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Asus XONARESSENCEST manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    Xonar Essence ST Audio card User Manual[...]

  • Page 2

    ii E4552 Second 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 pu[...]

  • Page 3

    iii Contents Notices .......................................................................................................... v Safety information ...................................................................................... vi T rademarks .................................................................................................. [...]

  • Page 4

    iv Appendix: T roubleshooting and F AQs T roubleshooting ......................................................................................... 39 Frequently Asked Questions (F AQs) ....................................................... 41 ASUS Contact information ........................................................................ 45[...]

  • Page 5

    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. • This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been t[...]

  • Page 6

    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. • T o [...]

  • Page 7

    vii About this guide This user guide contains the information you need when installing and conguring the motherboard. How this guide is organized This guide contains the following parts: • Chapter 1: Product introduction This chapter describes the features of the Xonar Essense ST . • Chapter 2: Getting Started This chapter discusses how to i[...]

  • Page 8

    1 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Package contents • ASUS Xonar Essence ST PCI audio card • 3.5mm-to-RCA cable x1 • 3.5mm-to-6.3mm adapter x1 • S/PDIF T OSLINK optical adapter x1 • Support CD • Audio Precision T est Report System requirements • One PCI slot for the audio card • Microsoft ® Windows ® Vista (32/64bit) / XP (32/64bit) / MCE200[...]

  • Page 9

    2 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Specications summary (continued on the next page) ITEM DESCRIPTION Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A- Weighted): 124dB for Front-out 1 17dB for Headphone-out at 600ohms Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A- Weighted): 1 18dB Output T otal Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (-3dB) : 0.0003% (-1 10dB) for Front-o[...]

  • Page 10

    3 ASUS Xonar Essence ST ITEM DESCRIPTION I/O Ports Analog Output Jack: RCA jack *2 (Front R/ Front L) 6.30mm jack *1 (Headphone out) Analog Input Jack: 6.30mm jack *1 (Shared by Line-In/Mic-In) Digital S/PDIF Output: High bandwidth Coaxial/TOSLINK combo port supports 192kHz/24bit Other line-level analog input (for TV T uner or CD-ROM): Aux-In (4-pi[...]

  • Page 11

    4 ASUS Xonar Essence ST ITEM DESCRIPTION V ocalFX™ Xonar Essence ST provides V ocalFX, the latest vocal effect technologies for gaming and V oIP , including: • VoiceEX: produces vivid environmental reverberation for your voice to others in EAX games. • Local VoiceEX: enables yourself to hear the vivid environmental reverberation by your speak[...]

  • Page 12

    5 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Xonar Essence ST card layout 1 Front Right Out port Connect the Right audio cable (red) from your 2/2.1 channel speakers to this port. For multi-channel speaker systems, connect to the Front Right In port on the powered speakers. 2 Front Left Out port Connect the Left audio cable (white) from your 2/2.1 channel speakers to t[...]

  • Page 13

    6 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 4 Microphone In port Connect your external PC microphone to this port for voice input. It has a built-in high-quality Microphone pre-amplier . Line In port Through an Ultra-high delity 1 18dB SNR A-D converter , connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers, and other line-level sound sources [...]

  • Page 14

    7 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Before you proceed Read the following notes and precautions before you install the audio card. • Disable the onboard audio device in the BIOS settings or uninstall any other sound cards on your computer . • For BIOS setting or uninstallation of other sound cards, refer to the user manuals of your motherboard and sound ca[...]

  • Page 15

    8 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting to a TV tuner card If you have a traditional PCI TV tuner card on your computer , you may need to connect it to the Xonar Essence ST card to send the tuner card’s sound to your PC speakers. T o connect to a TV tuner card: 1. Secure the PCI TV tuner card into the rear panel with a screw. 2. Connect the audio outp[...]

  • Page 16

    9 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Installing the audio card driver Ensure that you have installed the VGA card driver before installing the Xonar Essence ST driver . Otherwise, driver installation error may occur. T o install the audio card driver: 1. After you have installed the Xonar Essence ST card, turn on your computer . Windows ® automatically detects[...]

