Xonar DG - ultimate budget headphone card?

UberTiger · 11 Sep 2010 at 23:00

A couple of people saying that they're using the oboard for speakers, why not use this new card for speakers and the headphones? Will it only be beneficial when listening through headphones?
I'm wondering if it'll make a difference to my Z-5500s on optical to the onboard on my P6T Deluxe?

PapaLazaru · 11 Sep 2010 at 23:58

UberTiger said:
A couple of people saying that they're using the oboard for speakers, why not use this new card for speakers and the headphones? Will it only be beneficial when listening through headphones?
I'm wondering if it'll make a difference to my Z-5500s on optical to the onboard on my P6T Deluxe?

I am only as I am lazy.

Will probably change it all all over in a couple of week, am just checking there are no problems.

TerrierHTFC · 13 Sep 2010 at 13:02

I'm thinking of replacing my old Audigy 2 ZS with this card as half of the software doesn't like windows7 64, and well, its old! I currently connect the card to an old Sony Amp using the analogue connections. The amp then has some Sony 5.1 speakers hooked up.

Can anyone see any problems with this? And does it seem like a worthwhile upgrade? It mainly gets used for gaming and as a part time bedroom hifi.

PapaLazaru · 13 Sep 2010 at 13:46

TerrierHTFC said:
I'm thinking of replacing my old Audigy 2 ZS with this card as half of the software doesn't like windows7 64, and well, its old! I currently connect the card to an old Sony Amp using the analogue connections. The amp then has some Sony 5.1 speakers hooked up.

Can anyone see any problems with this? And does it seem like a worthwhile upgrade? It mainly gets used for gaming and as a part time bedroom hifi.

I can very much recommend this card. before this I was using a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio, that still retails for nigh on £40.00. I then got my new motherboard and switched to the onboard which was much better than the Creative.

The DG is again far better than my onboard. I game a lot and I only wanted to look at getting a seperate card as I was getting quite a lot of crackling in BC2. Installing was a breeze on Win 7 64.

No more crackling and I am hearing sounds in game I never knew were there.

It is at a crazy price and I have noted some competitors have put these up for a tad under £40.00.

Swinbag · 13 Sep 2010 at 15:08

Installed mine over the weekend - Had a brief game and skimmed over some of the settings and was very much impressed with the overall sound quality.

Having a problem though, plugged in my PC 350's to the front panel connectors and get a buzzing/ squeaking sound every time I move my mouse (razer deathadder).

I'm not overly concerned at the moment because I haven't installed my mouse drivers yet, but it could be a funky front panel cable on my case or something - will have a fiddle tonight.

Dano · 13 Sep 2010 at 15:26

Without reading the entire thread has this got front panel connectors and the ability to auto switch?

Edit: Found it, yes it does, could be tempted to downgrade my DX2 to one of these as I miss the auto switch to headphones ability.

Marsman · 13 Sep 2010 at 15:34

Can't see mouse drivers solving that. It sounds like EMI (electro magnetic interference). It's a common problem, due to the cheap crap cables used in PC cases.

You could try tying the cables through a ferrite ring. Ferrite rings are used to filter out interference, although it isn't guaranteed to work every time. It's worth trying, as they can be bought cheaply.

Only other way would be to shield the cable. How effective that would be, I can't say as I have never tried it. Other than that, it's a case of avoiding the front case audio sockets.

Marsman · 13 Sep 2010 at 15:40

Dano said:
and the ability to auto switch?

By that do you mean, plugging in headphones into the front panel it auto switches to them, and by removing them, it auto switches back to speakers, or whatever it plugged into the rear of the card?

If that is what you mean, then it will switch to front panel when something is plugged in, but it wont switch back once removed. The other Xonar's with front panel headers are the same, so I can't see why the DG would be different. It's possible, but Asus are either too lazy getting round to sort it, or have no intention to.

