Asus XONAR ESSENCE STX - Sound Card - 192 kHz, User Manual

Page 1: ...Xonar Essence STX 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: ...tware 9 Installing the card driver 9 5 Connecting speakers and peripherals 10 5 1 Connecting digital speaker systems Home Theater 10 5 2 Connecting stereo headphones 11 5 3 Connecting 2 2 1 channel speakers 12 5 4 Connecting microphone 13 5 5 Connecting Line In audio sources 14 6 Xonar Audio Center 15 6 1 Xonar Audio Center GUI 15 6 2 Main Setting 17 6 3 Mixer Volume 25 6 4 Effects 28 6 5 Karaoke ...

Page 4: ...ing 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 ...

Page 5: ... To avoid short circuits keep paper clips screws and staples away from connectors sockets and circuitry Avoid dust humidity and temperature extremes Do not place the product in any area where it may become wet 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 trademar...

Page 6: ...One PCI Express 1 0 or higher compatible slot for the audio card Microsoft Windows Vista 32 64bit 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 decod...

Page 7: ...oice or just for fun in online chatting Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a 1 3 Specifications summary continued on the next page Harmonic Distortion Noise at 1kHz 0 0003 110dB for Front out 0 001 100dB for Headphone out rmonic Distortion Noise at 1kHz 0 0002 113dB for Line in sponse 3dB 24 bit 96kHz format 10Hz to 80KHz Full Scale Voltage 2 Vrms 5 65 Vp p mpedance Optimized for 32 6...

Page 8: ... VoiceEX enables yourself to hear the vivid environmental reverberation by your speakers ChatEX emulates different background environment effects when you chat online Magic Voice changes your voice pitch to different types Monster Cartoon for disguising your real voice or just for fun in online chatting Smart Volume NormalizerTM Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level and ...

Page 9: ...eakers to this port For multi channel speaker systems connects to the Front Left In port on the powered speakers 3 Headphone Out port Connect your headphones to this port NOTE DO NOT connect your speakers to the headphone out port The possible high driving power may cause damage to your speakers To prevent damage to your headphone before the connection adjust the headphone impedance settings in th...

Page 10: ...audio cable to the front panel audio header on the Xonar Essence STX card with the other end to the chassis mounted front panel audio I O module 7 Aux Input Header Usually connects to the Analog Audio output of TV tuner card or other sound source inside your PC system To monitor your TV tuner card s audio from this Aux In you must enable the monitor function for Aux In in the Xonar Essence STX Aud...

Page 11: ...user manuals of your motherboard and sound cards 1 Power OFF the computer 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 PCI Express x1 slot for the Xona...

Page 12: ...ur power supply unit to the power connector of the audio card 3 Put back the chassis cover 4 Reconnect all cables 5 Plug the power cord to the computer and to a power outlet 6 Power ON the computer The PCI Express high quality audio card requires additional power from your computer If the power cable is not connected properly the audio card will not work at all ...

Page 13: ...m the TV tuner card to the Aux In header of the Xonar Essence STX card For optimum TV audio quality Xonar HDAV uses ADC recording to digitize the signal and loops it back to DAC playback Select Aux In as the recording source in the Xonar Essence STX 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 ...

Page 14: ...automatically If not run setup exe from your support CD 3 The installation program will remind you to make sure you have connected the additional power cable from your power supply unit to the card If the power cable is not connected properly the card will not work at all If it has not been done turn off the computer to install the power cable before you go on the installation process 4 Follow the...

Page 15: ... single digital cable connection can carry high quality Dolby Digital audio from any of your PC audio sources to any digital speakers or AV Receivers with Dolby Digital 5 1 decoding capabilities You can also use a coaxial cable for a S PDIF connection Just plug the coaxial RCA male connector to the S PDIF Out combo jack and connect the other end into the coaxial S PDIF input on your decoder No Ite...

Page 16: ...e STX 5 2 Connecting stereo headphones The Headphone Out port has a built in high quality amplifier to drive headphones Connect your stereo headphones to the Headphone Out port son the Xonar Essence STX card Headphone Out ...

Page 17: ...ght Front Out ports have a built in high quality amplifier to drive headphones Connect the 2 2 1 speaker set s 3 5mm plug to the bundled RCA to 3 5mm Y cable and then connect the Left Right ends to the Front Left Right Out ports on the Xonar Essence STX card 2 Speakers 2 1 Speakers 1 1 Front Right Out Front Left Out 1 ...

