https://blogs.opera.com/desktop/2020/05/opera-70-0-3701-0-developer-update/ has a fix for 4-channel audio. Please test in this build to make sure things are working now.

Thanks - that's working fine now.

Paul

@burnout426 The sound works fine in Vivaldi & Brave, thanks for the help, I did not know about such browsers!

You learn something new everyday!

Everything you have suggested is related to how Opera plays a surround file. The problem is not at that level. Opera is not accepting that a four-channel aac/m4a file is something to play at all. This is clearly shown on the other page I gave a link to:
https://tetrahedral.audio/ta-recording

Halfway down you will see this:

No clever Javascript player like the other test page - just raw HTML5 audio elements. The top one links a stereo file, the lower one links a surround file. You will see that the lower one is greyed out; you cannot click it - Opera will not even attempt to play the file.

Paul

--disable-audio-output-resampler --try-supported-channel-layouts --force-wave-audio

I tried that with https://cassland.org/sounds/TestQuad/ just to see if it helps make the player work for me, but it does not.

and i did not overlook what you said - ya did or did not have trouble with sound on and off till new updates.. and now ya don't have surround sound in opera That you stated.. Perhaps ya overlooked ya own post..

even tho burnout found what he found
you said you had sound b/4 update

i think your the only one lately that has surround sound not working.. that goes for peeps use 'n opera and chrome..

the things ya call - pretty clearly irrelevant.. will not be irrelevant..

i thought the switches may work w/o changing n e audio settings.. for most it worked..

Note - i figured i guess that ya might not wanna fiddle with your cards settings..

not unless you can put it back like it was..

so i'm gunna try to explain incase others have the trouble too..

If the above post either doesn't work or stops working in the future (AGAIN!) For opera/chrome.

depending on how old audio card is..

Changing the Audio mode to (Audio Creation Mode)

(most SB cards have this mode) i dunno if ya card has this option..

but if so

Select Multi-Channel Wave

Under the "Front L/R" fill the check boxes for Rear L/R & Front C/Sub and
it will force the 5.1 signal from opera/chrome that only has the stereo channels being used - to use the L/R Front signals and redirect it to each checkbox you fill !..

this example is (SB card).. with Highlights were ya do changes..

its up to you to try or not.. while waitig on a fix *just say 'n..

if nothing works i guess your stuck till opera fix.. *Go Opera Team..

n e ways i'm out.. *hope ya get troubles fixed soon..

Also, note that a couple of posts above burnout426 identified a change in Opera which correlates with this problem and has raised a bug for it. This fits the fact that it used to work by default and now doesn't.

Paul

even tho chrome may work for ya other peeps it does not..

it just wasn't opera..

Chrome Version 79.0.3945.88 removed the flags that was needed..

In Google Chrome Version 80.0.3987.106 this switch helped
--try-supported-channel-layouts

even tho it was a bug.. it was a work around for the problem..

since peeps are wait 'n on a fix..

n e ways thats all i was try 'n to say.. *its all good.. am sorry for try 'n to help..

there is one other thing ya could try while waiting for a fix, but its up to you if ya wanna me to post..

Also, note that a couple of posts above burnout426 identified a change in Opera which correlates with this problem and has raised a bug for it. This fits the fact that it used to work by default and now doesn't.

Paul

So run these 3 switches all @ the same time

Example

"C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Opera\launcher.exe" --disable-audio-output-resampler --try-supported-channel-layouts --force-wave-audio

see if it helps..

@pwhodges these switches may or may not help..

--force-wave-audio
--disable-audio-output-resampler

Neither of those addresses the issue, which is the number of channels.

and this flag perhaps Enable it..
WebRTC multi-channel capture audio processing

That's already set.

here is a test that might work for ya
https://youtu.be/XdfmAkasBcc

It's another source of multi-channel audio, so it shows a similar failure. Not quite the same admittedly, as it plays, but only the front two channels.

I guess that because the source is a video file, Opera doesn't reject it in the way that it appears to reject multi-channel pure audio files, and the different code path leads to it either downmixing to stereo, or just taking the first two channels, or (conceivably) selecting an alternate stereo stream from the video.

Paul

--force-wave-audio

--disable-audio-output-resampler

and this flag perhaps Enable it..
WebRTC multi-channel capture audio processing

here is a test that might work for ya
https://youtu.be/XdfmAkasBcc

Paul

https://cassland.org/sounds/TestQuad/

That's a good test. I can reproduce the problem even with only a 2-channel setup. Had to go back to Opera 64 for it to play. I was able to break it in Opera 64 by enabling opera://flags/#ffmpeg-demuxer-everywhere. That feature is always enabled in newer Opera without a flag to disable it. I filed DNA-85295.

@pwhodges

What version of Windows? (the "OS" value as seen at the URL chrome://version in Chrome)

Windows 10 OS Version 1909 (Build 18363.720)

Using 64-bit Opera or 32?

32-bit

What sound card/chip do you have and what driver version?

Not really relevant - the Windows sound system handles that, and is currently set to four channels. The current default system is an E-MU 1616m

Do you have more than one sound device?
Yes, but irrelevant
Is your sound device set as the default?

One is, of course.

Do things also work fine in Vivald, Brave, Chrome, Chromium, and Chromium-based Edge?

Surround sound works as it should in Firefox, Chrome and Edge. It used to work in Opera but not now. All other programs (not only browsers) also work as they should.

Things still broken in Opera Beta and Opera Developer from https://www.opera.com/download?

Same in Beta and Developer

When you say, "Surround audio doesn't play", are you saying you only hear audio out of 2 of the speakers while other browsers produce audio out of all 4?

No sound; nothing plays.

I note that on a page displaying default HTML5 audio players, those linked to surround files have the play button greyed out.

Do you have an example link?

See about halfway down this page:
https://tetrahedral.audio/ta-recording
or here:
https://cassland.org/sounds/TestQuad/

After trying to play the video/audio, if you goto the URL opera://media-internals and expand the section for the player in question, it should tell you what type of audio it's trying ot play and what errors there are.

The player in question is not even listed.

Paul

What version of Windows? (the "OS" value as seen at the URL chrome://version in Chrome)

Using 64-bit Opera or 32?

What sound card/chip do you have and what driver version?

Do you have more than one sound device?

Is your sound device set as the default?

Do things also work fine in Vivald, Brave, Chrome, Chromium, and Chromium-based Edge?

Things still broken in Opera Beta and Opera Developer from https://www.opera.com/download?

When you say, "Surround audio doesn't play", are you saying you only hear audio out of 2 of the speakers while other browsers produce audio out of all 4?

I note that on a page displaying default HTML5 audio players, those linked to surround files have the play button greyed out.

Do you have an example link?

After trying to play the video/audio, if you goto the URL opera://media-internals and expand the section for the player in question, it should tell you what type of audio it's trying ot play and what errors there are.

My surround audio is 4.0, but that shouldn't make any difference; it used to play and now doesn't.

Also, what OS, what version of Opera, what sound device and what driver version are you using?