XPS 15 9560, Doing away with Waves MaxxAudio, Fixed

First off, I'll say that I'm right there with you about not wanting my audio doctored by "optimization/enhancement" applications like this.  I don't have great news for you there, but I'll also share some experience having come from that same mindset.

First, the facts.  Waves MaxxAudio is part of the regular audio driver.  If Windows 10 had built-in support for whatever audio chipset is in that system, then you might be able to stick to just that in order to avoid getting it, but that would also limit your functionality, including having the headset jack configure itself appropriately based on whatever device you plugged in.  And it actually isn't possible to make that fully automatic for all cases, fyi.  For example, line in and mic use the exact same pin mapping, but mic input needs to have mic gain applied, whereas line in must NOT have that applied in order to be captured properly.  Additionally, the TRRS connector spec that supports headsets (headphones + mic combo devices) have two different pin mappings defined.  One was defined by Samsung and the other by Apple, and headsets on the market have to use one or the other.  If the system itself only allowed one setup or the other, then headphones with the opposite wiring design would not be usable in that system -- and there are PCs like that on the market.  This is why there's a "Headset (alternate)" option at least on some systems.  Another reason you're prompted for that is because it allows you to store different Waves profiles for different devices, e.g. you may want enhancements applied when you're using headphones but not when using external speakers.  If there were just a "Line Out" option, then that would allow audio to play out of both devices, but it wouldn't allow different profiles to be stored for each.

All that said, even if you were ok giving up all of that functionality, it's possible that Windows Update will push a more full-featured driver onto your system, which may include MaxxAudio.  I don't know this for sure since I haven't tested a scenario of not having this driver installed, but it's something to be aware of.

In terms of experience, I have MaxxAudio on my Latitude 7480.  I originally turned everything I could find in there off, but then I found that the volume of my built-in speakers was almost inaudible.  I turned it back on and it sounded reasonable again.  Frankly, when I'm using the built-in speakers, quality is going to **bleep** anyway because they're built-in speakers, so I'd rather be able to actually hear something than get less processed but virtually inaudible sound.  On the other hand, when I have external speakers connected, MaxxAudio makes them sound terrible, so I disable all of those "enhancements" in that use case in order to make them sound reasonable.

And yes, if after all this you decide to attempt a clean install, whether your system came with Windows 10 or you upgraded to it, your system would have a digital Windows 10 license.  It's not embedded into the firmware anymore, but your system's hardware fingerprint is registered with Microsoft, so after a clean install when it tries to activate again, Microsoft will recognize it and allow it to do so.

@nebulon5"Can I install a driver THAT ISN'T REALTEK and will NOT HAVE WAVES MAXXAUDIO as it's main audio manager, when I install a fresh Windows 10?"

You can switch from the Realtek/Waves driver to the Windows native audio driver. The native driver does not have the Waves software. You might find that some functionality is lost lost with the native driver, and the audio quality might not be as good.

You can do this now without having to do a fresh install of Windows. You should suspend Windows Updates while doing this.

1. Open the Device Manager
2. Expand the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" section.
3. Right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio" and select to uninstall.
4. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok.
5. Restart the laptop.


When the laptop boots up it will look for the Realtek files that were removed in step 4. If none found then it will install the native driver. If an earlier version of a Realtek driver had been downloaded then its files could still be in the laptop and Windows would install that version of the Realtek, not the native driver. So after step 5, go back to the Device Manager and check again for a Realtek driver. Keep uninstalling & restarting until "Realtek High Definition Audio" no longer appears under Sound...Controllers. If you see "High Definition Audio Device" that is the native driver, although in Win10 it can have a different name.

When someone who is a audio tech encounters Waves Audio, the result is not normally good.  For instance, advancements in sound reproduction have gotten away from discreet left and right channel outputs.  The sound on each channel contains some sound from the opposite channel which is actually more like nature than discreet sound.

The combined audio port is probably a second item which makes it harder to achieve your desires.  Waves has been modified so once you identify a device plugged in, you do not have to designate the device during follow on sessions.  If you change the device, then you are stuck until you identify it correctly.

The dimension audio component make my headset/headphone sound much better.  Many folks who just want to listen to music on their system probably appreciate this ability.  But for a audio specialists, it may be a problem.  Maybe there is some device you could add to give you the sound you want.  For instance, the USB/Bluetooth devices do not go through the Waves audio....