Page 18: ...to the bundled RCA to 3 5mm Y cable and then connect the Left Right ends to the to Front Left Right Out ports on the Xonar Essence STX card 1 Microphone Input port Connect your external PC microphone to this port by using the bundled 6 3mm to 3 5mm adapter for voice communication recording or karaoke Mic In Front Right Out Front Left Out 1 2 2 1 2 ...

Page 19: ...Line Input Jack Connect the CD MP3 Player or any other Line level analog audio sources to this Line In port by using the bundled 6 3mm to 3 5mm adapter for sound recording or real time Dolby sound processing through the Monitoring path See the Mixer section of the driver guide Line In 1 ...

Page 20: ... in the system tray launch the Xonar Audio Center from the Windows desktop by clicking Start All Programs ASUS Xonar Essence STX Audio Xonar Essence STX Audio Center 2 The Xonar Audio Center is the Graphic User Interface GUI for the Xonar Essence STX driver You can control the functions and features of the Xonar Essence STX driver on the Xonar Audio Center The following picture shows a basic overv...

Page 21: ...formation window 5 Menu Open Close Clicking this button will move the display area and reveal the configuration area below Clicking it again will move the display area back down 6 Master Volume This rotary knob controls the master playback volume Drag the small circle inside it to change the volume level 7 Mute Button Click this button to mute audio playback it will display a red light when playba...

Page 22: ... your playback sources to get the best audio fidelity Even if your setting differs from the audio source s sample rate the Xonar Essence STX engine will do 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 playba...

Page 23: ...r 3D Dolby sound processing accordingly 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 manually to test 3 HP Advanced Setting Clicking this button allows you to select the gain tuning according to your headphone impedance The se...

Page 24: ...y high quality Dolby Digital 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 four formats PCM Pulse Code Modulation which is a typical raw audio data format Dolby Digital Live real time 5 1ch en...

Page 25: ...play it Please note that this setting is synchronized with Vista s system speaker configuration and changing the setting during playback will cease the audio playback program You may have to restart the program after the change It s recommended that you close all playing programs before you change the setting No Item Description 1 Audio Channels Here are some typical suggestions MP3 WMA AAC CD VCD...

Page 26: ... Drag speaker or listener You can drag each speaker or listener to a different relative position virtually using only your mouse The Xonar Essence STX card will process it and virtualize each speaker position in real time The Subwoofer has no directional sounds and hence can be moved only closer or further away 3 Reset Reset all Speaker Shifter settings to the defaults 4 Increase decrease volume C...

Page 27: ...enable disable Click this check box to enable Dolby Pro Logic IIx Clicking the text bar will switch the right window to the Pro Logic IIx page for manual adjustments 2 Center Width This parameter is used to set the spread of the center mainly for the vocal signals of songs and music Drag the scroll bar to the left to centralize the vocal signal Drag to the right side to widen the vocal sound range...

Page 28: ... headphones No Item Description 1 Dolby Headphone enable disable Click this check box to enable Dolby Headphone Clicking the text bar will switch the right window to Dolby Headphone page for manual adjusting Note 7 1 Virtual Speaker Shifter and Dolby Pro Logic IIx can be selected only when Dolby Headphone is enabled 2 DH1 Dolby Headphone DH provides three room filters that may be used with any typ...

Page 29: ...round listening experience from any high quality stereo source No Item Description 1 Dolby Virtual Speaker enable disable Click this check box to enable Dolby Virtual Speaker Clicking the text bar will switch the right window to a Dolby Virtual Speaker page for manual adjusting 2 Reference Mode Dolby Virtual Speaker provides two modes of virtualization The first is Reference mode which virtualizes...

Page 30: ...he left and right channels 3 Volume slider Drag this slider down to decrease the volume drag it up to increase the volume The tool tip reveals the percentage number from 1 to 100 in terms of the full scale level 4 Mute button Click this button to mute the audio channel click this button again to restore the audio output 5 Source path name This shows the source name for each volume control slider i...

Page 31: ...ng to record Note that the recording function on Windows is a one path selector So you can select only one default recording source at a time You may have to restart the recorder program if you switch to a different source Note On Vista some application programs may allow you to select the recording device path in the recording programs themselves 5 Microphone In Advanced Setting Click this button...

Page 32: ...tc To apply Dolby Virtual Speaker is suitable for two speaker environment NOTE When the monitoring function is enabled audio output from HDMI output is disabled 7 Source path name This shows the source name for each volume control slider including S PDIF In S PDIF digital input source Mix Stereo Mix which will record MIC AUX and digital WAVE audio you are playing on PC Aux recording from Aux In fo...

Page 33: ...ll 2D sound sources like music 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 that you select from the pull down menu on the right side There are another 23 options in this menu 3 Environment size There are three size settings for ea...

