Multiple audio issues using wireless headphones

[vaino]

TLDR:

1. Some issue with wireless headphones can sometimes cause Lost Ark to output no audio even after restarting the game. This is supposedly caused by the game not using the correct output device. The issue was solved after rebooting my PC.

2. When using “Spatial sound” with headphones (I was using DTS:X) or another 7.1 surround sound system, the game only outputs to the rear channels which results in the game sounding very thin.

Long version:
I ran into these issues after setting up a new wireless headset (HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless) , and enabling “Spatial Sound - DTS:X” while the game was running (this option is available on Windows 10 when right-clicking the volume icon). It caused the game to immediately go silent even though my PC output was set to the headphones. Restarting the game multiple times did not fix the issue. After I restarted my PC I was able to hear the game. If the game had an audio output setting it might alleviate this rare issue and possibly solve some other sound issues.

This then revealed the other issue of the surround sound implementation. It sounds like everything is behind you. I think surround sound for an ARPG is not really necessary but it would be cool if it worked as intended or at least was output to the front/rear channels more evenly so I don’t have to enable/disable Spatial Sound when I go to play Lost Ark.

As a final note although surround sound might seem unnecessary for an ARPG it would be cool for finding guardians or as another way to orient yourself in a raid (I play Sharpshooter so I’m always 10 miles away from the boss).

These bugs have apparently been in the game since launch. They have been discussed before in these threads:
Audio output issue:

No Audio In Game After The Game Switches Output On Its Own

I use a wireless Logitech headset and the game seems to just decide to hop on to the next output whenever I either turn off my headset or the signal gets lost due to low battery. Now, you might be thinking “if the device is gone windows just moves on” except that’s not how this headset functions. The USB dongle is the “device”, and that one never detaches. Other games / applications also don’t move over to another device when this occurs, this only happens with Lost Ark. The annoying part is th…

Surround sound issue:

Surround sound and voices all over the place (5.1 speaker system)

It’s just a deal breaker situation for me although not sure yet if it’s a bug or a sound design choice. Maybe anybody that tried the KOR or RU versions and play on a surround setup can tell me? Issue is that most of the sounds in game insist on playing through the rear speakers. Even voices! Which is quite a standard for them to be Center Speaker bound. Having them constantly coming from the back even during a face to face conversation with an NPC really ruins the experience and looks like a cr…

Surround sound spatial audio is not implemented correctly

Instead of having true spatial audio for surround configurations it seems like the game is just duplicating the stereo mix into the surrounds. Center and LFE channels seem completely unused, which kinda adds to the evidence that the game isn’t properly mixed for surround audio. And whoever is mixing the game either does not have their monitors calibrated correctly, or simply doesn’t have a surround setup at all because the rears are clearly playing louder than the fronts by a good 3-6db, which l…

[Centeotl]

Thanks for letting us know you’re having this issue, vaino. I’ve moved this over to the support section so our support team can check into this.

[Wyvernn]

Hello @vaino,

Thanks for sharing this issue with us, I know this could be a frustrating issue and I appreciate your understanding and your patience on this, we apologize since we know that there are some know sound issues, however here are some tips you can try, if you haven’t:

• Double checking your computer’s sound configuration and output settings: right clicking on the sound icon in your taskbar and click on “Open sound settings”.

• Restart your computer and Open Steam as Administrator:

1. Right-click on the Steam icon on your desktop. or Navigate to your Steam folder and right-click Steam.exe.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab.
4. Check Run This Program As An Administrator.
5. Click the Apply button.
6. Click the OK button.

If those steps don’t work then I can recommend you to reach us via player support using the following link: Contact Us | Amazon Games to create a support ticket and review your case in more depth.

Please make sure to add the DxDiag through a sharing link from a Cloud Storage like Google Drive to the support report, you can pull it following this steps:

DxDiag report:

• Go to Windows Start search bar and type dxdiag.
• Click on dxdiag.exe.
• When green progress bar goes away, select Save All Information and save the file to their desktop.

If you need further assistance in any other issue please don’t hesitate in reaching us again!

Cheers!