Xonar DG - ultimate budget headphone card?

Ok chaps mine has just turned up.

I have taken a few shots so you know what you will be getting. Not sure if I will get the time to plumb it in today but will update this thread when I do, and if I face any problems. I know a few peeps have reported problems running this in Win7 64 but we shall see. The driver disc certainly states it is compatible. Noticed a couple of slightly bent capacitors as well but they look like they won't be a problem.

Unboxing -

f5252a5b.jpg

4d9840e8.jpg

0fa548cc.jpg

1489be91.jpg

2beba948.jpg

a06123be.jpg


Quick question. I am currently using 'onboard' sound with my ASUS Crosshair IV. The card is using a Creative XFI driver and programme.

I assume I will need to completely unistall this before I put in the new card?

I was wondering if I could keep the drivers on my PC as when I put the new card in, I will switch the BIOS from onboard to external.

The rare times I use my speakers I was thinking of just keeping them plugged into the onboard and the heaphones into the new card? Just change the BIOS when I want speakers.

I expect the answer is no though. :D
 
Last edited:
I was using onboard (asus MB) before also. I just went into BIOS yesterday and disabled it.

My card arrived this morning. I had trouble getting it to work as the first PCI slot I plugged it in didnt seem to work. (MB fault not the card I would guess).

So I moved it to another which worked fine and installed the drivers from the website.

I am on W7 64-bit and mine works fine. You have to set up the speaker set up via the Xonar program though.

I just wish there was instruction on how to use the program. Most of it is easy to work out but this HIFI and GX button..

HIFI puts music through the front two speakers, if you turn it off it turns into a surround sound output. I assume GX is game effects. I have briefly tried music and i can slightly hear more of the music then I could before, it seems louder and/or more balanced.

I have not tried it ingame or headphones yet. Though, it definitely works with W764-bit drivers.
 
Last edited:
On board drivers...?

Didnt know there were any :confused:. I just disabled it in BIOS. That was it. I didnt not use any third party program, just the windows built in sound options.

I can not get the front sensing thing to work, is it a different piece of equipment as I noticed they shows a strange looking device on the website.

I plugged the HD audio into the top of the card and choose HD Audio on startup but...
 
I didnt even disable my onboard in bios. I just went into Control Panel > Sound and made Xonar DG the default device for Playback, Mic and others. Win7 is great that u can change hardware devices on the fly. All my drivers are sill installed.

Win7 64 didnt recognise the card. I just used the CD and it was fine after that. My front sensing works fine. It was working with onboard sound fine too.
 
djkav said:
I didnt even disable my onboard in bios. I just went into Control Panel > Sound and made Xonar DG the default device for Playback, Mic and others. Win7 is great that u can change hardware devices on the fly. All my drivers are sill installed.

Win7 64 didnt recognise the card. I just used the CD and it was fine after that. My front sensing works fine. It was working with onboard sound fine too.
Click to expand...

So you are able to use both sound devices just by switching between them?
 
Got mine today as well, 1st Class Royal Mail isn't what it used to be. Had to wait 3 days from email confirming dispatch to get this.

Anyway, note that the spare screws for the half-height end plate are rolling around freely inside the box so don't throw it away! They should have put the screws inside the same tiny bag as the half-height plate and then sealed it up, or at least half screw them into the plate itself :)

PapaLazaru said:
So you are able to use both sound devices just by switching between them?
Click to expand...

On my Gigabyte UD3P I had to disable the onboard before Win 7 64Bit would recognise that the DG had been installed. It might be different for your Asus but try it first without disabling and see what happens. You'll know when it doesn't work since the driver install will tell you to plug in the DG.

Anyway, it's a shame for me since I would l have like to have been able to more easily compare the OxygenHD (DG) against the ALC889a onboard by flicking a software switch. Oh well, at least I can still compare it against my E7 for music playback :)
 
djkav said:
Yup an I still can, if they're all plugged into speakers. I don't think they will run concurrent tho.
Click to expand...

You are right. :)

Just insatlled the driver for the DG and left my speakers plugged into the onboard. I can switch between the two in Control Panel no probs.

Headphone now use the DG and if I want to use my speakers, I just use the onboard.

Only problem is that I now have two Audio Panels running in task manager. My XFI creative and the new ASUS one.

So much stuff to fiddle with in the ASUS Audio Centre as well though just fired up a tune without changing anything and it sounds really good. :)
 
Celebryn said:
Well, I managed to get my earphones to be detected so its a start. Just to loud! ;p
Click to expand...

I have to say, they do go really loud. :D

Just had a quick game on BC2, the sound has definitely improved. Am picking up all the little nuances I could not really hear before.

I leave my phones plugged into the rear so got no idea if the front sockets work.

So far, very impressed. :)
 
Good news, for me at least seeing as everyone else is focussing on getting FP detection working, is that I decided to go back into the BIOS and re-enable the onboard Realtek ALC889a sound. After Win7 loaded up I noticed the familiar Realtek speaker icon in the systray indicating that I can now indeed run both sound solutions on my UD3P. Now to load up foobar and compare them with WASAPI and ASIO :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom