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Asus Xonar DSX manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    Xonar DSX 7.1 PCIE Audio card User manual[...]

  • Page 2

    ii E7797 First Edition V1 October 2012 Copyright © 2012 ASUST eK 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 pur[...]

  • Page 3

    iii Contents Contents ...................................................................................................... iii Notices ......................................................................................................... iv Safety information .....................................................................................[...]

  • Page 4

    iv 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 b[...]

  • Page 5

    v 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. • T o p[...]

  • Page 6

    vi[...]

  • Page 7

    1 ASUS Xonar DSX 1. Introduction 1.1 Package contents • ASUS Xonar DSX PCIE audio card • S/PDIF T OSLINK optical adapter x1 • Low Prole Bracket x1 • Support CD • Quick Start Guide 1.2 System requirements • One PCIE 1.0 (or higher) compatible slot for the audio card • Microsoft ® Windows ® Vista / Win 7(32/64bit) / XP(32/64bit) / [...]

  • Page 8

    2 ASUS Xonar DSX 1.3 Specications summary (continued on the next page) Items Description Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A- Weighted): Up to 107dB Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A- Weighted): 100 dB Output T otal Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted): Up to 0.0017% (-95dB) Input T otal Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz[...]

  • Page 9

    3 ASUS Xonar DSX *Specications are subject to change without notice. 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 jack- detection [...]

  • Page 10

    4 ASUS Xonar DSX 2. Xonar DSX card layout 1 2 3 4 5 Audio ports 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9[...]

  • Page 11

    5 ASUS Xonar DSX 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-amplier . 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 proces[...]

  • Page 12

    6 ASUS Xonar DSX 3. Installing the hardware 3.1 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[...]

  • Page 13

    7 ASUS Xonar DSX 3.2 Connecting to a TV tuner card 1. 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. 2. Secure the PCIE/PCIE TV tuner card and screw it into the back-panel. 3. Connect the audio output header from the TV tuner car[...]

  • Page 14

    8 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. After you have installed the Xonar DSX card, turn on your computer . Windows ® automatically detects the audio card and searches for dev[...]

  • Page 15

    9 ASUS Xonar DSX 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[...]

  • Page 16

    10 ASUS Xonar DSX 5.2 Connecting stereo 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 amplier to drive headphones. Connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack.[...]

  • Page 17

    1 1 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 h[...]

  • Page 18

    12 ASUS Xonar DSX 5.3 Connecting Analog Speaker Systems 5.3.1 Connecting Analog Power Amplier 1 2 3 4 No Item Description 1 Front Out Connects to the “left front” and “right front” input ports of the analog amplier with the mini-jack to RCA cable. 2 Side Surround Out Connects to the “left surround” and “right surround” input p[...]

  • Page 19

    13 ASUS 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. 1 2 Speakers 2.1 Speakers 1[...]

  • Page 20

    14 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. 1 2 1 2 4 Speakers 4.1 Speakers[...]

  • Page 21

    15 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 5.1 speakers with the mini-jack cable. 3 Center/Subwoofer Connects to the Cent[...]

  • Page 22

    16 ASUS Xonar DSX 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[...]

  • Page 23

    17 ASUS Xonar DSX 5.4 Connecting a microphone Mic In 1 2 1 1 2 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 amplier to drive headphones. Connect your stereo headp[...]

  • Page 24

    18 ASUS Xonar DSX 5.5 Connecting Line-In audio sources Line 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

    19 ASUS Xonar DSX 6. Xonar Audio Center 6.1 Xonar Audio Center GUI 1. After the driver installation is complete and your computer has been rebooted, you will nd 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[...]

  • Page 26

    20 ASUS Xonar DSX No Item Description 1 Support link Clicking this button will lead you to the ASUS ofcial 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. Note: This area is for displaying information and is not used to alter settings. 3 Set[...]

  • Page 27

    21 ASUS Xonar DSX 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). Usually audio CDs and MP3 les are 44.1KHz; DVD-Video uses [...]

  • Page 28

    22 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.2.2 Analog Out mode 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 [...]

  • Page 29

    23 ASUS Xonar DSX 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-y . This is ideal for playback through a home theater system, creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sound experience. This technology[...]

  • Page 30

    24 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.2.4 Audio Channels (For Windows ® 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. Congure your audio channel based on your audio content before playback.[...]