If you're an audio pro, then you'd probably want to be using a USB DAC no matter what audio hardware or software is in the system, if for no other reason than to avoid the inevitable noise that will get added to the signal when running through the motherboard that was not designed with maximum SNR for its anlaog audio path in mind.

Hi, you can just reinstall the system as the clear edition of windows if you want. How to do it?

1.: Open Windows Defender and go to Device performance and health tab.

2.: Select "Start again" option. It should be in the lower part of the window.

3.: Select "Begin", and now, I wish you the best luck :)

Note: Keep in mind that this option will remove ALL apps from your system, even the preinstalled ones. This option will also remove (in most cases) accounts, user settings, and sometimes, even personal data and customizations.

Good luck! :)

Actually, the start again feature does not install a clean copy of windows, it reinstalls all of the OEM "enhancements" back to the OEM factory state. The only way to get a clean install is to install it from the Windows media creation tool.

As far as OEM software, Dell has gone from one of the worst in the early 2000s to one of the not-so-bads (I'm looking at you Acer, Lenovo and HP). Most of the malware installed in Windows 10 now actually comes from Microsoft (the King identity-mining software, Dolby Theatre, Customer Experience Improvement, Application Experience, Superfetch service, Edge Browser adware and click-bait, "Occasional suggestions" in start, Cortana, etc.).

AT LAST! THAT DID IT!
Thank you.  I kept removing it, and it'd then find the driver, and reinstall it,over and over. manually changing it, (and then removing the waves software from program list) appears to have banished it for good and I don't get the surround sound dropping back to stereo 'with enhancements'.
Perfect, ta!

Oh man... thank you for the instructions.  But alas, did not work.  I didn't have the option for "High Definition Audio Device" on my list.  In  fact, the only option was Realtek Audio Drivers, which is what I believe is already on there.  Bummer. 

Are you on a XPS 15 9560?

By USB/Bluetooth devices do you mean something like the Audioengine D1 DAC? Would that bypass the MaxxAudio?

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@xBethelite wrote:

By USB/Bluetooth devices do you mean something like the Audioengine D1 DAC? Would that bypass the MaxxAudio?

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Yes, that would bypass the MaxxAudio and set up its own separate audio device. I've used a SoundBlaster E1 for the same purpose; not nearly as high-end but does the job for me.

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@nebulon5 wrote:

Oh man... thank you for the instructions.  But alas, did not work.  I didn't have the option for "High Definition Audio Device" on my list.  In  fact, the only option was Realtek Audio Drivers, which is what I believe is already on there.  Bummer. 

Are you on a XPS 15 9560?

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@nebulon5 mine showed the same thing at first, but when I un-checked "Show compatible hardware" I was able to find High Definition Audio Device under Microsoft. (There were two of them in fact; I picked the one with the later date).

ATM I''m using an old AUREON DUAL USB (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Terratec-Aureon-Dual-USB-Notebook-x/dp/B000WL23KC/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=155342546) for my headphone use on XPS 9570. The difference in sound quality is amazing even though I purchased this about 5 years ago. It still does not excuse Dell /Microsoft for the audio mismash we have to jump thro' hoops to try and improve on an abysmal performance in such a piece of high quality (?) kit.

With my XPS 9360 I just did a clean install of Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft. I only use the drivers that Windows update installs which is a basic Realtek driver no MaxxAudio. I also do not install the Dell driver update or anything related to Dell ideal of its own driver updates. Otherwise it will update to the MaxxAudio driver. Yeah, I sent some time trying to nix MaxxAudio myself because of its artificial equalizing. Used to be you could turn off all the settings but lately I think even flat has some filtering. 

Hi, I know this is an old thread, and not sure if this is going to be helpful to anyone, but I wanted rid of the Waves MaxxAudio Pro software as it was using an unreasonable amount of CPU.

I went to here:  C:\Program Files (x86)\Realtek\Audio\Waves

... then right clicked the file 'Maxx Audio Installer (x64).msi'

... then selected Uninstall.  The process asks for elevation to administrator to uninstall.  Now I no longer have the MaxxAudio application using up my CPU.  This is not an XPS, just a business Latitude 7480.

Hope this helps, Daz.