Xonar DSX 7.
E8903 First Edition V3 December 2013 Copyright © 2012 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).
Contents Contents....................................................................................................... iii Notices.......................................................................................................... iv Safety information........................................................................................ v Trademarks.................................................................................................... v License.........................................
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. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
Safety information • • • • • • • • Before installing the device on a motherboard, carefully read all the manuals that came with the package. To prevent electrical shock hazard or short circuit, switch off the power supply before installing the device on a motherboard or connecting any signal cables to the device. If the device is broken, do not try to fix it by yourself. Contact a qualified service technician or your retailer. Before using the product, make sure all cables are correctly connected.
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1. 1.1 Introduction Package contents • ASUS Xonar DSX PCIE audio card • Low profile bracket x1 • • • 1.2 S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adapter x1 Support CD Quick Start Guide System requirements • One PCIE 1.0 (or higher) compatible slot for the audio card • Intel® Pentium® 4 1.
1.3 Specifications summary Items Description Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (AWeighted): Up to 107dB Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (AWeighted): 100 dB Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted): Up to 0.0017% (-95dB) Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted): Up to 0.0017% (-95dB) Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input): <10Hz to 48KHz Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage 1 Vrms (5.
Items Description Digital S/PDIF Output High-bandwidth Optical Connector supports 192KHz/24bit (shared with Back surround output jack) - additional S/PDIF out header for HDMI audio output Front-Panel Audio Header Intel HDA front-panel compatible and supports HP jackdetection and automatically switch audio output from backpanel to front Driver Features Operating System Windows® XP(32/64bit) / Vista/ 7 / MCE2005 DTS® Technologies DTS Connect (DTS Interactive Encoder and DTS Neo:PC) for both Windows®
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No Item Description 1 Microphone In port Connect your external PC microphone to this 3.5mm port for voice input. Built-in high-quality Microphone pre-amplifier. 1 Line In port Connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers and other line-level sound sources to this 3.5mm port for audio recording or processing (through an ultra-high fidelity 102dB SNR A-D converter). 2 Headphone/Front Out port Connect your headphones or 2/2.1 channel speakers to this 3.5mm port.
3. 3.1 Installing the hardware Installing the audio card 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 audio cards on your PC. (For BIOS setting or uninstallation of other sound cards, refer to the user manuals of your motherboard and audio card.) Installing the Xonar DSX card 1. 2. Power OFF the computer, the monitor, and all other peripheral devices connected to your computer.
3.2 1. 2. 3. Connecting to a TV tuner card If you have a traditional PCIE or PCIE TV tuner card on your PC, you may need to connect it to the Xonar DSX card to send the tuner card’s sound to your PC speakers. Secure the PCIE/PCIE TV tuner card and screw it into the back-panel. Connect the audio output header from the 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.
4. Installing software Installing the card driver Ensure that you have installed the audio card driver before installing the Xonar DSX driver. Otherwise, driver installation error may occur. 1. 2. 3. After you have installed the Xonar DSX card, turn on your computer. Windows® automatically detects the audio card and searches for device drivers. When prompted for the drivers, click Cancel. Insert the support CD into the optical drive. If Autorun is enabled on your system, the setup starts automatically.
5. Connecting speakers and peripherals 5.1 Connecting digital speaker systems (Home Theater) The Xonar DSX supports DTS Interactive technology, which transcodes any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard DTS surround bit-streams. This makes playback through your home theater system possible, creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sound experience.
5.2 Connecting stereo headphones 5.2.1 Connecting Stereo Headphones Headphone Out 10 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.
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. 3 Center/Subwoofer Out Connect the Center/Bass-channel 3.5mm plug of your 5.1 headphone into this jack.
5.3 Connecting Analog Speaker Systems 5.3.1 Connecting Analog Power Amplifier 1 RL 2 RR 3 4 Rear RL 12 RR 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. 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.
5.3.2 Connecting 2/2.1 channel speakers 2 Speakers AUDIO INPUTS 1 2.1 Speakers 1 No Item Description 1 Front Out/Headphone Jack Connect the 2/2.1 speaker set’s 3.5mm plug into this Front Out jack.
5.3.3 Connecting 4/4.1 Channel Speakers 4 Speakers AUDIO INPUTS AUDIO INPUTS Side Front 1 2 4.1 Speakers 1 2 14 No Item Description 1 Front Out Connects to the Front input port of the 4/4.1 speakers with the minijack cable. 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the Surround input port of the 4/4.1 speakers with the mini-jack cable.
