Xonar DX settings

fozzybear · 3 Sep 2010 at 15:56

I just thought it would be useful (for me anyway) if people could post which settings they use when using the DX with headphones for 1)Music, 2)Movies and 3)Games.

I've not messed around with any game settings but am struggling to come up with the best music setting when listening to high quality flac files. So far I seem to have everything turned off and just use the jazz preset. To be honest, I'm not impressed with the sound quality so far.

For movies, I was told that Dolby Headphone was the way to go. I'm not impressed so far. It sounds echoey to me. I've tried changing to 2 speaker (even though I'm using headphones) and using Dolby Virtual Speaker for movies. I'd say there was more clarity with that than with Dolby Headphone.

I'm just experimenting at the moment. I did try putting GX on when playing Rome Total War earlier. It did accept 'EAX 2.0' in the in game settings but I got a few crackles. For the most part it was ok though.

I'm using Goldring DR150's by the way.

Share away!

edit//
Just trying the 2 speakers setting (I'm still using the headphones though) with Dolby Virtual Speaker turned on and it sounds pretty good for music.

Uriel · 3 Sep 2010 at 16:11

If Dolby Headphone sounds echoey, try using Dolby Headphone 1 (DH1) mode. It simulates a well-dampened recording studio. The other two modes have stronger room reflections - effectively adding reverb that isn't in the recording. This is particularly noticeable on higher quality headphones. For live music recordings and games with environmental audio the combined effect can be downright unpleasant.

I pretty much use DH1 for most of my listening for all films, games and music. Just set the number of channels to your source material. Usually that will be 2 channel for music, 6 channel for 5.1 movies and 8 channel for 7.1 movies and games. Generally I'll have upmixing such as pro-logic turned off.

Edit: for games like R:TW, EAX plus Dh2 or Dh3 can be a bit of an echo-fest. Definitely stick to DH1 if you use Dolby Headphone.

fozzybear · 3 Sep 2010 at 20:00

Uriel said:
If Dolby Headphone sounds echoey, try using Dolby Headphone 1 (DH1) mode.

I have. It still sounds echoey. For me DH is unusable with music. There's no clarity whatsoever. It's ok in movies but it's actually really good whilst listening to TV through my tuner card.

Greebo · 3 Sep 2010 at 20:04

I have dolby headphone off for music and on setting 1 for games/films.

Uriel · 3 Sep 2010 at 21:31

I keep Dolby Headphone on for music, but I've never liked the 'in head' soundstage of most headphones for music listening. I find that Dolby Headphone is a lot closer to listening to speakers. Most well mastered stereo audio has speakers in mind and I find that Dolby Headphone replicates stereo speakers extremely well. Having said that, our ears are all different. It may be that Dolby Headphone's generic HRTF happens to match my own HRTF very well.

Just wondering what you're amping your DR150s with? I've had much better results for replicating soundstage cues (with or without Dolby Headphone) with a cheap Bravo tube amp than straight out of a soundcard. My Mackie mixer also does a good job but a lot of the perceived sounstage is lost with the DR150s coming straight out of my soundcard or AV amp.

liquidex · 4 Sep 2010 at 02:59

I used to switch between the different amount of channels depending on the file but now I just leave it at 8 channels as I'm lazy

Also have hi-fi mode on which cancels all DSPs, Dolby Headphones as I'm not a fan of their effects.

fozzybear · 4 Sep 2010 at 20:12

I've had a bit more of an experiment and think I'll just leave it on basic headphones with Jazz preset. I really don't like DH especially with the effect it has on speech.

cplhardnut · 5 Sep 2010 at 20:05

What do you guys have your sample rate at? does it make a big difference?

Uriel · 5 Sep 2010 at 21:03

cplhardnut said:
What do you guys have your sample rate at? does it make a big difference?

Ideally match to source material. 44.1 KHz for CDs. 48KHz for DVDs. Alternatively setting it as high as possible was usually fine for me.

Marsman · 5 Sep 2010 at 23:52

Fozzy, didn't you try DH with PowerDVD before you decided on getting a Xonar? I remember you mentioned it, but I can't remember if you actually tried DH out on PowerDVD.

