Where are Realtek's latest high definition audio drivers available?

[Kjell]

I am having quite some trouble with finding the latest Realtek high definition audio device drivers for my Windows 10 system as the latest available driver version varies depending on which site you search on.

Softpedia (link)

• Provides a massive amount of 6.0.1.86xx labeled drivers for different brands (MSI/Toshiba)?
• The versions aren't arranged in any order and it's hard to find which is the latest.

Microsoft's catalog (link)

• States 6.0.1.8606 as the absolutely latest which is inconsistent with Softpedia (since that site provides even newer drivers).
• Doesn't always give you the right results if you don't filter with very specific terms.

Realtek official website (link)

• Random internal 500 errors and inconsistent results when searching for audio drivers.
• With luck you can find outdated drivers from 2017 (note that Microsoft/Softpedia provides drivers as latest as from 2019).

My PC's device manager

• Through Windows Update I got drivers for my Logitech surround system being Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device).
• Driver version from device's properties is listed as 10.0.17763.1 which is completely different from the ones I found above?!

Now my question would be, where can I find the absolutely latest drivers for Windows 10 from Realtek then? Thanks.

 

[Arctucas]

Latest I have seen.

https://www.station-drivers.com/ind...tory&Itemid=352&func=fileinfo&id=3841&lang=en

Driver date 1/15/19.

 

[erpguy53]

I'd been recovering from a cold and sore throat for several days and I know I'm kinda late in responding to OP's [Kjell] question about the Realtek HDA drivers.

The "official" Realtek web site has R2.82 (version 6.0.1.8186 with driver date of 6/14/2017) but was released on 7/26/2017 on Realtek's web site.
the one from Realtek web site should only be used on computers that were manufactured before mid-2017. avoid this 8186 driver if using a laptop/desktop PC made in late 2017 or anytime in 2018.

another source that nobody has mentioned so far (until now) is this github page:
https://github.com/alanfox2000/realtek-hda-release/releases/
This github Realtek HDA page does mention the newest Realtek audio drivers, even ones that sometimes neither Station Drivers, Softpedia

some OEM/PC manufacturers/motherboard makers provide their own customized Realtek audio drivers though new versions are sometimes mentioned only for new models but may work on older models.

One example is that ASRock recently released an 8619 FF00 (v6.0.1.8619 dated 1/15/2019) driver on their web site. If you take a look at the latest ASRock drivers page, the 8619 FF00 realtek audio driver is listed for an ASRock B365 Phantom Gaming 4 motherboard but can be used on any computer (old or new) that has an onboard Realtek audio device.

Note that the v10.0.17763.1 driver that Kjell is talking about is NOT a Realtek hd audio driver but a generic High Definition Audio Device driver (hdaudio.sys) provided by Microsoft & the Windows 10 v1809 operating system.

Edit: Microsoft has recently mentioned v6.0.1.8622 of the Realtek audio drivers on the MS Update Catalog site but those in UAD (universal audio driver) format, a totally different structure than the conventional HDA (or as I say non-UAD) driver. On the other hand, MS has v6.0.1.8619 of those drivers on both UAD and non-UAD format (the 110.3Mb size download is the traditional HDA driver while the 9.3Mb download is the UAD driver)

 

[erpguy53]

I'm gonna bookmark this topic from the Tenforums site for those who are unsure which Realtek HDA driver to use.

 

[DjGeNeSiS]

This is the most informative thread I've ever read on Realtek drivers. I've been literally crawling the web for months to find an appropriate driver to update my system. I have a dell XPS 15 and the system would not detect the headphones if I plugged them in before the computer started. Updating the Realtek drivers with the ones from Artucas link eventually solved my problem

https://www.station-drivers.com/ind...tory&Itemid=352&func=fileinfo&id=3841&lang=en

 

[erpguy53]

there's a v6.0.8688.1 HDA driver available from Station-Drivers (newer than the previous link which had 8619):

http://www.station-drivers.com/inde...tory&Itemid=352&func=fileinfo&id=4001&lang=en

 

[riffraffy]

Realtek started giving me pop-ups a few days ago, something about a plug being disconnected and it had the yellow triangle symbol. After 2 days of pop-ups I went to programs and clicked uninstall Realtek. Well let me tell I can't notice anything different in sound , I kind of expected no sound but it seems Microsoft just took over or maybe the Mobo has backup I don't know. I put on Far Cry 5 and the sound seems great. So now I'm wondering if people just think Realtek and the latest drivers are needed because of marketing. I'm sure I have less options for tuning but who really needs stadium sound or basement sound. Maybe I'm missing something , but I'm good for now. Windows Defender has been super for me, maybe Microsoft is doing the same for sound were there is no need for third party app.

