Asus Xonar DSX, User Manual

Page 1: ...Xonar DSX 7 1 PCIE Audio card User manual ...

Page 2: ... MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS ITS DIRECTORS OFFICERS EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS LOSS OF BUSINESS LOSS OF USE OR DATA INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE EVEN IF ASUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR...

Page 3: ...akers and peripherals 9 5 1 Connecting digital speaker systems Home Theater 9 5 2 Connecting stereo headphones 10 5 3 Connecting Analog Speaker Systems 12 5 4 Connecting a microphone 17 5 5 Connecting Line In audio sources 18 6 Xonar Audio Center 19 6 1 Xonar Audio Center GUI 19 6 2 Main Setting 21 6 3 Mixer Volume 27 6 4 Effects 30 6 5 Karaoke 32 6 6 FlexBass 34 6 7 Smart Volume Normalization 35 ...

Page 4: ...g measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help Canadian Department of Communications Statement This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio no...

Page 5: ...circuitry Avoid dust humidity and temperature extremes Do not place the product in any area where it may be exposed to moisture Place the product on a stable surface If you encounter technical problems with the product contact a qualified service technician or your retailer Trademarks Xonar and ASUS logo are trademarks of ASUSTek Computer Inc Dolby and Dolby Digital Live Dolby Pro Logic IIx Dolby ...

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Page 7: ...PCIE 1 0 or higher compatible slot for the audio card Microsoft Windows 10 8 1 8 Vista 7 XP 32 64bit MCE2005 Intel Pentium 4 1 4 GHz or AMD Athlon 1400 CPU or faster CPU 256 MB or above DRAM system memory 60 MB available HDD space for driver installation package CD ROM drive or DVD ROM drive for software installation High quality headphones powered analog speakers or a Dolby Digital or DTS decoder...

Page 8: ...ty PCI Express PCI Express v1 0 or above bus compatible Main Chipset Audio Processor ASUS AV200 High Performance Sound Processor Max 192KHz 24bit D A Converter of Digital Sources Wolfson WM8776 1 108dB SNR Max 192kHz 24bit Wolfson WM8776 1 103dB SNR Max 192kHz 24bit A D Converter for Analog Inputs Wolfson WM8776 1 102dB SNR Max 96kHz 24bit Sample Rate and Resolution Analog Playback Sample Rate and...

Page 9: ...he volume of all audio sources into a constant level and also enhances your 3D sound listening range and advantages in gaming VocalFX The latest vocal effect technologies for gaming and VoIP VoiceEX produces vivid environmental reverberation for EAX games ChatEX emulates different background environment effects when you chat online Magic Voice changes your voice pitch to different types Monster Ca...

Page 10: ...4 ASUS Xonar DSX 2 Xonar DSX card layout 5 4 3 2 1 Audio ports 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ...

Page 11: ... powered analog speakers 5 Rear back Surround Out port Connects to the Back Surround input on 6 1 7 1 powered analog speakers 5 S PDIF Out port Optical TOSLINK digital output port Connects to external digital decoder or digital speaker systems Home Theater systems AV receivers for outputting digital audio including PCM DTS Digital DTS WMA Pro etc 6 Front panel audio header Intel HDA front panel co...

Page 12: ... the monitor and all other peripheral devices connected to your computer 2 Unplug the computer power cord from your computer and power outlet 3 Touch the metal back or side panel of the computer to avoid static electricity 4 Remove the chassis cover 5 Remove the metal bracket from an available PCIE slot for the Xonar DSX audio card 6 Carefully insert the audio card into the PCIE slot Ensure the au...

Page 13: ... TV tuner card to the Aux In header of the Xonar DSX card For optimum TV audio quality Xonar DSX uses ADC recording to digitize the signal and loop it back for DAC playback Select Aux In as the recording source in the Xonar DSX Center s recording mixer and enable the monitoring button to pass this signal to the audio output Using this setup you can even turn on sound effects such as Pro Logic IIx ...

Page 14: ... card turn on your computer Windows automatically detects the audio card and searches for device drivers When prompted for the drivers click Cancel 2 Insert the support CD into the optical drive If Autorun is enabled on your system the setup starts automatically If not run setup exe from your support CD 3 Follow the onscreen instructions to finish the installation The version and content of the su...

