diff --git a/Audio/DynamicSoundEffectInstance.cpp b/Audio/DynamicSoundEffectInstance.cpp
index 29437e9a2..ce2295e2e 100644
--- a/Audio/DynamicSoundEffectInstance.cpp
+++ b/Audio/DynamicSoundEffectInstance.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ class DynamicSoundEffectInstance::Impl : public IVoiceNotify
         mBufferNeeded(nullptr),
         mObject(object)
     {
+        if (!engine)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("AudioEngine is required");
+
         if ((sampleRate < XAUDIO2_MIN_SAMPLE_RATE)
             || (sampleRate > XAUDIO2_MAX_SAMPLE_RATE))
         {
@@ -55,6 +58,12 @@ class DynamicSoundEffectInstance::Impl : public IVoiceNotify
             throw std::invalid_argument("DynamicSoundEffectInstance supports 8 or 16 bit");
         }
 
+        if (!bufferNeeded)
+        {
+            DebugTrace("DynamicSoundEffectInstance requires a valid callback\n");
+            throw std::invalid_argument("DynamicSoundEffectInstance");
+        }
+
         mBufferEvent.reset(CreateEventEx(nullptr, nullptr, 0, EVENT_MODIFY_STATE | SYNCHRONIZE));
         if (!mBufferEvent)
         {
@@ -63,7 +72,6 @@ class DynamicSoundEffectInstance::Impl : public IVoiceNotify
 
         CreateIntegerPCM(&mWaveFormat, sampleRate, channels, sampleBits);
 
-        assert(engine != nullptr);
         engine->RegisterNotify(this, true);
 
         mBase.Initialize(engine, &mWaveFormat, flags);
diff --git a/Audio/SoundCommon.cpp b/Audio/SoundCommon.cpp
index cd5a62581..cf6bf0715 100644
--- a/Audio/SoundCommon.cpp
+++ b/Audio/SoundCommon.cpp
@@ -521,6 +521,9 @@ void DirectX::CreateIntegerPCM(
     int channels,
     int sampleBits) noexcept
 {
+    if (!wfx)
+        return;
+
     const int blockAlign = channels * sampleBits / 8;
 
     wfx->wFormatTag = WAVE_FORMAT_PCM;
@@ -541,6 +544,9 @@ void DirectX::CreateFloatPCM(
     int sampleRate,
     int channels) noexcept
 {
+    if (!wfx)
+        return;
+
     const int blockAlign = channels * 4;
 
     wfx->wFormatTag = WAVE_FORMAT_IEEE_FLOAT;
@@ -563,6 +569,9 @@ void DirectX::CreateADPCM(
     int channels,
     int samplesPerBlock) noexcept(false)
 {
+    if (!wfx)
+        return;
+
     if (wfxSize < (sizeof(WAVEFORMATEX) + MSADPCM_FORMAT_EXTRA_BYTES))
     {
         DebugTrace("CreateADPCM needs at least %zu bytes for the result\n",
@@ -608,6 +617,9 @@ void DirectX::CreateXWMA(
     int avgBytes,
     bool wma3) noexcept
 {
+    if (!wfx)
+        return;
+
     wfx->wFormatTag = static_cast<WORD>((wma3) ? WAVE_FORMAT_WMAUDIO3 : WAVE_FORMAT_WMAUDIO2);
     wfx->nChannels = static_cast<WORD>(channels);
     wfx->nSamplesPerSec = static_cast<DWORD>(sampleRate);
diff --git a/Audio/SoundCommon.h b/Audio/SoundCommon.h
index cdb6c855f..b2cd20ca9 100644
--- a/Audio/SoundCommon.h
+++ b/Audio/SoundCommon.h
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #include "Audio.h"
 #include "PlatformHelpers.h"
 