5.3.4 Connecting 5.1 Channel Speakers 5.1 Speakers AUDIO INPUTS Front Side 1 Center/ Subwoofer 2 3 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 5.1 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.. 5.3.5 Connecting 6.1/7.1 Channel Speakers 6.
7.1 Speakers Rear AUDIO INPUTS Side Front AUDIO INPUTS Center/ Subwoofer 1 2 3 4 16 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 6.1/7.1 speakers with the mini-jack cable. 4 Back Surround Out Connects to the Back Surround input port of the 6.
5.4 Connecting a microphone Mic In Headphone Out 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. 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.
5.5 Connecting Line-In audio sources 1 Line In CD Player MP3 Player 18 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).
6. 6.1 1. Xonar Audio Center Xonar Audio Center GUI After the driver installation is complete and your computer has been rebooted, you will find the Xonar Audio Center’s icon in the system tray on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Double click this icon to open the Xonar Audio Center utility. If the icon could not 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.
No Item Description 1 Support link Clicking this button will open the ASUS official website. 2 Display Area This display area shows the 10-band signal meter, volume level, and the status of the Dolby/DTS technologies, EQ, and DSP modes. *This area displays information, but is not used to change settings. 20 3 Setting Menu Panel This panel gives access to the setting tabs, including Main Settings, Mixer/volume, Effects, Karaoke, FlexBass, and VocalFX.
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 DSX card can support sample rates up to 192KHz (44.1K, 48K, 96K, 192KHz). Audio CDs and MP3 files are typically at 44.1KHz; DVD-Video uses 48KHz; DVD-Audio or other HD media may contain 96KHz or 192KHz highdefinition audio content.
6.2.2 Analog Out mode 1 2 3 No Item Description 1 Analog Out The Analog Out setting is used to adjust audio to 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 2.1). Xonar DSX will play the channels and process the proper 3D/DTS sound accordingly. Select the correct speaker type for your connected speakers.
6.2.3 SPDIF Out / DTS Interactive Xonar DSX is capable of producing DTS Interactive audio, which is audio transcoded real-time into industry-standard DTS Digital bit-streams on-the-fly. This is ideal for playback through a home theater system, creating an immersive and impressive 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.
6.2.4 Audio Channels (For Windows® Vista only) This setting only appears in Windows® Vista. Vista 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. Configure your audio channel based on your audio content before playback. Please note that this setting is synchronized with Vista’s system speaker configuration and changing the setting during playback will stop audio playback.
6.2.5 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter The 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter has the following major features: • Expanding/upmixing audio to 7.1-channel surround sound • Virtual speakers that can be positioned to improve sound quality without having to move physical speakers and wires • Virtualizing 7.1 surround sound over any set of speakers 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 No Item Description 1 Shifter enable/disable Click this check box to enable the 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter.
6.2.6 DTS Neo:PC DTS Neo:PC 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 from MP3s, CDs, and TV programs into immersive 5.1 or 7.1-channel surround. 2 3 4 5 6 1 26 No Item Description 1 DTS Neo:PC enable/disable Click this check box to enable DTS Neo:PC. Clicking the text bar will switch the right window to the Pro-Logic IIx page for manual adjustments.
6.3 Mixer/Volume The mixer page is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar DSX. In addition, the Xonar DSX also provides a high-quality digital monitoring function for hearing the recorded audio from the speakers. You can also process the input signals with all playback sound effects including DTS technology. 6.3.1 Playback Volume 1 5 2 3 4 No Item Description 1 Playback volume tab Click this button to show the playback volume page.
6.3.2 Recording/Monitoring Volume 1 7 2 3 4 5 6 No Item Description 1 Recording Volume Tab Click this button to show the recording volume page. 2 Recording volume slider Drag this slider down to decrease the recording volume; drag up to increase the recording volume. The tool-tip displays percentage increments. 3 Recording Selector button Click this button to select the path/source you are going to record. Note that the recording function on Windows® is a one-path selector.
6 Source / path name Displays the source name for each volume control slider: S/PDIF-In: S/PDIF digital input source MIC: recording from 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.
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 music and other 2D sound sources. 3 1 2 30 No Item Description 1 Default environments These four buttons activate Bathroom, Concert hall, Underwater, and Music Pub environments, respectively.
6.4.2 10-Band Equalizer The equalizer can modify the audio output for different frequencies and can be used to compensate for deficiencies in your speakers/sound system. You can create custom settings in addition to the 12 default patterns available. 1 3 2 4 5 6 No Item Description 1 Default equalizer options There are 12 available equalizer patterns. Click an item to apply a pattern to audio playback.
6.5 Karaoke The Xonar DSX provides powerful features for Karaoke, including Key-Shifting, Vocal Cancellation, and Microphone Echo. Microphone Echo can generate natural echo effects on your singing voice just like a karaoke machine. Key-Shifting can change the pitch of Karaoke background music, and Vocal Cancellation can reduce the original vocal in songs and keep the music and symphony for karaoke.
The following message appears when Mic Echo is selected: Select a recording source from the list. With 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.
6.6 FlexBass FlexBass is an advanced bass management and enhancement mechanism that allows you to select each satellite speaker’s type for optimal sound performance. It comes with an adjustable crossover frequency for the boundary of the bass signals. FlexBass will filter out the bass signals from small speaker channels and redirect them to the subwoofer or large speakers. 4 1 2 3 No Item Description 1 On/Off Click this button to disable or enable all FlexBass functions.
6.7 Smart Volume Normalization Smart Volume NormalizationTM (SVN) automatically keeps all music or video/ TV audio output at a constant level to reduce manual adjustment 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.
3 2 1 36 No Item Description 1 SVN On/Off Click this button to enable SVN. This 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.
6.8 DS3D GX and DSP Modes Xonar DSX introduces an innovative technology – DirectSound 3D Game Extensions v2.5 (DS3D GX 2.5) - to restore DirectSound 3D Hardware acceleration mode and its subsidiary EAX effects on Windows® Vista for 3D games. Unlike some proprietary API like OpenAL, DS3D GX doesn’t require games to support OpenAL API. All existing games compatible with Microsoft DirectX and DirectSound 2D/3D will be supported with DS3D GX technology.
1 38 2 No Item Description 1 GX Mode DirectSound 3D Game Extensions mode supports 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.
6.9 VocalFX VocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology that can immerse your voice in a realistic game landscape (VoiceEX) or imitate background scenes while chatting online (ChatEX). It also allows you to change your voice pitch to disguise who you are (Magic Voice). 3 4 5 1 2 No Item Description 1 VoiceEX Produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication.
For 3D Games 1. 2. Tick the check box of VoiceEX and Local VoiceEX. Make sure you and your team member can talk to each other in the game. For VOIP 1. 40 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.
4. The VOIP application will be added to the list. 5. Tick the check box for ChatEX and Magic Voice. 6. ChatEX and Magic Voice 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.
7. Troubleshooting and FAQs Troubleshooting The audio card driver could not be installed on my PC. Instructions: 1. 2. 3. 4. Make sure that you have properly plugged the audio card in the PCIE slot on your motherboard. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is found, try scanning for new hardware. Reboot your system. Remove the card, plug it into another PCIE slot, and try again. I cannot find the Xonar DSX Audio Center Instructions: 1.
3. 4. 5. 6. Ensure that the device master volume or the software player has NOT been muted on the Xonar DSX Audio Center. If you are using the DTS encoder through the S/PDIF output, the analog output will be muted to get rid of the interference between your digital speaker system and analog speakers or headphones. Check if this setting is enabled.
3. If you are using a TV tuner card with digital audio output instead of analog, check that the sound is not muted and whether other applications can play sound out. If you still have problems, refer to the TV tuner card’s software user guide. FAQ Q1: Does the Xonar DSX support Windows® Vista? Answer: Yes, the Xonar DSX driver package does support Windows® Vista 32/64 bit and most key features are available.
Q5: Why do I need DTS for PC games? Answer: DTS Interactive and Neo:PC are available on the latest game consoles, like XBOX360 and PS3. DTS can provide the best gaming sound experience and compatibility with home theater or TV systems. Q6: What is the most important benefit of the Xonar DSX for musicians? Answer: 1. 2. 3. Ultimate Fidelity: Xonar DSX has the highest quality of audio in/out for the cleanest sound production.
Q9: Why are sound effects not available when playing 96K or 192KHz sound sources? Answer: The sound effects feature on the Xonar DSX currently supports standard 44.1K and 48KHz sound sources. However, users are assured of high fidelity playback for 96K sound sources. This is the common setup professional audiophiles and musicians prefer. Sound effects can still be applied using commercial or free audio editing software (Ableton Live, Cakewalk, CoolEdit, Soundforge, etc.
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