Hi, i have a Xonar U7 which i used to install the drivers for from the Asus website which were "Xonar U7-4.14(W10-PR)" i believe. After recently reinstalling windows it now auto updated with a driver for the Xonar U7 so i did not need to go to the website, but what i have noticed there is no longer Dolby Home Theatre v4 installed like it was with the driver from the Asus website. The only program/app i see is something called Dolby Access which i am not sure is the same thing or? Bascailly my question is what do i use now.
Xonar U7
- Thread starter Loxa
- Start date
Not heard of Dolby Access, until now. After a quick look, it looks to me like it's a more simple name for Dolby Atmos for Headphones (DAfH). I can't see that being anything to do with the sound card though, as the U7 doesn't have Dolby Atmos features.
Possible that the Dolby Access software is part of your motherboard software bundle?
From what I can gather; I think the idea is that you use DAfH with whatever audio device you are using, be it sound card or motherboard audio.
I don't know if DAfH is something that has to have specific game support, or whether it works like Dolby Headphone does, where as long as the game can output 5.1 audio, it can create surround sound effect for headphones.
If DAfH works with any game, then there'd be no real need to worry whether Dolby Home Theatre v4 (DHT v4) would be working from the sound card.
Can't you download the U7 drivers again from the Asus website, rather than relying on built in Windows drivers?
At least then you could use DHT v4 on the U7, if DAfH is specific as to what games it will work with.
Possible that the Dolby Access software is part of your motherboard software bundle?
From what I can gather; I think the idea is that you use DAfH with whatever audio device you are using, be it sound card or motherboard audio.
I don't know if DAfH is something that has to have specific game support, or whether it works like Dolby Headphone does, where as long as the game can output 5.1 audio, it can create surround sound effect for headphones.
If DAfH works with any game, then there'd be no real need to worry whether Dolby Home Theatre v4 (DHT v4) would be working from the sound card.
Can't you download the U7 drivers again from the Asus website, rather than relying on built in Windows drivers?
At least then you could use DHT v4 on the U7, if DAfH is specific as to what games it will work with.
Yeah i can redownload the drivers directly from Asus but they were always a bit crappy if i am being honest, only good thing about them was (DHT v4) which gave me the option to make the sound a bit better under certain circumstances (i also use speakers).
Only ever noticed the Dolby access program/app after a windows reinstall, never seen it before.
Crap as in you had issues with the U7, or crap as in you just thought the software/GUI wasn't very good?
Asus aren't particularly great when it comes to their sound card drivers, especially not when it comes to people having problems and providing updates. Some of the Xonar cards haven't had an update for years.
With the internal Xonar cards though, you can download modified Uni drivers, which helps ironing out issues with Asus releases. There aren't for USB Xonar's though. Never understood why the guy who does the Uni drivers has never released drivers for the USB Xonar's.
Dolby Access must be included with Windows 10 as a trial then, as it's not free. Give it a try. It might be worth buying if you have problems with the U7 drivers. I think it's $15.
Just read a bit more and it seems it will work with most games, but those that have specific Atmos support, can take full advantage of it.
Asus aren't particularly great when it comes to their sound card drivers, especially not when it comes to people having problems and providing updates. Some of the Xonar cards haven't had an update for years.
With the internal Xonar cards though, you can download modified Uni drivers, which helps ironing out issues with Asus releases. There aren't for USB Xonar's though. Never understood why the guy who does the Uni drivers has never released drivers for the USB Xonar's.
Dolby Access must be included with Windows 10 as a trial then, as it's not free. Give it a try. It might be worth buying if you have problems with the U7 drivers. I think it's $15.
Just read a bit more and it seems it will work with most games, but those that have specific Atmos support, can take full advantage of it.
Had a lot of issues with it, never really used the Asus program itself other than the (DHT v4) add on. Also had a fair few issues with the unit aswell had 2 returns and believe me they were not very interested in replacing it. Oh Dolby Access can be used with speakers aswell and not just headphones? Thought it was a specific headphone/atmos software.
Can't say I'm surprised to see you've had trouble with the U7 itself. I've seen a few people post that they have had trouble with the U7; not to mention the state of their drivers on top of that.
When it comes to Dolby; there is Dolby Atmos, which is for surround speaker setups, and then there is Dolby Atmos for Headphones.
I don't know if Dolby Access is for both, or just DAfH. I would hazard a guess it's just DAfH, but I could be wrong. Reason being, is that Dolby Atmos for speakers is not the same as using 5.1 outputs on a PC. A Dolby Atmos speaker setup is different to a standard 5.1 setup, so you'd need additional hardware to make that work; such a capable AV receiver.
For headphones, DAfH works in a similar way to Dolby Headphone (found on most Xonar sound cards) and SBX protstudio (found on Creative sound cards); they create a surround sound effect with stereo headphones. If the software can do it (in the case of DAfH), then all you need is a audio device with headphone output.
If you're using stereo speakers, then Dolby Atmos would not apply to those. For stereo speakers, Dolby has an algorithm called Virtual Speaker, for creating a kind of surround sound effect. It's very likely included DHT v4. I did try that once with a Xonar Essence ST, and to be honest, I thought the effect was terrible. Some people might like the effect though.
When it comes to Dolby; there is Dolby Atmos, which is for surround speaker setups, and then there is Dolby Atmos for Headphones.
I don't know if Dolby Access is for both, or just DAfH. I would hazard a guess it's just DAfH, but I could be wrong. Reason being, is that Dolby Atmos for speakers is not the same as using 5.1 outputs on a PC. A Dolby Atmos speaker setup is different to a standard 5.1 setup, so you'd need additional hardware to make that work; such a capable AV receiver.
For headphones, DAfH works in a similar way to Dolby Headphone (found on most Xonar sound cards) and SBX protstudio (found on Creative sound cards); they create a surround sound effect with stereo headphones. If the software can do it (in the case of DAfH), then all you need is a audio device with headphone output.
If you're using stereo speakers, then Dolby Atmos would not apply to those. For stereo speakers, Dolby has an algorithm called Virtual Speaker, for creating a kind of surround sound effect. It's very likely included DHT v4. I did try that once with a Xonar Essence ST, and to be honest, I thought the effect was terrible. Some people might like the effect though.
Ahh ok, well thanks for all the information. It seems to be a lot less hassle now windows has it's own driver for Xonar U7 even though it does not include (DHT v4.). Don't think i will miss the equalizer etc to much.
Dolby Atmos really isn't meant for some specific playback device.
It's replacement for old Dolby Digital encoding/sound format in storing surround sound.
Instead of using just fixed position speaker channels it adds "sound objects", whose location around listener can be specified in meta data.
Dolby Atmos compatible player etc. can then calculate correct output channels for used playback system.
I don't think there are much any games which use actual Dolby Atmos sound format.
Though there are few games which have Dolby Atmos for Headphones built into them and it can be enabled in game.
Beyond installing that HRTF, Dolby Access apparently installs Dolby Atmos encoder for outputting 5.1/7.1 sound of game in that format.
But that really doesn't achieve anything not done by old Dolby Digital format, or standard multichannel PCM sound through HDMI.
And like you said algorithms have been designed for trying to simulate surround sound with just two front speakers.
But definitely agree they're likely not usefull at all:
They're certain to be insanely demanding for speakers, their positioning and room acoustics.