+#include <stdexcept>
+
 #ifdef USING_XAUDIO2_9
 #define DIRECTX_ENABLE_XWMA
 #endif
diff --git a/Audio/SoundEffect.cpp b/Audio/SoundEffect.cpp
index fb5bdbea8..687973e01 100644
--- a/Audio/SoundEffect.cpp
+++ b/Audio/SoundEffect.cpp
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ class SoundEffect::Impl : public IVoiceNotify
         , mXMAMemory(nullptr)
     #endif
     {
-        assert(mEngine != nullptr);
+        if (!engine)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("AudioEngine is required");
+
         mEngine->RegisterNotify(this, false);
     }
 
diff --git a/Audio/WaveBank.cpp b/Audio/WaveBank.cpp
index 0991bd031..dfb8f8daf 100644
--- a/Audio/WaveBank.cpp
+++ b/Audio/WaveBank.cpp
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ class WaveBank::Impl : public IVoiceNotify
         mPrepared(false),
         mStreaming(false)
     {
-        assert(mEngine != nullptr);
+        if (!engine)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("AudioEngine is required");
+
         mEngine->RegisterNotify(this, false);
     }
 
diff --git a/Audio/WaveBankReader.cpp b/Audio/WaveBankReader.cpp
index eea53ad77..ed1fc34f5 100644
--- a/Audio/WaveBankReader.cpp
+++ b/Audio/WaveBankReader.cpp
@@ -517,6 +517,9 @@ HRESULT WaveBankReader::Impl::Open(const wchar_t* szFileName) noexcept(false)
     Close();
     Clear();
 
+    if (!szFileName)
+        return E_INVALIDARG;
+
     m_prepared = false;
 
     m_event.reset(CreateEventEx(nullptr, nullptr, CREATE_EVENT_MANUAL_RESET, EVENT_MODIFY_STATE | SYNCHRONIZE));
@@ -1029,7 +1032,7 @@ HRESULT WaveBankReader::Impl::GetWaveData(uint32_t index, const uint8_t** pData,
 #endif
 
     if (!waveData)
-        return E_FAIL;
+        return E_POINTER;
 
     if (m_data.dwFlags & BANKDATA::TYPE_STREAMING)
     {
@@ -1223,10 +1226,13 @@ HRESULT WaveBankReader::Open(const wchar_t* szFileName) noexcept
 _Use_decl_annotations_
 uint32_t WaveBankReader::Find(const char* name) const
 {
-    auto it = pImpl->m_names.find(name);
-    if (it != pImpl->m_names.cend())
+    if (name)
     {
-        return it->second;
+        auto it = pImpl->m_names.find(name);
+        if (it != pImpl->m_names.cend())
+        {
+            return it->second;
+        }
     }
 
     return uint32_t(-1);
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 56747f0a8..5690b5550 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ For a full change history, see [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/microsoft/Direc
 
   * If you want to use XAudio2Redist with Windows 8.1, the CMake project supports this with the build option `BUILD_XAUDIO_REDIST`. The CMake build option `BUILD_XAUDIO_WIN7` was renamed.
 
+  * When using XAudio 2.8 for Windows 8.1, there is no xWMA format support. This is available when using XAudio 2.9 or XAudio2Redist.
+
 * Starting with the February 2023 release, the Mouse class implementation of relative mouse movement was updated to accumulate changes between calls to ``GetState``. By default, each time you call ``GetState`` the deltas are reset which works for scenarios where you use relative movement but only call the method once per frame. If you call it more than once per frame, then add an explicit call to ``EndOfInputFrame`` to use an explicit reset model instead.
 
 * As of the September 2022 release, the library makes use of C++11 inline namespaces for differing types that have the same names in the DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 version of the _DirectX Tool Kit_. This provides a link-unique name such as ``DirectX::DX11::SpriteBatch`` that will appear in linker output messages. In most use cases, however, there is no need to add explicit ``DX11`` namespace resolution in client code.
@@ -116,7 +118,7 @@ For a full change history, see [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/microsoft/Direc
 
 ## Support
 
-For questions, consider using [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/directxtk) with the _directxtk_ tag, or the [DirectX Discord Server](https://discord.gg/directx) in the _dx9-dx11-developers_ channel.
+For questions, consider using [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/directxtk) with the _directxtk_ tag, or the [DirectX Discord Server](https://discord.gg/directx) in the _dx9-dx11-developers_ or _input-and-audio_ channels.
 
