Xonar DX Q'

panta said:
Well, not really. Somebody told me I should use 8 channels for games, and two for music. :confused:
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Nope - you have a 2.1 system correct?

You should therefore set stereo (2 channels) across the board. Setting 8 channels in games will result in audio anomolies such as speech not being heard and a reduction in your stereo field.

Defiinitely set 2 channel man.
 
Notice a difference in sound quality Loadsamoney?

I'm glad this is helping a few people I was very surprised when the sample rates were not matching up. Bit of a <facepalm> moment for Microsoft in my opinion.
 
hughythomas said:
Nope - you have a 2.1 system correct?

You should therefore set stereo (2 channels) across the board. Setting 8 channels in games will result in audio anomolies such as speech not being heard and a reduction in your stereo field.

Defiinitely set 2 channel man.
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2.1 logitech speakers, Audio Technica AD700s and a Xonar DX.

I'll set it to 2 channels then.
 
Weird...

I know my best mate has an Asus Xonar D2X and has to set 8 channel in the driver panel for gaming but he has a 5.1 surround setup.

When you say Dolby - can you be a little more specific? As in, the option for dolby in crysis is greyed out?

I mean presumably this is referring to 'Dolby Digital' which (iirc) is a surround format anyways so kinda pointless for you with your 2.1 setup. I could be wrong over this I am by no means an expert in Dolby standards as I use a good old 2.0 stereo hi-fi system myself.
 
I'm new to this, so I don't know it by any other name, just that it's a tick-box ('Dolby Headphone') next to Dolby Pro 'Logix IIx' and '7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter'.

I never use my 2.1 speakers for gaming; I use my AD700s.

The problem seems to be that the Dolby Headphone effects are only present in game when I have set the channels to 8, not 2 - I.e, I can't hear the surround sound, but instead what sounds like standard stereo headphone sound.
 
hughythomas said:
Notice a difference in sound quality Loadsamoney?

I'm glad this is helping a few people I was very surprised when the sample rates were not matching up. Bit of a <facepalm> moment for Microsoft in my opinion.
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Yeah does seem to sound better, like clearer/cleaner sorta thing. :)

I have mine set to 8 Channel for gaming (im using Logi. X-530 speakers, 5.1), as if you click on the question mark next to it, it says what to use for different things, and says 8CH for gaming.

What i did find funny though was, when i reinstalled windows, and set the speakers config. up etc... (in windows), when i fired up Crysis, i wasn't getting sound out of the back speakers (where as i did have before the reinstall), but after fannying about, i found in the windows speaker configuration, i had to set it to 7.1, instead of the 5.1 id set, then i had to select the extra speakers that became ungreyed on the final step (least i think it was the final step of the setting up), but it was just a bit odd, as when id set it up as 5.1 and did the test, it did give me the sound out of all my speakers, so i naturally assumed it was all set up right. :p
 
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Jonesiani said:
I'm interested in this also.

I have my Xonar D2 set at 96. Now from that i use an optical cable into a DAC, which is a 24bit DAC supporting up at 96khz. From this DAC i run a pair of HD650 headphones.

When i set windows to anything other than 16bit 44.1khz, the bars on my Xonar control panel do not move, but the sound still plays.

Should i set windows to 24bit 96khz, and not worry about it?
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Yeah i noticed that too, seems none of the DSP modes work either. The xonar control panel works with anything other than 2 channel sound though.
 
Same here with my d2x. I need to select "8 channel" output, "headphone anologue out" and "dolby headphone" for surround to work properly using my headphones.

I also noticed that with my z5500's in order to get sound from the rears I need to select 7.1 even though they are only 5.1.

It seems either xonar or windows thinks that with 5.1 sets the speakers are only side speakers.
 
I've done some reading - it seems we can thank Microsoft for this multi channel chaos.

Winblows only understands 2 channels accross SPDIF (and presumably optical too), so in order to force all audio processing to come off the Xonar and NOT the OS, certain techniques have to be employed to fool Windows into thinking it is still sending 6 channels of analogue output (even though this will be then converted into a digital data stream by the Xonar).

Check http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx..._id=21&model=Xonar+D2X&SLanguage=en-us&page=1
 
Bit of a confusing topic really.

I too will check my windows settings, so thanks for the heads up hughythomas.

I think I read in the Xonar manual or something that with Dolby Headphone you should select 6 channels in the Xonar software. I didnt really see much difference, and from my testing I dont really like Dolby Headphone, I just keep mine on the "Hi-Fi" setting all the time.
 
Trancer said:
I think I read in the Xonar manual or something that with Dolby Headphone you should select 6 channels in the Xonar software. I didnt really see much difference, and from my testing I dont really like Dolby Headphone, I just keep mine on the "Hi-Fi" setting all the time.
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Hmmm, I might have to read my manual at some point then! :p

As for dolby headphone I only use that for games and films, not music. Music is best at straight stereo IMO.
 
so if we're saying we have to select 6 channel in the Asus Xonar for dolby headphone to work properly. Do we have to do this in windows settings as well, like with the bitrate?
 
Trancer said:
so if we're saying we have to select 6 channel in the Asus Xonar for dolby headphone to work properly. Do we have to do this in windows settings as well, like with the bitrate?
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You have to select anything other than 2 channel to get dolby headphone to even work when the bitrate in windows is higher than the default of 44.1khz. The bitrate shown in the xonar control panel dosent sync up with the windows setting. It works 2 channel when windows bitrate is at 44.1khz though.
 
Hope you dont mind me jumping in with a Xonar related question but its one thats been bugging me:

I have a D1 love it apart from the fact I cant figure out how to just mute the Line out/Headphone port, when I watch movies (optical out to reciever) I can hear a bit of sound from my headphones ATH AD700's which are open and I dont want to have to uplug them from the back of the PC all the time, just be able to mute that one bit while allowing optical out not to be muted, can this be done?
 
Just changed my settings in windows 7 to 96Khz but i dont think it will make any difference. Even my .flac files are encoded in 44.1Khz, like most other material would be. What would be 96Khz?
 
Mikharper said:
Hope you dont mind me jumping in with a Xonar related question but its one thats been bugging me:

I have a D1 love it apart from the fact I cant figure out how to just mute the Line out/Headphone port, when I watch movies (optical out to reciever) I can hear a bit of sound from my headphones ATH AD700's which are open and I dont want to have to uplug them from the back of the PC all the time, just be able to mute that one bit while allowing optical out not to be muted, can this be done?
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You could get a switcher

http://www.hqspeakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/computer-speaker-switch-300x213.jpg No hotlinking.

Has 2 inputs on the rear, just connect headphones to one, and nothing to the other input. Switching will just turn the headphones off.
 
If the switcher doesnt affect sound quality or use of Dolby headphone etc then that might just be what I need - thanks.
 
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