With Premiere closed, plug in your headphones or interface first , then open your project.
You can fix this without closing your project:
Don’t panic. Your project isn’t corrupted, and your audio interface isn’t broken (probably). This is actually a common Windows-specific conflict, and most fixes take less than 60 seconds.
The "unable to create audio renderer" error in Premiere Pro can occur due to a variety of reasons, including:
If nothing else works, Premiere’s audio prefs file might be corrupted. Deleting it forces the app to rebuild fresh settings.
Outdated audio drivers can cause compatibility issues with Premiere Pro, leading to the "unable to create audio renderer" error. To update your audio drivers: