Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product Xonar DX Asus
Go to page of 80
Xonar DX Audio Card User’s manual.
ii E3549 First Edition V1 January 2008 Copyright © 2008 ASUST eK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, tra.
iii Contents Contents ...................................................................................................... iii Notices .......................................................................................................... v Safety information .
iv Contents 6.9 DS3D GX (for Vista Only) and DSP Modes ..................... 41 6.10 V ocalFX ............................................................................ 42 6.1 1 ASIO 2 Driver .........................................................
v Notices Federal Communications Commission Statement This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: • This device may not cause harmful interference, and • This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation.
vi This symbol of the crossed out wheeled bin indicates that the product (electrical and electronic equipment) should not be placed in municipal waste. Check local regulations for disposal of electronic products. Safety information • Before installing the device on a motherboard, carefully read all the manuals that came with the package.
1 ASUS Xonar DX 1. Introduction 1.1 Package Contents • ASUS Xonar DX audio card • ASUS Xonar DX support CD (including Portable Music Processor™ Lite and RMAA V6.0.6 utilities) • Additional low-profile bracket • S/PDIF T OSLINK optical adaptor x1 • Quick Installation Guide 1.
2 ASUS Xonar DX 1.3 Specications summary (continued on the next page) Items Description Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 116 dB for Front-out 112dB for other channels Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 112dB Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (-3dB) : 0.
3 ASUS Xonar DX *Specications are subject to change without notice. Items Description Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 116 dB for Front-out 112dB for other channels Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 112dB Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (-3dB) : 0.
4 ASUS Xonar DX 1 2 3 4 5 2. About Hardware 2.1 Xonar DX Audio Processing Card 7 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6.
5 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 Microphone Jack Connect your external PC microphone to this 3.5mm jack for voice input. Built-in high-quality Microphone pre- amplifier . 1 Line Input Jack Connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers and other line-level sound sources to this 3.
6 ASUS Xonar DX 3. Installing the Xonar Hardware 3.1 Preparing Y our Computer Before you proceed with the following installation steps, it’s recommended that you disable your onboard audio device in your BIOS settings, or uninstall any other sound cards on your PC.
7 ASUS Xonar DX 2. Secure the audio card bracket to the back of your computer with the screw that you removed. Refer to section 3.1. 3. Connect the power cable of your power supply to the power connector on the Xonar DX audio card. The PCI Express high-quality audio card requires additional power from your computer .
8 ASUS Xonar DX 3.3 Connecting TV T uner Card 1. If you have a traditional PCI or PCI Express TV tuner card on your PC, you may need to connect it to the audio card to send the tuner card’s sound to your PC speakers. 2. Secure the PCI/PCI Express TV tuner card and screw it into the back-panel.
9 ASUS Xonar DX 4. Installing Software 4.1 Installing the Audio Card Driver 1. After you have installed your audio card, turn on your computer . Windows automatically detects your audio card and searches for device drivers. When prompted for the audio drivers, click the “Cancel” button.
10 ASUS Xonar DX 4.2 Installing the PMP software (Portable Music Processor) 1. From the installation CD menu, select the option to install the PMP software. 2. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation. After the installation is complete, click Finish.
1 1 ASUS Xonar DX 4.3 Uninstalling or Reinstalling Software 4.3.1 Uninstalling Software 1. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. 2. Double-click the “Add/Remove Programs” icon.
12 ASUS Xonar DX 5. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals 5.1 Connecting Digital Speaker Systems (Home Theater) The Xonar DX supports Dolby Digital Live technology , which transcode any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital surround bit-streams.
13 ASUS Xonar DX 5.2 Connecting Headphones 5.2.1 Connecting Stereo Headphones No Item Description 1 Front Out/Headphone Jack The Front Out jack has a built-in high-quality amplifier to drive headphones. Please connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack.
14 ASUS Xonar DX 5.2.2 Connecting 5.1 channel Headphones 1 2 3 No Item Description 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.
15 ASUS Xonar DX 5.3 Connecting Analog Speaker Systems 5.3.1 Connecting Analog Power Amplier 1 2 3 4 No Item Description 1 Front Out Connects to the “left front” and “right front” input ports of the analog amplifier with the mini-jack to RCA cable.
16 ASUS Xonar DX 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.
17 ASUS Xonar DX 5.3.3 Connecting 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.
18 ASUS Xonar DX 5.3.4 Connecting 5.1 Channel Speakers 5.3.5 Connecting 6.1/7.1 Channel Speakers No Item Description 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.
19 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 Front Out Connects to the Front input port of the 6.1/7.1 speakers with the mini-jack cable. 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the 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.
20 ASUS Xonar DX 5.4 Connecting Microphone 5.5 Connecting Line-In Audio Sources No Item Description 1 Microphone Input Jack Connect the microphone’s 3.5mm plug into this Mic-In jack for voice communication, recording, or karaoke. 1 No Item Description 1 Line Input Jack Connect the 3.
21 ASUS Xonar DX 6. Xonar DX Driver Guide 6.1 Introduction to the Xonar DX Audio Center GUI 1. After the driver installation is complete and your computer has been rebooted, you will find the Xonar DX Audio Center ’s icon in the system tray on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
22 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 Display Area This display area shows the 10-band signal meter , volume level, and the status of the Dolby technologies, EQ, and DSP modes. Note: this area just displays information, but is not used to alter settings.
23 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2 Main Setting 6.2.1 Sample Rate The Sample rate determines the number of audio samples per second that the Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC) and S/PDIF digital interface will output. The Xonar DX audio card can support sample rates up to 192KHz (44.
24 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.2 Analog Out/Speaker T est No Item Description 1 Analog Out The Analog Out setting is used to match your actual speaker setting, such as headphones, 2 speakers (or 2.1), 4 speakers (or 4.1), 5.1 speakers, 7.1 speakers, Front Panel Headphone and Front Panel 2 speakers (or 2.
25 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.3 SPDIF Out/DDL Xonar DX is capable of outputting Dolby Digital Live, which are real-time encoders that transcode any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital bit-streams on-the-fly .
26 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.4 Audio Channels (For Vista only) This setting only appears in Windows Vista. V ista will deliver the audio channels to the audio driver according to this setting, no matter what the original audio content is or how many channels they have.
27 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.5 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter The 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter has the following major features: • Expanding/upmixing audio to 7.
28 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.6 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx Dolby Pro-Logic IIx is a 7.1 surround upmixing technology and is widely used in home theater systems, TVs, game consoles, and car audio systems. It can expand stereo audio, such as MP3, CD, and TV programs into immersive 5.
29 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.7 Dolby Headphone Dolby Headphone creates a stunning multi-channel surround experience over ordinary stereo headphones for playing 3D games, watching 5.
30 ASUS Xonar DX 6.2.8 Dolby Virtual Speaker Dolby Virtual Speaker technology simulates a 5.1-speaker surround sound listening environment from as few as two speakers.
31 ASUS Xonar DX 6.3 Mixer/V olume The mixer page is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar DX. In addition, the Xonar DX also provides a high-quality digital monitoring function for hearing the recorded audio from the speakers.
32 ASUS Xonar DX 6.3.2 Recording/Monitoring V olume 8 No Item Description 1 Recording V olume T ab Click this button to show the recording volume page.
33 ASUS Xonar DX 4 Recording Selector button Click this button to select the path/source you are going to record. Please note that the recording function on Windows is a one-path selector . So, you can select only one default recording source at a time.
34 ASUS Xonar DX 6.4 Effects 6.4.1 Environment Effects Environment effects can be used to create realistic listening experiences that mimic different environments. There are a total of 27 environment options, which can be applied to all 2D sound sources, like music.
35 ASUS Xonar DX 6.4.2 10-Band Equalizer The equalizer can modify the audio output for different frequencies, and be used to compensate for deficiencies in your speakers/systems. There are 12 default patterns and you can also make your own settings. No Item Description 1 Default Equalizer Options There are 12 available equalizer patterns.
36 ASUS Xonar DX 6.5 Karaoke/Magic V oice The Xonar DX provides powerful features for Karaoke, including Key-Shifting, V ocal Cancellation and Microphone Echo. Microphone Echo can generate natural echo effects on your singing voice just like a karaoke machine.
37 ASUS Xonar DX 6.6 FlexBass FlexBass, an advanced bass management and enhancement mechanism, allows you to select each satellite speaker ’s type for optimal sound performance from the speakers. (Small: common speaker that cannot produce low frequencies; Large: wide-band speakers that can produce low frequencies well).
38 ASUS Xonar DX 6.7 AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) Xonar DX provides advanced Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) for best voice communication quality over your speakers. AEC technology can eliminate up-to- 40dB speaker echo return and suppress noises into your microphone for easier conversation experience.
39 ASUS Xonar DX 6.8 Smart V olume Normalization Smart V olume NormalizationTM (SVN) automatically keeps all music or video/TV audio output at a constant level to reduce manual adjustment hassles inherent with sound sources of different loudness.
40 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 SVN On/Off Click this button to enable SVN. This button is outlined blue when active. 2 SVN Display When SVN is enabled, “Smart V olume” will be lit up at the bottom of the volume meter and the volume meter will show the level.
41 ASUS Xonar DX 6.9 DS3D GX (for Vista Only) and DSP Modes Xonar DX is introducing an innovative technology –DirectSound 3D Game Extensions v1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0)- to restore DirectSound 3D Hardware acceleration mode and its subsidiary EAX effects on Windows V ista for 3D games.
42 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 GX Mode DirectSound 3D Game Extensions mode to support EAX and DirectSound 3D Hardware extensions for lots of DirectX/ DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista and XP .
43 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 V oiceEX It produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication. 2 Local V oiceEX It produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication.
44 ASUS Xonar DX 3. Look for the application’s location and Open it. 4. Y our VOIP application has been added into list..
45 ASUS Xonar DX 5. Check the check box of ChatEX and Magic V oice. 6. Y ou can use ChatEX and Magic V oice when you chat online. Click the checkbox to enable V ocalFX function, then a prompt message will pop up: This message implies the record device will be set to microphone.
46 ASUS Xonar DX 6.1 1 ASIO 2 Driver ASIOTM (Audio Stream Input Output) is a proprietary audio driver architecture and a trademark of Steinberg Media T echnologies GmbH. The Xonar DX driver package has included an ASIO2 compatible driver for application programs that have ASIO or ASIO2 output.
47 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 Preferences Step 1 is to open the “Preferences” window from the Options tab. 2 Driver T ype Step 2 is to select “ASIO” as the driver type. (WDM and MME are other Windows driver types) 3 Audio Device Step 3 is to choose “ASUS Xonar DX ASIO” as the Audio Device.
48 ASUS Xonar DX 2 3 4 5 7.
49 ASUS Xonar DX For other applications that support ASIO, such as W aveLab, Cubase, Reason, Winamp, etc, the setup will be very similar to the above. No Item Description 1 Audio Options Step 1 is to open the “Audio Options” window from the Options tab.
50 ASUS Xonar DX 7. Portable Music Processor™ Software Guide 7.1 Introduction Xonar DX provides the Portable Music Processor TM (referred to as PMP hereafter) software tool that contains the followi.
51 ASUS Xonar DX No Item Description 1 Main Setting page Default page to setup and start the music conversion 2 PMP Music page This page will display the converted music files saved in the “PMP Musi.
52 ASUS Xonar DX 7.2 Converting music in “Main Setting” Page Click the main setting page to start the PMP music conversion process. No Item Description 1 Select Music Sources Step 1 is to prepare the music sources that you are going to convert.
53 ASUS Xonar DX 2 Conversion settings Step 2 is to set the conversion settings you would like. There are three tabs for different settings: 1) Format: select MP3 or WMA to be the converted format you would like to have.
54 ASUS Xonar DX 7.3 Find Converted Music in “PMP Music” Page The default conversion destination folder is C:Program FilesASUS PMP LitePMP Music. Y ou can easily click the PMP Music page to find the converted music library . The new file name will be copied and suffixed with the data rate and DH (ie.
55 ASUS Xonar DX 8. RMAA Test Guide The Xonar DX driver CD includes RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) v5.6, a popular software intended for testing the quality of audio equipment, be it a sound card, portable MP3 player , consumer CD/DVD player , or a speaker system.
56 ASUS Xonar DX 4. Go to the Mixer Recording page and select “Line In” as the recording source. Click “Reset” to make sure the recording volume is on the default highest level (0dB). This allows you to get realistic output and input quality ratings for the Xonar DX audio card.
57 ASUS Xonar DX 5. Click “Reset” on the playback volume mixer page to keep the volume setting on default. 6. T urn the master volume to the MAX level (0dB) 5 6.