The problem with DH is, and all audio tech like it, it fools the brain into thinking sounds are coming from a specific location. Because peoples ears are different, and the way our brains perceive sound is different, people will have varying experiences with DH. For some, it just wont sound right.

fozzybear · 7 Sep 2010 at 12:59

Marsman said:
Fozzy, didn't you try DH with PowerDVD before you decided on getting a Xonar? I remember you mentioned it, but I can't remember if you actually tried DH out on PowerDVD.

Yeah, I did. I thought it would be handled better by a standalone sound card though.

I got my card second hand and am honestly glad I didn't pay £60 for it. I've had nothing but troubles with it so far.

Angel_Rex · 7 Sep 2010 at 13:50

TBH you should have no trouble with it, second hand or not!

The only 'problem' is getting the right settings but thats a preference thing. plug and go is perfect, setting game enhancements etc isnt a problem, or certainly not for me. I like DH, but your right, in certain games it sounds funny, mainly CS:S if im honest.

What games are u trying fozz?

my DH set up on DR50's is (on win xp)

xonar control panel:
headphone
dolby headphone ticked
prologic II ticked & set the top slider all way to right (covers middle & side speakers)

windows:
set control panel sound to 5.1
set WAV to 75% (top being 100%)

and leave everything else.

sound spot on. Though, as I mainly play CSS i still use my gainward sound explosion headphones as it gives me a sound advantage tbh.

fozzybear · 7 Sep 2010 at 14:14

Angel_Rex said:
TBH you should have no trouble with it, second hand or not!

They're not immune from problems just because it's Asus compared to Creative.

Windows sounds are corrupted as mentioned in another thread. There are crackles and pops. The drivers are awful and rarely work properly with one single install. I had problems where the sound was really low until uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.

I've not tried many games really as I mainly use my PC for music and blu rays.

Marsman · 7 Sep 2010 at 15:47

fozzybear said:
Yeah, I did. I thought it would be handled better by a standalone sound card though.

It is, IMO at least. The difference is not significant though, not that I could tell anyway. In the previous thread, did you mention you didn't like DH when trying it with PowerDVD?

Angel_Rex · 7 Sep 2010 at 20:53

fozzybear said:
They're not immune from problems just because it's Asus compared to Creative.

Windows sounds are corrupted as mentioned in another thread. There are crackles and pops. The drivers are awful and rarely work properly with one single install. I had problems where the sound was really low until uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.

I've not tried many games really as I mainly use my PC for music and blu rays.

I didn't mean software, i meant more the hardware. All drivers sux

fozzybear · 7 Sep 2010 at 21:47

Angel_Rex said:
I didn't mean software, i meant more the hardware. All drivers sux

Right.

No, I don't doubt my actual DX card at all. It's the drivers that are poor not the hardware!

Marsman · 7 Sep 2010 at 23:21

Angel_Rex said:
All drivers sux

Somewhat true, as far as official ones go. Why cannot professional companies that make these products make good working drivers. Can they only produce hardware? Maybe they need to sack the people in charge of software and employ these guys that modify the driver so they actually work.

Angel_Rex · 8 Sep 2010 at 08:13

Marsman said:
Somewhat true, as far as official ones go. Why cannot professional companies that make these products make good working drivers. Can they only produce hardware? Maybe they need to sack the people in charge of software and employ these guys that modify the driver so they actually work.

You also have to consider that microsoft sux

& vist / win 7 seem to have as much problems as XP had in its early stage :rolleyes:

Uriel · 8 Sep 2010 at 08:47

Later versions of PowerDVD get results pretty close, if not identical to Xonar to be honest. The early software versions I tried were poor in comparison.

Fozzybear, have you tried the MyEars beta I posted about in another thread? It allows you to create a customized HRTF driver, calibrated by you for each set of headphones and run it through any soundcard. It has some limitations but I got pretty good results from it. At the moment I'd say it's fine for gaming and maybe movies although I was less keen for music.

fozzybear · 8 Sep 2010 at 09:34

Uriel said:
Fozzybear, have you tried the MyEars beta I posted about in another thread? It allows you to create a customized HRTF driver, calibrated by you for each set of headphones and run it through any soundcard. It has some limitations but I got pretty good results from it. At the moment I'd say it's fine for gaming and maybe movies although I was less keen for music.

Just tried it and gave up the test after a few minutes. Are you supposed to get a hissing/crackling/white noise sound when pressing the play icon to calibrate?