tl;dr at the end if you don’t want the story/specifics.
First post here, so apologies if I don’t post any assumed prerequisite command line outputs. Been bashing my head over this with chatgpt since I can’t seem to find this issue replicated anywhere else, and have ran into a brick wall (it’s usually very good with this sort of stuff)
Everything was working fine, then I plugged in my headset and enabled duplex mode so that i could use both my headset mic and headphones. This Ryzen HD Audio Controller used to be the default audio device that effectively managed between my USB speakers (Steelseries Arena 7, below) and any other output devices i plugged in. Now the Ryzen HD Audio Controller disappears as soon as I unplug my headset. Additionally now, audio only comes out of my headset when the Ryzen Audio Controller is selected. I have been able to somewhat rectify the issue by manually selecting the SteelSeries USB speakers, but they do not effectively manage streams. It does not detect when new audio streams start (so audio will not start) unless i cycle between output and duplex, and then and ONLY then will audio begin. If that stream ends/pauses for more than a moment, it will not detect when audio has resumed and I must manually toggle in order to “wake it up”. I’ve already cycled input/output/duplex etc. settings to “undo” what I did, but no avail.
Hardware specs (probly not relevant, but you never know):
Gigabyte X870E Gaming Wifi 6 mobo
AMD 9800X3D
Gigabyte 5070ti
48gb G.Skill 6400MT/S DDR5 RAM
tl;dr - ever since I plugged in (and subsequently unplugged) my headset, my AMD audio driver only sees my headset (via front 3.5mm jack), and not my USB speakers. The speakers are seen separately, but do not detect when audio streams begin (leading to me having to micromanage them to get any sound on a regular basis). How do I get my audio drivers to effectively manage my speakers again? I have a feeling the drivers don’t like that my speakers are USB, but that’s just a guess.