Uriel · 13 Sep 2010 at 16:11

Rezolve said:
Having a problem though, plugged in my PC 350's to the front panel connectors and get a buzzing/ squeaking sound every time I move my mouse (razer deathadder).

That's EMI (electro-magnetic interference). It's either due to poor shielding on the card, or more likely poor shielding on your case's internal audio cables. Plug into the back of the soundcard and see if you get the same thing.

djkav · 13 Sep 2010 at 16:48

Marsman said:
If that is what you mean, then it will switch to front panel when something is plugged in, but it wont switch back once removed.

I have a Xonar DG and I can say that the auto sensing front panel works fine. Saying that so did the onboard sound too.

I have the speakers plugged into the back. I plug my headphones into the front panel and the speakers stop. Unplug the headphones and the speakers start to work again. Nothing else involved, it really does work.

Dano · 13 Sep 2010 at 16:50

djkav said:
I have a Xonar DG and I can say that the auto sensing front panel works fine. Saying that so did the onboard sound too.

I have the speakers plugged into the back. I plug my headphones into the front panel and the speakers stop. Unplug the headphones and the speakers start to work again. Nothing else involved, it really does work.

Yeh, that's how my onboard works, sound slike Marsman must have an issue with his?

Celebryn · 13 Sep 2010 at 16:54

I plugged my earphones in to test the front plug and although it worked, there was a constant noise in them. Never heard it before but they work fine with my MP4 player.

jamesblade · 13 Sep 2010 at 19:54

Just installed one of these DG cards, I only use headphones - Sennheiser HD555's so perfect card for me with the built in amp, Tried it in BFBC2 last night and could tell the difference in quality straight away, this is coming from an old Audigy ZS.

A new sound card kind of just pushes you to a bit of Modding so i've just done the Foam mod on my 555's, overall very good sound quality with this pair now, well worth the £25 notes i paid for it

UberTiger · 14 Sep 2010 at 13:59

Well I've taken the plunge before the price goes back up tomorrow, will report back with Z-5500 and Creative Fatility headphone feedback.

ie.

alex24 · 14 Sep 2010 at 14:12

Has anyone moved from an X-fi xtremegamer and have any comments on the relative performance?

I'm using Goldring NS1000 'phones. If it's better, I'll sell up and change whilst it's £25! Oh, my Goldrings are unamped, purely straight from the card atm, sound a lot better with noise cancelling on.

Mr Krugga · 14 Sep 2010 at 16:44

I'll get my hands on one tomorrow. Goldrings arriving by the end of the week too

Mr Krugga · 15 Sep 2010 at 13:04

My Xonar DG just arrived. It looks exactly like PapaLazaru's one so won't be posting pics

Capacitors are very slightly bend, nowhere near as badly as Lazaru's though.

Marsman · 15 Sep 2010 at 13:21

djkav said:
I have a Xonar DG and I can say that the auto sensing front panel works fine. Saying that so did the onboard sound too.

I have the speakers plugged into the back. I plug my headphones into the front panel and the speakers stop. Unplug the headphones and the speakers start to work again. Nothing else involved, it really does work.

Haha! That is absolute class. Asus can get it to work with their new card, but as to my knowledge, it still does not work with their older cards.

Can anyone tell me, if the DS, DX/D1 auto sensing front panel works as it should now? or have Asus still failed to address the issue?

Mr Krugga · 15 Sep 2010 at 13:50

The sound is vastly superior to the onboard Realtek audio. I need to fiddle with settings but I can definitely recommend this as a budget soundcard for everyone. Unless you're happy with youtube quality music that is

djkav · 15 Sep 2010 at 14:30

Marsman said:
Haha! That is absolute class. Asus can get it to work with their new card, but as to my knowledge, it still does not work with their older cards.

Can anyone tell me, if the DS, DX/D1 auto sensing front panel works as it should now? or have Asus still failed to address the issue?

The only time my front panel auto sensing failed to work since getting the DG was when the Xonar Audio Centre software was not running in the background. So it looks like i'll need to have that running in the background.