Page 34: ...fault equalizer options There are 12 available equalizer patterns Click one to apply it 2 Equalier slider Adjust the gain for each band 30 16KHz 3 User Defined You can click this button to apply your own defined parameters saved in the pull down menu 4 Save name Key in a name for your own User Defined equalizer setting 5 Add save Click this button to save the parameters into User Defined list 6 De...

Page 35: ...ion 1 On Off Click the switch to turn on or off the functions on this page 2 Key Shifting Check the box to enable or disable the key shifting feature for music playback from 4 semitones below to 4 semitones above 3 Vocal Cancellation Checkbox to enable or disable the vocal cancellation function and adjust the voice cancellation level from 0 to 100 100 will eliminate most original vocals default va...

Page 36: ...ass page 2 Small Large speaker option Select the speaker type that you connected If your speaker type cannot perform low frequency signals bass select Small speaker type and Xonar Essence STX will filter out the bass signals and send them to the subwoofer channel If those speakers are full range you can select the Large speaker type Note Usually low cost PC s 2 channel speakers are small type spea...

Page 37: ...requency 20 250Hz for LFE low frequency effects signals Xonar Essence STX will filter out the bass signals below the crossover frequency from small speaker channels and forward them to the subwoofer The higher the crossover frequency the more bass signals will be subtracted ...

Page 38: ... hassles inherent with sound sources of different loudness It allows you to listen to various content like MP3 TV program DVD video and even games with consistent sound level The following graph shows how different signals 1 2 will become the same level for example 10dB below full scale after you turn on SVN Please note that for lower volume music 2 it will become louder when you turn on SVN and f...

Page 39: ... outlined blue when active 2 SVN blue light When SVN is enabled the master volume knob will be illuminated by a blue light It will be lit red if the volume is muted 3 SVN display When SVN is enabled Smart Volume will be lit up at the bottom of the volume meter and the volume meter will show the level 2 1 3 ...

Page 40: ... 5 0 games on both XP and Vista It provides the best compatibility with existing DirectX games GX2 0 also adds innovative VocalFX voice effects for existing EAX games or VOIP applications Besides the abundant sound effects described above the Xonar Essence STX also provides quick Digital Sound Processing modes which are configured for typical applications including Music Movies and Games over diff...

Page 41: ...rectX DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista 2 Hi Fi Mode This mode is set for Hi Fidelity playback where all effects will be cleared to keep the original digital data and analog output quality as high as possible 3 Music Mode This mode is set for Music playback 4 Movie Mode This mode is set for DVD Movie playback 5 Game Mode This mode is set for Games 3 2 1 4 5 ...

Page 42: ... Item Description 1 VoiceEX It produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication 2 Local VoiceEX It produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication You can hear your voice form speakers 3 ChatEX It emulates different background environment effects when you chat online 4 Magic Voice Changes your ...

Page 43: ...iceEX 2 Make sure you and your team member can talk to each other in the game For VOIP 1 Press App List 2 If you don t see the VOIP application of yours in the list press Add Make sure the Skype and MSN Messenger are the latest version 3 Look for the application s location and Open it ...

Page 44: ... Voice when you chat online Click the checkbox to enable VocalFX function then a prompt message will pop up This message implies the record device will be set to microphone Make sure the GX function is enabled Click OK to accept it or Cancel if you want to enable it later Check Don t remind me again if you don t want to see this message pop up next time ...

Page 45: ...io Center utility 3 If the icon could not be found in the system tray go to the Windows Control Panel and double click the Xonar Essence STX Audio Center icon to make it visible in the system tray again 4 After the driver installation is complete it s recommended that you reboot your computer to complete the setup If the icon still doesn t appear please try installing the driver package again I ca...

Page 46: ...sing 192KHz PCM output please make sure your decoder 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 also go to system audio control panel to see the current default r...

Page 47: ...Xonar Essence STX supports unique DS3D GX on Windows Vista which can recover DirectSound 3D hardware and EAX gaming sound effects on Vista for a lot of existing DirectX games Q2 Why does the Xonar Essence STX support Dolby technology Answer Dolby is the ONLY brand and technology recognized by the CE industry and available on a wide range of audio equipment Xonar includes these features to make you...

Page 48: ...t of the Xonar Essence STX for musicians Answer 1 Ultimate Fidelity Xonar Essence STX has the highest quality of audio in out for the cleanest sound production 2 Duplex HD Supports audio sampling rates up to 24bit 192KHz for all inputs and outputs 3 ASIO 2 0 Xonar Essence STX includes an ASIO 2 0 driver for low latency low distortion music creation application Q7 Will PCM sound output through S PD...

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