For those who check into this topic - I TOTALLY NOW RECOMMEND JUST UNINSTALLING THE IDT DRIVER SOFTWARE ENTIRELY.
Even with killbeatsaudiobullcrapentirely, the driver is still enabling tons of crappy audio effects, impacting the quality of the sound. The volume ramping problem and sound leveling is one of the worst, and you will notice it most when listening to music. It ramps up, then down, gettings quieter when loud sounds occur, etc.
I am not doing any further work to correct this in any patch, but the patch is still good to resolve other issues. .
Results of uninstalling IDT audio driver from HP:
1. Defaults to Windows provided stock High Definition Audio Driver device software. Audio hardware works fine with this.
2. Sound volume is louder and more powerful.
3. No issues with SRS or other crap sound effects messing with the sound quality.
4. Recording and playback will work better with less hassle.