ASUS Xonar Essence STX - PCI-E

skalragg · 4 Dec 2014 at 11:31

Hi

So I took the advise of people on the forum and took the leap soundwise.....
ASUS Xonar Essence STX - PCI-E and AKG K702

After I installed the Xonar drivers, I plugged in the headphones into the slot provided.. Headphones did not appear as an interface I could select via the sound 'playback devices' I could see stereo and optical S/PDIF output.
I can see in the 'recording devices' a wave option for Xonar, which if enabled for listening and setting stereo as default playback lets me listen to the headphones. No other config works..

Whenever I restart the machine...the 'wave' option in 'recording devices' is turned up slightly and gives and echo.

Also microphone now emits constant buzz for other users listening since switching to this card.

Am i missing something here/is there some specific config required...

TwsT · 4 Dec 2014 at 11:39

Shouldshow up as speakers You switch between headphoens and speakers in the Essense Control panel not the windows sound.

skalragg · 4 Dec 2014 at 11:59

TwsT said:
Shouldshow up as speakers You switch between headphoens and speakers in the Essense Control panel not the windows sound.

When I plugged into the headphone port initially i could see could see sound on both the window playback devices and the 'Essense control panel

i could select output as headphone on the control panel, and successfully hear a test.

Still only works if I set the 'wave; Xonar interface, in recording devices to enabled and listening

Tried using the red and white stereo ports with the adapter, as suggested in the manual. No luck

Uncle Petey · 4 Dec 2014 at 12:05

As TwsT says, all you should need to do is select "Speakers Asus Xonar STX" in playback options and then select Headphones in the Xonar control panel.

If that's not working right, then maybe try unified drivers: http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
I found they worked best when I had an Essence ST.

rids57 · 4 Dec 2014 at 14:52

In Windows Playback Devices select as Default:

Speakers
Asus Xonar Essence STX

Then while in the ASUS control panel, open it up with the little up arrow and select "main". You should be able to see the number of audio channels, sample rate, analog out and spdif out.

For headphones, select 2 channels (for music) and Headphone. This is where you switch between headphones and speakers. You can also set the gain for your headphones by clicking the little hammer on the end that only appears when you select Headphones.

skalragg · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:06

Thanks all for your suggestions, I'll test later

Cheers

rids57 · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:35

Also on that screen, you can select 6 or 8 channel audio, headphones and on the right side select either GAME or MOVIES for the Dolby Headphone surround sound. For music though you're best off with straight stereo and clicking the HF (Hi-Fi) button which makes sure that the signal path is as clean as possible.

skalragg · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:52

rids57 said:
Also on that screen, you can select 6 or 8 channel audio, headphones and on the right side select either GAME or MOVIES for the Dolby Headphone surround sound. For music though you're best off with straight stereo and clicking the HF (Hi-Fi) button which makes sure that the signal path is as clean as possible.

For games should it be 8 channels . I selected the game option last night and it sounded very ''thinny'' and lacked any bass compared to the standard non bass option

Uncle Petey · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:53

No, leave it on 2 channels and play with virtual surround/Dolby headphone/DSP if you want those effects.
Personally, I leave it on hifi mode for everything.

rids57 · 4 Dec 2014 at 16:58

Gaming depends on the game.

Some games, like Battlefield 4 have their own headphone driver which creates a binaural audio stream and the setting should be left at HF & 2 channel because the game software does all the work.

Others, like Skyrim, don't have a dedicated headphone driver and in this case you should set it to 6 or 8 channel and select the GAME button. This takes the multi-channel audio data stream from the game and converts it on the fly to a binaural audio stream for stereo headphones.