**** Power Colour Devil HDX 7.1 Sound Card****

I'm using one right now - What do you want to know?

There is only one question mark hanging over the card at the moment and that is whether it is capable of using the Xear effects on sample rates above 48kHz. The one I have does not but I am so far unable to find out whether it's a faulty card, a design issue or a driver problem.

The Asus Xonar Essence STX DOES use the Xear effects all the way up to 192kHz, so it can obviously be done, we just don't yet know whether this card is designed to be able to do it or not.

If you are fine with not using the Xear effects above 48kHz then it's a fantastic card and a great bargain.

Lets put the problem into perspective....

CD music is recorded at 44.1kHz

You can listen to stereo HD recordings all the way up to 192kHz without any problems.

Games normally use either 44.1kHz or 48kHz sampling rates, both of which allow full use of the effects.

The most likely situation whereby you would have distortion problems is if you are listening to HD music (above 48kHz) and try to use the graphic equalizer (Xear effect).

If that is not something you need to do then the card really gives the STX a run for it's money.
 
I don't know what xear is so I'm guessing I won't be using it?

I'm just wanting a sound card, I listen to a lot of music and play games.. This is the only one with RCA input at a reasonable price.

I clicked pay.. Now we wait for it to turn up!
 
Xear is the sound processor effects system and takes care of everything from the equaliser to virtual surround sound.

Generally for music you shouldn't have a problem anyway because if you hit the music preset it bypasses the sound processor, which gives you the cleanest, clearest signal. If you find that you do want to use an equaliser you have two choices, keep the sample rate to a maximum of 48kHz or use the equaliser in your playback software.

For games, you don't need to go above 48kHz anyway so you can use the virtual surround or any of the sound enhancements should you wish. I've been playing Witcher 3 with AKG K702s and using the surround through them with the GAME setting sounded fantastic.
 
rids57 said:
Xear is the sound processor effects system and takes care of everything from the equaliser to virtual surround sound.

Generally for music you shouldn't have a problem anyway because if you hit the music preset it bypasses the sound processor, which gives you the cleanest, clearest signal. If you find that you do want to use an equaliser you have two choices, keep the sample rate to a maximum of 48kHz or use the equaliser in your playback software.

For games, you don't need to go above 48kHz anyway so you can use the virtual surround or any of the sound enhancements should you wish. I've been playing Witcher 3 with AKG K702s and using the surround through them with the GAME setting sounded fantastic.
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Ah okay. I'll have to have a play to get the best sound when it comes.

I don't have decent headphones at the moment, only speakers so that's something that's on the list.

Would I have able to switch between race input and headphones on the software? Saves me having to reach the back of the case to unplug either or.

One thing I've just noticed looking at a few more pictures and there is a red light up logo on the top edge, can you turn this off? Would ruin the look of my build if you can see any red. White is good :)
 
Yes, you can switch between speakers and headphone in the software, so you can leave both connected permanently.

If there is a way of turning the LED off I haven't found it.
 
Haha - it's the slowest download service I have ever come across :D

Do me a favour, once you've got the drivers installed, switch the sample rate and bit depth to 96kHz and 24 bit and then see if there is any distortion when using the Xear effects - just selecting game mode should do it as it selects a few of them
 
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ElectroBlaster said:
Bit green on this but is there any support for Linux with Alsa?
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^^^ This.

In the market for a sound card, some what out of the loop though. Last card I had was the original Audigy chip. Thought I could put up with the on board sound of my MB when I went z97.

All though I use a HS while gaming it's more for music + odd film so any info on this card would be most help full

Edit:

Looks like it does have support Electro . http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-PowerColor
 
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Well that's odd, Windows 10 just updated and the Powercolor HDX has disappeared.

I uninstalled the drivers and attempted to reinstall but Windows informs me there is no such hardware and aborts.
 
it showed up again today, long enough to reinstall the drivers but as soon as I rebooted as part of the install it disappeared again.
I checked the device manager and the hardware doesn't show up but when I check devices by resource it shows up and not on the same IRQ as the STX, so it's not a conflict. Besides, the STX and HDX were working fine side by side up until yesterday, when it simply disappeared after the Windows update.
 
Oh as you asked above, I do get a slight bit of distortion yes.

Great so far though, transforms game sounds and makes my speakers sound even better with the effects you can use. Going back to onboard will suck if anything happens!
 
the distortion I get could never be called slight :D

Not sure what's going on with this one, after working faultlessly (at a max of 48kHz) for weeks it's suddenly started playing hide and seek - it started immediately after the last Windows 10 update, so hopefully Microsoft screwed something up.
 
The update on 31/10 was a compatibility update, so I would guess that something got overwritten. Odd that the hardware itself disappeared though and even more weird that it's been ghosting in and out for the last couple of days with no interference from me - on some boots it's there and on others it's missing.
 
So what's the general verdict on this card? Any good?

Still umming and arrrring my self whether to just go for the Essence STX II . though there is a large price diff.
 
Sound quality is excellent, the card punches way above it's weight.

In a blind test I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the HDX and the STX.

The downside is that if you want to play with the Xear effects (equalizer, bass boost, virtual surround, etc.) then the maximum working sampling frequency is 48kHz. This isn't a problem for music as you can use WASAPI or ASIO to bypass the DSP and it then has no trouble going all the way up to 192kHz. For most people 48kHz will be enough, certainly on the gaming and movie side and you really shouldn't be messing with the DSP for music anyway.

If I try using the Xear effects at higher resolutions I get some very nasty interference / distortion, which is far too bad to ignore. Problem I have is I still don't know whether this is a one off, ie. a faulty card, a driver issue or a design "feature".

If you have no need to run any of the Xear effects at sampling frequencies in excess of 48kHz then I can happily recommend the HDX as a cheaper alternative to the STX.
 
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