a reinstall/repair of the NU Audio - or perhaps do you know of any registry values I can check/add/modify?

bcavnaugh

barivard
Windows was satisfied with the Sound Blaster driver.  Interesting enough there is no NU Audio device under the sound controllers.  Let me mess with a reinstall/repair of the NU Audio - or perhaps do you know of any registry values I can check/add/modify?

I would first to uninstall the NU Drivers restart the computer and reinstall the NU Drivers.

That changed nothing.  I honestly did not take notice before if NU Audio was ever in the sound controller section of device manager when it was functioning. 
I also noticed the registry values are not being placed where the notepad file paths indicate.  I am not sure how much bearing that would have (I found the install values one level further down from where the notepad file specifies) as that was probably always the case.
 
I am going to stew on it a bit - I need to get back to work for now.  Thanks for the ideas up until now.

bcavnaugh
Are you using this Driver?
1-30-2019 Audio Driver - EVGA NU Audio 1.0.5 131-CS-E399 Windows 10 64bit  

Sorry, work kept me away longer than I anticipated. 


Yes, that is the version I am using.  After I downloaded it, I checked it with the version on the motherboard's flash drive that I received and it is the same.
 
 

I am on Windows 10 x64 Pro but I am still at 1803.  I have not downloaded and installed 1903 yet.  I'm about tapped for ideas so I will give that a shot. 

Did you have any issues with NU Audio and the front panel Headphone jacks? or did you install the NU Audio soundcard from the start?

Ah I see.  The suddenness is what makes me feel there is a conflict somewhere.  I mean everything working fine, total system sound distortion, restart and creative is fine.  I feel if the HD Audio header died then the entire port would fail on me.  Is there any preferred way to 'clean' NU Audio drivers after uninstall?  There's definitely residuals left in the registry after uninstalling just from doing a quick 'NU Audio' search of the registry.  I don't want to go around trashing every entry I find but I would be interested in confidently having a clean install. 

No, not with me at this moment.  I think I am just going to truck on with the Sound Blaster control panel and check back with the NU Audio driver later if I come up with something new or when a new version drops.
 
Edit:  Also wanted to say thanks for bouncing ideas off of me all day - sometimes a second brain/set of eyes does wonders when you're flustered!  So thanks again!

Just curious if you ever got it working?