Asus Xonar DX Setup

Soldato
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Hey everyone,

I thought it would make sense for me to make a new thread on the topic above as it can be much more specific this way. My original topic was asking about the best solution for my current setup and equipment that I own, this can be found here:

Best audio combination

I have just purchased a Asus Xonar DX sound card and am having quite a lot of problems setting it up. First of all I am having problems with the Xonar DX Audio Centre. Everytime I open the menu part of the program this is what happens:

f2a7SGk.jpg

It seems to not draw the extra options on the screen properly?

As a result of this issue I have since installed the Uni drivers after finding about them and have installed this version: UNi Xonar 1822 v1.75a r2. I am also using the C-Media Panel as this actually seems to work.

Have I done the right thing so far with the basic setup? Any help will be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks!!
 
Hi...

Just keep the Uni drivers, most have them rather than the Asus's ones.

I leave every thing as it is, I don't use any of the Dolby headphone stuff as I find it echo'y but others swear by it !

The only thing I fiddle with sometimes is the EQ/Effect...
 
Stick with the Uni ones if you're getting that odd draw problem with the Asus ones. I can't say that I tried the C-Media panel when I used a Xonar with Uni drivers a while back now. As long as you can use all the options, then that's what counts.

Have the game set to output 5.1 (if possible), select 6 channels in the audio channel selection (assuming it's available with C-Media). Have DDL enabled, and if the game only has stereo output, PLIIx as well. Maybe no need for PLIIx if the game has 5.1 options, although I'm not totally sure about that.

Some games have their own surround sound processing for headphones, so if there is an option in the game to choose speakers or headphones, might be best to choose speakers. Any surround sound processing for headphones a game might have will interfere with how well DH works from the sound card.

I used DH2 of the three DH options. DH1 was too close and DH3 was sounded too much like an echo effect. DH2 was just right for me. Some people don't like DH at all though, finding any of them sound too much like an echo, as Andi did.
 
Thanks guys for the really helpful responses :)

With regards to the C-Media Panel it does seem to have most of the options however there are a couple of problems I have noticed:

There doesn't seem to be an option for selecting front panel headphones etc. I seem to have to struggle with the Xonar Audio Centre even though it isn't displayed properly. Is there any alternative to this?

The other problem is that there seems to be no mention of the Dolby Prologic at all until I check it in the Asus Xonar Audio Centre? Is this just automatically enabled through the Uni drivers when I select SPDIF as the output?

EDIT: Is there any way of being able to fix the Audio Centre? It's really annoying that it is even doing this in the first place!

Thanks :)
 
Strange. I doubt you've done anything wrong. I was going to suggest use a driver cleaner, because files from the old Asus drivers would have been left behind and may cause an issue. Uni drivers have a driver cleaner option though, so if you had that ticked, then that would have removed any old files left behind.

They are the newest release. Maybe there are some issues. I'd try one of the older ones. 1.72 was the last one I tried, which worked fine.
 
So I have finally managed to solve some of the problems but I am still not quite there. Firstly I have completely uninstalled all traces of the Asus drivers and leftover files. Then I reinstalled Uni drivers with the Xonar DX Audio Centre. This now works properly and I can see every part of the program.

I have tried having my headphones plugged directly into the Mic and Speaker ports on the soundcard but Dolby Headphone seems quite muddy when compared against my Astro Mixamp? Is there anything I need to set differently? Perhaps I didn't set the headphones up properly to work directly with the sound card.

The final question is if I choose to use the mixamp alongside the headphones. What settings do I need to have selected in the Audio centre for connection with my mixamp? These are what I currently have set:

gK6ChW3.png

I then have Dolby headphone on my mixamp and have the headphones connected to this. Does everything look right?

Thanks guys :)
 
Another question regarding the number of input channels as marked above. The software says that 8 channels should be used for a 3D game however if a game is stereo only should it not be on 2 channels?

CSGO for example has multiple in-game options but I'm not sure what to choose.

Thanks guys :)
 
So I have finally managed to solve some of the problems but I am still not quite there. Firstly I have completely uninstalled all traces of the Asus drivers and leftover files. Then I reinstalled Uni drivers with the Xonar DX Audio Centre. This now works properly and I can see every part of the program.

I have tried having my headphones plugged directly into the Mic and Speaker ports on the soundcard but Dolby Headphone seems quite muddy when compared against my Astro Mixamp? Is there anything I need to set differently? Perhaps I didn't set the headphones up properly to work directly with the sound card.

Maybe the Mixamp works differently in the way it's processed. I would hve thought the performance would have been similar with both using the same Dolby stuff.

When you say muddy, do you mean a lack of clarity?

It's possible that Astro has tailored the Mixamp's EQ settings for that particular headset. I don't know that, but it might explain why the DX sounds muddy, if I understand what you mean by that correctly. With a sound card, there is a vast range of headphones that will be used. Different headphones will perform differently, so there are no presets for specific headphones.

If it is a difference in EQ, then you can alter them in the effects tab.

The final question is if I choose to use the mixamp alongside the headphones. What settings do I need to have selected in the Audio centre for connection with my mixamp? These are what I currently have set:

I then have Dolby headphone on my mixamp and have the headphones connected to this. Does everything look right?

Thanks guys :)

Looks OK to me. You've got 8 channels selected. That or 6, doesn't mater really, and you have DDL enabled.

Those settings are fine for games that can output 5.1. For those that can only output stereo, you need to select 2 channel output. Once you do that, DPLIIx will appear. Enable this so that the stereo from the game is upmixed to 5.1.
 
I open ASUS XONAR DX Center yknow the small panel gui appears in main tab I test the sound and theres no sound output at all only the graphic of sound being played - something to do with the 3,5mm plugs at the back??
 
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I open ASUS XONAR DX Center yknow the small panel gui appears in main tab I test the sound and theres no sound output at all only the graphic of sound being played - something to do with the 3,5mm plugs at the back??
Don't you have to change the output from headphones to speakers in the drop down box in the pic above
 
Yes And I tried each of the output icons (I have 3 showing as connected) for properties and fully enabled each & still only the speaker titled "Realtek high Definition Audio" will output sounds
 
But I have a new PC now with different problems so Im going to retire this issue soon and if you mods dont mind I'll bin it all
Aside: Is it just me who believes that Microsoft makes things confusing and difficult in this area of sound input and output when you want add something as simple as a new mic with their privacy permissions etc., etc. ??
Christ on crutches
 
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