Page 15: ...ter system possible creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sound experience A single digital cable connection can carry high quality DTS digital audio from any of your PC audio sources to any digital speakers or AV Receivers with DTS 5 1 decoding capabilities No Item Description 1 Optical adapter Plug the optical TOSLINK adapter into the S PDIF Out combo connector 2 Optical cable Con...

Page 16: ...eo headphones 5 2 1 Connecting Stereo Headphones Headphone Out No Item Description 1 Front Out Headphone Jack The Front Out jack has a built in high quality amplifier to drive headphones Connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack ...

Page 17: ...1 Front Out Connect the front channel 3 5mm plug of your 5 1 headphones into this jack 2 Side Surround Out Connect the surround channel 3 5mm plug of your 5 1 headphone into this jack 3 Center Subwoofer Out Connect the Center Bass channel 3 5mm plug of your 5 1 headphone into this jack ...

Page 18: ...ifier with the mini jack to RCA cable 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the left surround and right surround input ports of the analog amplifier with the mini jack to RCA cable 3 Center Subwoofer Connects to the Center and subwoofer input ports of the analog amplifier with the mini jack to RCA cable 4 Back Surround Out Connects to the left back and right back input ports of the analog amplifier with...

Page 19: ...S Xonar DSX 5 3 2 Connecting 2 2 1 channel speakers No Item Description 1 Front Out Headphone Jack Connect the 2 2 1 speaker set s 3 5mm plug into this Front Out jack 2 Speakers 2 1 Speakers 1 AUDIO INPUTS 1 ...

Page 20: ...g 4 4 1 Channel Speakers No Item Description 1 Front Out Connects to the Front input port of the 4 4 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the Surround input port of the 4 4 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 1 2 2 1 4 Speakers 4 1 Speakers ...

Page 21: ...1 Front Out Connects to the Front input port of the 5 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the Surround input port of the 5 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 3 Center Subwoofer Connects to the Center Subwoofer input port of the 5 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 4 3 2 1 5 1 Speakers 6 1 Speakers Side Front Center Subwoofer AUDIO INPUTS 3 2 1 ...

Page 22: ...Surround input port of the 6 1 7 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 3 Center Subwoofer Connects to the Center Subwoofer input port of the 6 1 7 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 4 Back Surround Out Connects to the Back Surround input port of the 6 1 7 1 speakers with the mini jack cable 7 1 Speakers 4 3 2 1 Rear Side Front Center Subwoofer AUDIO INPUTS AUDIO INPUTS ...

Page 23: ...ription 1 Microphone Input Jack Connect the microphone s 3 5mm plug into this Mic In jack for voice communication recording or karaoke 2 Headphone Jack The Front Out jack has a built in high quality amplifier to drive headphones Connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack ...

Page 24: ... In 1 No Item Description 1 Line Input Jack Connect the 3 5mm plug of the CD MP3 Player or any other Line level analog audio sources into this Line In jack for sound recording or real time Dolby sound processing through the Monitoring path See the Mixer section of the driver guide ...

Page 25: ...ot be found in the system tray launch the Xonar Audio Center from the Windows desktop by clicking Start All Programs ASUS Xonar DSX Audio Xonar DSX Audio Center 2 The Xonar Audio Center is the Graphical User Interface GUI for the Xonar DSX driver You can control the functions and features of the Xonar DSX driver on the Xonar Audio Center The following picture shows a basic overview of the Xonar Au...

Page 26: ...isplay the driver information window 5 Menu Open Close Clicking this button will reveal the configuration settings Clicking it again will move the display area back to its original position and hide the configuration area 6 Master Volume This knob controls the master playback volume Turn to change the volume level 7 Mute Button Click this button to mute audio playback It will display a red light w...

Page 27: ...back sources to get the best audio quality Even if your setting differs from the audio source s sample rate the Xonar DSX engine will execute super high fidelity sample rate conversion with a double floating point filter which can reduce total harmonic distortion THD N by 140dB No Item Description 1 Sample Rate Select the sample rate that corresponds to or exceeds that of your playback sources for...

Page 28: ...y Select the correct speaker type for your connected speakers 2 Speaker Test Click this button to show the speaker test window in the right pane Click the play button to test each speaker one by one or click each speaker to test them individually 3 HP Advanced Setting Clicking this button will display an advanced setting window to Swap center bass output for 5 1 7 1 speaker set up Swap Side Back S...

Page 29: ...ressive cinema surround sound experience This technology enables a single digital connection to carry high quality DTS surround audio from your PC to digital speakers and AV Receivers No Item Description 1 S PDIF Out enable disable Click this check box to enable S PDIF output 2 S PDIF Output Formats Functions This pull down menu allows you to select one of the following formats PCM Pulse Code Modu...

Page 30: ... playback Please note that this setting is synchronized with Vista s system speaker configuration and changing the setting during playback will stop audio playback You may have to restart the program after making changes It s recommended that you close all multimedia programs before you change this setting No Item Description 1 Audio Channels Recommended settings MP3 WMA AAC CD VCD 2D games 2 chan...

Page 31: ...ker or listener You can drag each speaker or listener to a different position virtually using only your mouse The Xonar DSX card will process the sound and reposition the virtual speakers real time The Subwoofer does not emit directional sounds and hence can be moved only closer to or further away from the listener 3 Reset Resets all Speaker Shifter settings to defaults 4 Increase decrease volume ...

Page 32: ...for manual adjustments 2 Center Width This setting is used to adjust how audio expands from the center speaker and is used for audio vocals in songs and music Drag the scroll bar to the left to centralize the vocal signal Drag the scroll bar to the right to widen the vocal sound range 3 Reset Reset all settings to defaults 4 Dimension The dimension setting adjusts how audio fades from the front or...

Page 33: ...der Drag this slider down to decrease the volume drag it up to increase the volume The tool tip displays percentage increments 3 Mute button Click this button to mute the audio channel click this button again to restore the audio output 4 Source path name Displays the source name for each volume control slider WAVE All digital audio sources except MIDI files SW Software Synthesizer control the pla...

Page 34: ...ng device path in the application itself 4 Microphone In Advanced Setting Click the button to open the advanced settings for the Microphone In Enabling Microphone Boost will increase volume gain to boost microphone input signals If you connect your microphone to the front panel audio module enable Front Panel Microphone This setting is recommended for low cost PC microphones 5 Monitoring button Cl...

Page 35: ...m MIC jack Mix Stereo Mix will record MIC Front Panel MIC WAVE audio Aux recording from Aux In sources such as TV tuner audio cards or other sound sources Line In recording from Line in jack for external audio devices WAVE recording from digital wave audio you are playing on your PC 7 Reset Click to reset all volume controls to the default settings ...

Page 36: ...to music and other 2D sound sources No Item Description 1 Default environments These four buttons activate Bathroom Concert hall Underwater and Music Pub environments respectively 2 More options Clicking this button will apply the environment effect selected from the pull down menu 23 additional options are available in this menu 3 Environment size There are three size settings for each environmen...

Page 37: ...options There are 12 available equalizer patterns Click an item to apply a pattern to audio playback 2 Equalier slider Adjust the gain for each band 30 16KHz 3 User Defined You can click this button to apply a selected User Defined setting 4 Save name Type a name for your own User Defined equalizer setting in the text box 5 Add save Click the button to add the defined parameters to the User Define...

Page 38: ...nd symphony for karaoke No Item Description 1 On Off Click the switch to turn on or off the functions on this page 2 Key Shifting Select the box to enable or disable the key shifting feature for music playback from 4 semitones below to 4 semitones above 3 Vocal Cancellation Select the box to enable or disable the vocal cancellation function and adjust the voice cancellation level from 0 to 100 100...

Page 39: ...th Mic you will only record audio source from microphone with echo effects but you are able to record all audio sources from Wave Aux and Mic with microphone echo effect Click OK to accept or Cancel if you want to enable the setting later Select Don t remind me again to prevent the message from being displayed again ...

Page 40: ...e subwoofer channel If the speakers support full range signals you can select the Large speaker type In most cases low cost desktop PC 2 channel speakers are small type speakers Refer to speaker s specifications or consult your speaker vendor to identify correct speaker type However common 2 1 speakers with a subwoofer should be categorized as large speakers because the subwoofer can redirect the ...

Page 41: ...t inherent with sound sources of different loudness It allows you to listen to various content like MP3 TV program DVD video and even games at a consistent sound level The following graph shows how signals 1 and 2 adjust to the same level for example 10dB below full scale after you turn on SVN In the illustration below lower volume music 2 becomes louder when you turn on SVN while higher volume mu...

Page 42: ... button is outlined blue when active 2 SVN blue light When SVN is enabled the master volume knob will be illuminated by a blue light The knob will be color red if the volume is muted 3 SVN display When SVN is enabled the Smart Volume meter will light up and indicate the volume level 1 2 3 ...

Page 43: ...h DS3D GX technology Before you start EAX and DS3D HW games enable DS3D GX on the Xonar Audio Center and disable the function after playing In addition Xonar DSX also offers a Hi Fi mode for hi fidelity playback without any effect processing to retain original audio fidelity Every time you turn on Hi Fi mode Xonar DSX will clear all sound effects It s also recommended to use Hi Fi mode for audio q...

Page 44: ...pports EAX and DirectSound 3D Hardware extensions for many DirectX DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista and Windows XP 2 Hi Fi Mode This mode enables Hi Fidelity playback where all effects will be cleared to keep the original digital data and analog output quality as high as possible 2 1 ...

Page 45: ...duces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication 2 Local VoiceEX Produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication over the speakers 3 ChatEX Emulates different background environment effects when you chat online 4 Magic Voice Changes your voice pitch to different voice types to disguise your real v...

Page 46: ... Make sure you and your team member can talk to each other in the game For VOIP 1 Click the App List button 2 If your VOIP application is not displayed on the list press Add Ensure that Skype and MSN Messenger are the latest versions 3 Navigate to the VOIP application and click Open ...

Page 47: ...e will be enabled for use when you chat online The following message appears when you enable the VocalFX feature The record device will be set to microphone Make sure the GX function is enabled Click OK to accept or Cancel if you want to enable the setting later Check Don t remind me again to prevent the message from being displayed again ...

Page 48: ... the icon to open the Xonar DSX Audio Center utility 3 If the icon is not on the system tray go to the Windows Control Panel and double click the Xonar DSX Audio Center icon to make it visible in the system tray 4 After the driver installation is complete it s recommended that you reboot your computer to complete setup If the icon still doesn t appear reinstall the device drivers I cannot hear any...

Page 49: ...r can support 192KHz decoding Try changing it to 44 1K or 48KHz first I cannot hear audio input Mic Line in AUX etc from my speakers Instructions 1 Go to the mixer recording page in the Audio Center and select the correct input as the recording source If you are using Windows Vista go to the system audio control panel settings to check if the current default recording input device is correct 2 Rem...

Page 50: ...nswer The Xonar DSX supports DTS Interactive which allows a single digital connection to your AV receiver to carry DTS Digital Surround audio In addition Xonar DSX also provides DTS Neo PC to upmix TV audio and other types of audio to multi channel surround sound in Home Theater environments Xonar DSX also has High Fidelity SNR at 192K 24bit which is only available in high quality consumer audio c...

Page 51: ...ic Q8 Why can I hear and record sound from other recording devices when Wave Digital is selected in Record on Windows Vista Answer Unlike Windows XP Windows Vista manages multiple audio devices and audio streams identifying them as either digital input or analog input This system allows for multiple recording devices to run simultaneously in Windows Vista Wave In or SPDIF In considered as a digita...

Page 52: ...audio editing software Ableton Live Cakewalk CoolEdit Soundforge etc to convert the sound files to 48KHz Please note that the frequency meter on the Xonar DSX Audio Center will not take effect when the playback source is at a 96KHz sample rate to prevent any processing distortion ...

Page 53: ...47 ASUS Xonar DSX ...

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