58 ASUS Xonar DX 8.2 Conguration and T est with RMAA Start RMAA and follow the setup procedure below . 1. Select both of the playback/recording devices as “ASUS Xonar DX Audio”.
59 ASUS Xonar DX 4. Go to the Sound Card tab and select “DirectSound” as the Driver Model (because Windows MME mode doesn’t support high-resolution 24bit audio playback and the data may be manipulated by Windows so that the real hardware quality can not be measured properly .
60 ASUS Xonar DX 6. Check if the levels shown in the Adjusting level window are OK (the level meter will be green). 7. If the recording volume level is not high enough, please check and make the W A V.
61 ASUS Xonar DX 8. Begin the test by clicking the “Done” button. If you cannot get the level to be “OK” after the previous step, click “Done” anyways and proceed. 9. Enter “ASUS Xonar DX Audio” in the New slot name and select one Empty slot.
62 ASUS Xonar DX 10. RMAA will pop up the T est results window . Y ou can click the “Select” checkbox and click to “Make html report”. 1 1. Check and key in the report name/options as follows and then click “OK”.
63 ASUS Xonar DX 8.3 RMAA T esting Results Open the html file you created and saved in the test above, and it will display the report with both data and plots in your browser .
64 ASUS Xonar DX Frequency range Response From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB -0.1 1, +0.01 From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB -0.05, +0.01 9. RightMark Audio Analyzer test T esting chain: External loopback (line-out - line-in) Sampling mode: 24-bit, 48 kHz Summary General performance: Excellent Frequency response Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.
65 ASUS Xonar DX Noise level Dynamic range Parameter Left Right RMS power , dB: -1 1 1.4 -1 12.0 RMS power (A-weighted), dB: -1 12.4 -1 13.0 Peak level, dB FS: -87.
66 ASUS Xonar DX THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS) Parameter Left Right Dynamic range, dB: +1 1 1.4 +1 1 1.8 Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB: +1 12.4 +1 12.8 DC offset, % -0.00 -0.00 Parameter Left Right THD, %: 0.0006 0.0006 THD + Noise, %: 0.0008 0.0008 THD + Noise (A-weighted), %: 0.
67 ASUS Xonar DX Intermodulation distortion Stereo crosstalk Parameter Left Right IMD + Noise, %: +0.0010 +0.0009 IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %: +0.0008 +0.
68 ASUS Xonar DX IMD (swept tones) Parameter Left Right Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB: -109 -107 Crosstalk at 1 KHz, dB -101 -101 Crosstalk at 10 KHz, dB -82 -82 Parameter Left Right IMD + Noise at 5 KHz, 0.001 1 0.001 1 IMD + Noise at 10 KHz, 0.0009 0.0009 IMD + Noise at 15 KHz, 0.
69 ASUS Xonar DX 10. Troubleshooting and FAQs [T roubleshooting] The audio card driver could not be installed on my PC. Instructions: 1. Please make sure that you have properly plugged the audio card in the PCI Express slot on your motherboard. 2. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device.
70 ASUS Xonar DX I can’t hear any sound from my analog speakers Instructions: 1. Xonar DX PCI Express audio card needs the power cable to supply addition power in addition to the basic PCI Express bus power . Please double check you have plugged the small 4-pin power plug onto Xonar DX power connector .
71 ASUS Xonar DX I can’t hear the TV tuner audio from my speakers Instructions: 1. If you are using a traditional TV tuner card which has analog audio output, please connect it to the Aux-In header on the audio card 2. Select Aux-In as the recording source and remember to turn on the digital monitoring button on the recording mixer page 3.
72 ASUS Xonar DX Why couldn’t PMP convert some music les successfully? Instructions: 1. Please make sure you have installed Windows Media Player 9 or above version, and MP3 encoder in your PC. (following the pop-up downloading information to finish the installation.
73 ASUS Xonar DX Q4: Does the Xonar DX support EAX on Vista? Answer: Y es, Xonar DX can support EAX2.0 not only on Windows XP but also on V ista through innovative DirectSound3D Game EXtensions v1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0) technology . Q5: Why do I need Dolby for PC games? Answer: 1.
74 ASUS Xonar DX.
An important point after buying a device Asus Xonar DX (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought Asus Xonar DX yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data Asus Xonar DX - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Asus Xonar DX you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Asus Xonar DX will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Asus Xonar DX, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Asus Xonar DX.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Asus Xonar DX. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Asus Xonar DX along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
