I had all 6 sub options checked. (BGM, Voice, Ambient Sounds, Sound Effects, System Sounds, Performance) I tried multiple audio devices. Running on Win 10. Posting this in case someone else is troubleshooting the issue, and to hopefully get it in the Sqenix bug list, if it's reproducible. For now, I has no audio when I Google Fu, which is sad.
It might be an issue with Windows not running the game when it's in the background (Allow Apps to Run in the Background) or Windows changing the audio output device to use the foreground or desktop, basically "switching off" the device output for the minimized game (Like your Web Browser becomes the audio output's device, switching off the game)
Both are Windows 10 quirks.
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To clarify the situation, are you not hearing audio only when the client is inactive? Or are you not getting sound at all?
Does the situation change if if the option "Play sounds when window is not active" isn't checked?
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I had a similar issue once where it was doing muffled voices. I checked the sound settings and it switched to the chat version of my set instead of game. The chat set only has 1 Channel of sound (Mono). I needed to use the game version which had 2 channels (Stereo). I then logged out then back in because FFXIV's sound doesn't recover if it disconnects or in this case it can't automatically go from Mono to Stereo. (Seriously Einmimiria, when is this going to be fixed? lol)
Type sound into your windows 10 Search bar (Or left click your sound Icon and open sound settings) -> Sound control Panel, Make sure your Preferred audio source is the Default (I have both communication and regular default set to Arctis 7 game) Go to Properties and the Advanced tab. Switch it to a 2 channel Audio Source (Usually the Best Quality it offers).
Then restart the game and hit a Journey Table in an inn to view a voiced cut-scene to see if it fixed it.
https://i.imgur.com/HBudb8s.png
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Due to no response from the original poster, this thread will be moved to 'Closed Concerns.' If anyone is still having this particular problem, please create a new thread and we will assist you in any way we can.
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