No sound, RetroArch doesn't detect any sound devices in Outputs menu

[Konaburd TTV]

So I can't get Retroarch to output any sound. It sometimes detects my audio devices, but even when I have the proper on selected it doesn't output sound. USUALLY it doesn't detect any audio devices at all.

Things I have tried:
Reinstalling Retroarch, completely, removing all retroarch files.
Switching out the audio drivers from wasapi to dsound etc, none of them change anything.
Swapping audio devices in my system as the default
Made sure nothing was muted in any area of the software, or on my PC.

I am at my wits end. I was just using this like two weeks ago and I haven't changed anything since then!! I don't know what else I can even try.

Can someone please help me with this?? I am starting to feel like there's something wrong with RetroArch.

[Toki]

you might have already done this but did you check the volume mixer settings on windows? make sure its not outputting to anything specific sometimes it outputs to controllers if those have speakers.

[Konaburd TTV]

It baffles me how many people ask me if I checked if it is muted when I SPECIFIED THAT I MADE SURE NOTHING IS MUTED, but also THE DAMN THING CANT EVEN RELIABLY DETECT THAT MY COMPUTER HAS AUDIO DEVICES

this is literally the only program I am having issues with rn.

[KoRZoR]

retroarch works with desktop speakers but not with logitech headphones

[CalicoJack]

Hey OP.
On my end Retroarch doesn´t find any audio output devices if i have Windows sound set to 5.1 (which i have set to 5.1 by default, because i have a 5.1 system, and it does normaly not matter because if the game just outputs stereo my 5.1 system simply plays stereo through it...)
For Retroarch it matters apparently......?!?
When i change Windows sound to Stereo, Retroarch detects all my sound output devices and the sound works. This is very strange.

Can you replicate this?

[Ucpteddy]

I know the post is old, but heres a possible solution, as i sat for 5 hours trying to get the sound to work on a laptop, either the sound was stuttering an aweful lot, or there were no sound at all - solution for me was to enter steam settings>voice> change voice output device from default or whatever is there to: speakers/headphones steam streaming speakers. sound working flawlessly since.

[DOCa Cola]

Originally posted by CalicoJack:

Hey OP.
On my end Retroarch doesn´t find any audio output devices if i have Windows sound set to 5.1 (which i have set to 5.1 by default, because i have a 5.1 system, and it does normaly not matter because if the game just outputs stereo my 5.1 system simply plays stereo through it...)
For Retroarch it matters apparently......?!?
When i change Windows sound to Stereo, Retroarch detects all my sound output devices and the sound works. This is very strange.

Can you replicate this?

I replicated the same issue in my Windows 10 system. Setting the primary audio device to 5.1 causes the list of sound devices to be empty. Changing it to stereo and it works again.

However not all sound devices seems to be affected. Another audio device with 5.1 worked just fine.

[CalicoJack]

Originally posted by DOCa Cola:

Originally posted by CalicoJack:

Hey OP.
On my end Retroarch doesn´t find any audio output devices if i have Windows sound set to 5.1 (which i have set to 5.1 by default, because i have a 5.1 system, and it does normaly not matter because if the game just outputs stereo my 5.1 system simply plays stereo through it...)
For Retroarch it matters apparently......?!?
When i change Windows sound to Stereo, Retroarch detects all my sound output devices and the sound works. This is very strange.

Can you replicate this?

I replicated the same issue in my Windows 10 system. Setting the primary audio device to 5.1 causes the list of sound devices to be empty. Changing it to stereo and it works again.

However not all sound devices seems to be affected. Another audio device with 5.1 worked just fine.

And what are the differences between the one(s) that didn´t work and the one that worked?

My sound- (an video-) signal goes through HDMI-cable to an AVR.
Maybe the RetroArch sound output is not HDCP compatible?
I wouldn´t even know if that´s a thing though,...just a wild guess.

[RedToad64]

I also have a surround sound system through eARC that RetroArch seemingly cannot discover.

[Heska]

I went through something very similar the other day and almost went crazy too. In my case, RetroArch simply stopped detecting audio devices after a Windows update.
What really fixed it for me was opening RetroArch, going to Settings > Audio, and changing the driver to XAudio. After changing, I restarted RetroArch and my sound output finally appeared correctly in the Output menu.
I also recommend disabling any program that is “holding” the audio (like Discord or some sound app on the motherboard). And as silly as it may seem, try running RetroArch as an administrator — this has solved weird bugs for me before.
If none of this works, try downloading a “Standalone” version directly from the RetroArch website (not via Steam), sometimes the problem is just with the Steam build.

[JudgeTy]

Works flawlessly on windows 11 with HDMI dolby atmos passthrough to receiver / sound bar.
If your soundbar / receiver starts cutting off due to lack continuous sound - https://veg.by/en/projects/soundkeeper/

Also if you have a ps5 controller with steam recognizing it usually via usb, it can try to output to the ps5 controller mini crappy speaker.