  • Page 31

    25 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 • Virtualizing 7.1 surround sound over any set of speakers • Virtual speakers that can be positioned to improve sound quality without having to move physical speakers an[...]

  • Page 32

    26 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. No Item Description 1 DTS Neo:PC enable/disable Click this check box to enab[...]

  • Page 33

    27 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.3 Mixer/V olume 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. Y ou can also process the input signals with all playback sound effects including DTS [...]

  • Page 34

    28 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.3.2 Recording/Monitoring V olume No Item Description 1 Recording V olume T ab 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 Cl[...]

  • Page 35

    29 ASUS Xonar DSX 6 Source / path name This area indicates 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 + W A VE audio Aux : recording from Aux-In sources such as TV -tuner audio cards or other sound sources Line-In : recordin[...]

  • Page 36

    30 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. No Item Description 1 Default environments These four buttons activate Bathroom, C[...]

  • Page 37

    31 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.4.2 10-Band Equalizer The equalizer can modify the audio output for different frequencies, and be used to compensate for deciencies 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. Click o[...]

  • Page 38

    32 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.5 Karaoke The Xonar DSX 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. Key-Shifting can change the pitch of Karaoke background music, and V ocal Cancellation can reduce t[...]

  • Page 39

    33 ASUS Xonar DSX The following message appears when Mic Echo is selected: The pop-up window allows you to select a recording source. With Mic, you will only record audio source from microphone with echo effects; but you are able to record all audio sources from W ave, Aux, and Mic with microphone echo effect. Click OK to accept or Cancel if you wa[...]

  • Page 40

    34 ASUS Xonar DSX 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). It comes with an adjustabl[...]

  • Page 41

    35 ASUS Xonar DSX 0dB (Full-scale) -  -10 dB Music 1 Music 2 SVN Off SVN On T 6.7 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 inherent with sound sources of different loudness. It allows you to listen to various content, li[...]

  • Page 42

    36 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. It will be lit red if the volume is muted. 3 SVN display When SVN is enabled, the “Smart V olume” meter will light up and [...]

  • Page 43

    37 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 Op[...]

  • Page 44

    38 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 outp[...]

  • Page 45

    39 ASUS Xonar DSX 6.9 V ocalFX V ocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology that can immerse your voice in a realistic game landscape (V oiceEX) or imitate background scenes while chatting online (ChatEX). It also allows you to change your voice pitch to disguise who you are (Magic V oice). No Item Description 1 V oiceEX Produces realistic[...]

  • Page 46

    40 ASUS Xonar DSX For 3D Games 1. T ick the check box of V oiceEX and Local V oiceEX. 2. 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 V[...]

  • Page 47

    41 ASUS Xonar DSX 4. The VOIP application will be added to the list. 5. T ick the check box for ChatEX and Magic V oice. 6. ChatEX and Magic V oice will be enabled for use when you chat online. The following message appears when you enable the V ocalFX feature: The record device will be set to microphone. Make sure the GX function is enabled. Click[...]

  • Page 48

    42 ASUS Xonar DSX 7. Troubleshooting and FAQs [T roubleshooting] The audio card driver could not be installed on my PC. Instructions: 1. Make sure that you have properly plugged the audio card in the PCIE slot on your motherboard. 2. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is found, try [...]

  • Page 49

    43 ASUS Xonar DSX 3. Ensure that the device master volume or the software player has NOT been muted on the Xonar DSX Audio Center . 4. 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[...]

  • Page 50

    44 ASUS Xonar DSX 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. [F AQ] Q1: Does the Xonar DSX support Windows ® Vista? Answer: Y es, the Xonar DSX dr[...]

  • Page 51

    45 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 benet of the Xonar DSX for musicians? Answer: 1. Ultimate Fide[...]

  • Page 52

    46 ASUS Xonar DSX 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 delity playback for 96K sound sources. This is the common setup professional audiophiles and musician[...]

  • Page 53

    47 ASUS Xonar DSX ASUST eK COMPUTER INC. (Asia Pacic) Address 4F , No. 150, Li-T e Road, Peitou, T aipei, T aiwan 1 1259 T elephone +886-2-2894-3447 Fax +886-2-2890-7798 E-mail info@asus.com.tw Website www .asus.com.tw T echnical Support T elephone +86-21-3842991 1 Online support support.asus.com ASUS COMPUTER INTERNA TIONAL (America) Address 80[...]