 For bug reports and feature requests, please use GitHub [issues](https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXTK/issues) for this project.
 
diff --git a/Src/BinaryReader.h b/Src/BinaryReader.h
index 0d4d96c4a..e6cbe290e 100644
--- a/Src/BinaryReader.h
+++ b/Src/BinaryReader.h
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ namespace DirectX
         explicit BinaryReader(_In_z_ wchar_t const* fileName) noexcept(false);
         BinaryReader(_In_reads_bytes_(dataSize) uint8_t const* dataBlob, size_t dataSize) noexcept;
 
+        BinaryReader(BinaryReader&&) noexcept;
+        BinaryReader& operator= (BinaryReader&&) noexcept;
+
         BinaryReader(BinaryReader const&) = delete;
         BinaryReader& operator= (BinaryReader const&) = delete;
 
diff --git a/Src/DGSLEffectFactory.cpp b/Src/DGSLEffectFactory.cpp
index 957e74ea5..8b1c8224f 100644
--- a/Src/DGSLEffectFactory.cpp
+++ b/Src/DGSLEffectFactory.cpp
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ class DGSLEffectFactory::Impl
         mDevice(device),
         mSharing(true),
         mForceSRGB(false)
-    {}
+    {
+        if (!device)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("Direct3D device is null");
+    }
 
     Impl(const Impl&) = delete;
     Impl& operator=(const Impl&) = delete;
diff --git a/Src/GraphicsMemory.cpp b/Src/GraphicsMemory.cpp
index 72409e8bd..e75606467 100644
--- a/Src/GraphicsMemory.cpp
+++ b/Src/GraphicsMemory.cpp
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ class GraphicsMemory::Impl
 
     void Initialize(_In_ ID3D11DeviceX* device, unsigned int backBufferCount)
     {
-        assert(device != nullptr);
+        if (!device)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("Direct3D device is null");
+
         mDevice = device;
 
         device->GetImmediateContextX(mDeviceContext.GetAddressOf());
@@ -245,9 +247,11 @@ class GraphicsMemory::Impl
         s_graphicsMemory = nullptr;
     }
 
-    void Initialize(_In_ ID3D11Device* device, unsigned int backBufferCount) noexcept
+    void Initialize(_In_ ID3D11Device* device, unsigned int backBufferCount)
     {
-        UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(device);
+        if (!device)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("Direct3D device is null");
+
         UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(backBufferCount);
     }
 
diff --git a/Src/PBREffectFactory.cpp b/Src/PBREffectFactory.cpp
index 72b011ba9..e72472139 100644
--- a/Src/PBREffectFactory.cpp
+++ b/Src/PBREffectFactory.cpp
@@ -95,7 +95,10 @@ class PBREffectFactory::Impl
         mDevice(device),
         mSharing(true),
         mForceSRGB(false)
-    {}
+    {
+        if (!device)
+            throw std::invalid_argument("Direct3D device is null");
+    }
 
     Impl(const Impl&) = delete;
     Impl& operator=(const Impl&) = delete;
diff --git a/Src/SpriteFont.cpp b/Src/SpriteFont.cpp
index e6025d3d5..99a99510d 100644
--- a/Src/SpriteFont.cpp
+++ b/Src/SpriteFont.cpp
@@ -177,6 +177,11 @@ SpriteFont::Impl::Impl(
     lineSpacing(ilineSpacing),
     utfBufferSize(0)
 {
+    if (!itexture || !iglyphs)
+    {
+        throw std::invalid_argument("Sprite sheet texture required");
+    }
+
     if (!std::is_sorted(iglyphs, iglyphs + glyphCount))
     {
         throw std::runtime_error("Glyphs must be in ascending codepoint order");