Audioengine D1 + Asus Xonar DG don't work?

habbyster · 5 Feb 2015 at 20:35

Hi all,

Recently got an Asus Xonar DG to be combined with my D1 to create an overall better sound, though they don't work together?

When used individually they both work, but when I hook up the D1 to the sound card via optical output I hear nothing come through my speakers. I've tried going into sound manager and changing the playback device to "Speakers ASUS Xonar DG Audio Device", SPDIF Interface TX1 & TX2 but still nothing.

On the playback manager when sounds are being played it shows that it is, with the little green bar though I just can't seem to hear anything. I've tried many different things, reinstalling drivers, changing channel format (24bit etc) but still no avail.

Going to end up pulling my hair out; any ideas? Or are these just simply not compatible with eachother...which I don't see why not

rids57 · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:14

Have you tried selecting "S/PDIF pass-through device" in the Windows Playback Devices menu (right click the speaker icon in the bottom right of screen)?

habbyster · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:18

rids57 said:
Have you tried selecting "S/PDIF pass-through device" in the Windows Playback Devices menu (right click the speaker icon in the bottom right of screen)?

Yeah I've tried that and every other option in the playback device options. I've tried disabling all effects and testing it all...it just doesn't make sense

rids57 · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:24

So does the D1 work with an optical connection from the motherboard audio?

habbyster · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:34

rids57 said:
So does the D1 work with an optical connection from the motherboard audio?

Yep. It works straight into the mobo and my soundcard works when the headphones are plugged in directly

rids57 · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:55

So why exactly are you using the Xonar if you have the D1?

habbyster · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:57

rids57 said:
So why exactly are you using the Xonar if you have the D1?

I was hoping they would combine to create a greater sound

rids57 · 5 Feb 2015 at 21:59

Ummm, by using optical you bypass the Xonar and the sound doesn't get decoded until it gets to the D1's DAC.

So the Xonar isn't really doing anything except acting as an optical pass-through port.

Saying that though, it should still be working so something is amiss.

Brizzles · 5 Feb 2015 at 22:15

Have you also changed the Xonar software manager to spdif out

You need to tick it and change to PCM output.

habbyster · 6 Feb 2015 at 08:43

mrdbristol said:
Have you also changed the Xonar software manager to spdif out

You need to tick it and change to PCM output.

The Xonar has no software I can find, only drivers which have no gui or anything

rids57 said:
So the Xonar isn't really doing anything except acting as an optical pass-through port.

Ah I see, I'll fob it then...back under the bed it goes!

Marine-RX179 · 6 Feb 2015 at 10:00

habbyster said:
The Xonar has no software I can find, only drivers which have no gui or anything

That shouldn't be the case. As far as I recall drivers that are straight from Asus ALWAYS comes with the "Audio Control Center" program together.

However after installation, the Control Center itself would be load onto Astray which you need to with make it show all the time instead of hidden, our just pin the Control Center program to your task bar.

With that said, I see no reason for the need to use the AudioEngine D1 with the Xonar DG instead of on its own...unless you need some surround effect for headphones or something...if it is just for music and general stereo, the D1 should be just plugged right onto motherboard's optical or USB.

Brizzles · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:07

habbyster said:
The Xonar has no software I can find, only drivers which have no gui or anything

Re-install the drivers from here ( Choose a suitable OS ) ;

http://www.asus.com/uk/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_DG/HelpDesk_Download/

You should have a program called Audio Control centre , like this ;

rids57 · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:14

Fingers crossed that's the solution - the card won't run with all of it's features without the proper driver and associated control software.

Uriel · 6 Feb 2015 at 17:27

In this setup the Xonar would really be only functioning as a sound processor. You could get it to add Dolby Headphone or XEar Virtual Speaker Shifter. Also for using DS3D-GX to enable hardware sound processing in older DirectSound-3D or OpenAL games.

The Xonar will only send stereo audio over SPDIF so you'll need to set analog out to stereo. You can keep the number of channels up and the Xonar will downmix to stereo but won't do anything clever unless you turn on Dolby Headphone etc.

If you're just using the Xonar to send unprocessed sound to the A1, the Xonar is definitely a bit redundant.