 

[techhead51]

I had an issue where I was getting high sound spikes through multiple sound playback devices, it would start out low then gain higher in volume then
stop, would repeat at different intervals, sometimes on pc boot .
I uninstalled the realtek hd audio drivers ver. r2.82 directx 12 and tried to reinstall, but win10 blocked everything but the basic hardware driver, so I tried the r2.73 and it installed 100% but only for directx 11.
When I checked the driver version in device manager it shows the mic and headphones using ms driver ver. 10.0.183621.1 dated 3/18/2019 and the hd audio driver being from realtek ver 6.0.1.7083 dated 11/5/2013.
When I plugged in the front mic, win detected it as both mic and headphones even though I only plugged in the mic and when I plugged in the headphones nothing was detected, but the mic does not work at all.

 

[erpguy53]

I had an issue where I was getting high sound spikes through multiple sound playback devices, it would start out low then gain higher in volume then
stop, would repeat at different intervals, sometimes on pc boot .
I uninstalled the realtek hd audio drivers ver. r2.82 directx 12 and tried to reinstall, but win10 blocked everything but the basic hardware driver, so I tried the r2.73 and it installed 100% but only for directx 11.
When I checked the driver version in device manager it shows the mic and headphones using ms driver ver. 10.0.183621.1 dated 3/18/2019 and the hd audio driver being from realtek ver 6.0.1.7083 dated 11/5/2013.
When I plugged in the front mic, win detected it as both mic and headphones even though I only plugged in the mic and when I plugged in the headphones nothing was detected, but the mic does not work at all.

hardware specs please, techhead51.
I mean, what kind of computer or motherboard are you using?
run tools like either HWiNFO or Speccy to gather all the hardware specs of your machine including all onboard audio devices

 

[techhead51]

I reinstalled the r2.81 driver and everything is working as it should.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Windows update seems to have the most recent drivers, as in 6.0.8703.1 from the 13th of May.
It would also seem there's no longer a control panel like before, instead it's now a Windows 10 app.
Anyone else having this thing? It's not really any better or worse than the old thing, although it seems like Gigabyte cheaped out and provided zero audio enhancers for those that are into various 3D audio setups.

A bit off topic maybe, but I've also found the smart headphone amp to be a bunch of crap, as it muffles a lot of sounds. Anyone else experienced this?

Realtek started giving me pop-ups a few days ago, something about a plug being disconnected and it had the yellow triangle symbol. After 2 days of pop-ups I went to programs and clicked uninstall Realtek. Well let me tell I can't notice anything different in sound , I kind of expected no sound but it seems Microsoft just took over or maybe the Mobo has backup I don't know. I put on Far Cry 5 and the sound seems great. So now I'm wondering if people just think Realtek and the latest drivers are needed because of marketing. I'm sure I have less options for tuning but who really needs stadium sound or basement sound. Maybe I'm missing something , but I'm good for now. Windows Defender has been super for me, maybe Microsoft is doing the same for sound were there is no need for third party app.

You probably defaulted back to the very basic Windows drivers. They output sound, but most likely not to the same extent as with the proper driver.
The solution to your problem is easy though. Go into the advanced settings and disable the popup dialog...

 

[The Egg]

https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...-codecs-high-definition-audio-codecs-software

The link for R2.82 appears to be functioning on the official site as of this moment. I've had no problems with that version on W10 1803, 1809, or 1903 and an ALC887.

 

[Ka3el]

Anyone else having this thing? It's not really any better or worse than the old thing, although it seems like Gigabyte cheaped out and provided zero audio enhancers for those that are into various 3D audio setups.

Hallo, yes, I recently bought new RIG (ASUS X570 TUF/ALC S1200A), sound works no problem but I was not able to find Realtek manager I used to use.
I also installed control panel similar to yours (just labeled ASUS), Iam able to choose there speaker configuration but not any "equalizer setting", these settings seem to be available for digital output which Iam not using. I tried to install some drivers I used on my old system (I think R2.82) but it failed during installation...seems S1200A not supported.

 

[ianyancey1]

I have an MSI gt83 8rg the audio has never worked as intended its a 4.1 laptop with no bass and has always displayed 2 speakers in Nahimic. I have no way to adjust anything Please help!