  • Page 17

    10 ASUS Xonar Essence ST[...]

  • Page 18

    1 1 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting digital speaker systems (Home Theater) The Xonar Essence ST supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive technologies, which transcode any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 surround bit-streams. This makes playback through your home theater system possible, crea[...]

  • Page 19

    12 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting stereo headphones The Headphone Out port has a built-in high-quality amplier for headphones. Connect your stereo headphones to the headphone output ports on the Xonar Essence ST card. Headphone Out[...]

  • Page 20

    13 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting 2/2.1 channel speakers 2 Speakers 2.1 Speakers 1 1 Front Right Out Front Left Out 1 1 Front Left/Right Out The Left/Right Front Out ports have a built-in high-quality amplier 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 [...]

  • Page 21

    14 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting a microphone Mic In Front Right Out Front Left Out 1 2 2 1 2 1 Front Left/Right Out port/Headphone port Connect the headphone’s 3.5mm plug 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 ST card. 2 Microphone Input port Connect [...]

  • Page 22

    15 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Connecting Line-In audio sources Line In 1 1 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/DTS sound processing through the Monitoring path. Refer to the Mixer section of the drive[...]

  • Page 23

    16 ASUS Xonar Essence ST[...]

  • Page 24

    17 ASUS Xonar Essence ST If the icon is not shown on the taskbar , click Start > All Programs > ASUS Xonar Essence ST Audio > Xonar Essence ST Audio Center to launch the Xonar Audio Center . 1 2 4 6 7 8 9 3 5 Minimize button Close button Chapter 4 Xonar Audio Center Xonar Audio Center The Xonar Audio Center , the graphic user interface (GU[...]

  • Page 25

    18 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 2 Display Area The 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 just displays information, but is not used to alter settings. 3 Setting Menu Panel This panel gives access to settings tabs, including Main Settings, Mixer/volume, E[...]

  • Page 26

    19 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Main Setting 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 Essence ST card can support sample rates up to 192KHz (44.1K, 48K, 96K, 192KHz). Usually audio CDs and MP3 les are 44.1KHz; DVD-Video u[...]

  • Page 27

    20 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Analog Out mode 1 2 3 1 Analog Out The Analog Out settings are used adjust audio to match your actual speaker setting, such as headphones and 2/2.1 speakers. Xonar Essence ST will play the channels and process the 3D/Dolby sound accordingly . Select the correct speaker type for your connected speakers. 2 Speaker T est Click[...]

  • Page 28

    21 ASUS Xonar Essence ST SPDIF Out/DDL Xonar Essence ST is capable of outputting Dolby Digital Live, which is a real-time encoder that transcodes any audio, including games and music, into industry- standard Dolby Digital bit-streams on-the-y . This is ideal for playback through a home theater system, creating an impressive cinema surround sound[...]

  • Page 29

    22 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Audio Channels (For Windows ® V ista / Windows ® 7 only) This setting only appears in Windows ® Vista / Windows ® 7. Windows ® V ista / Windows ® 7 delivers 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. Hence, you need to [...]

  • Page 30

    23 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 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 • Shiftable virtual speaker positioning allows you to adjust the best sound eld easily without moving phys[...]

  • Page 31

    24 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 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 5.1 or 7.1-channel surround. 1 2 3 4 1 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx enable/disable T ick this[...]

  • Page 32

    25 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Dolby Headphone Dolby Headphone creates a stunning multi-channel surround experience over ordinary stereo headphones for playing 3D games, watching 5.1 DVD movies, and listening to music. Dolby Headphone produces surround sound cues so realistic that you will believe you are listening over speakers in a well-controlled stud[...]

  • Page 33

    26 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Dolby Virtual Speaker Dolby Virtual Speaker technology simulates a 5.1-speaker surround sound listening environment from as few as two speakers. Dolby Virtual Speaker also creates a wider two-channel environment during playback of stereo CDs and MP3 content, and when combined with Dolby Pro Logic ® II processing, delivers [...]

  • Page 34

    27 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Mixer/V olume The Mixer feature is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar Essence ST . In addition, the Xonar Essence ST 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 [...]

  • Page 35

    28 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Recording/Monitoring V olume 7 2 3 5 1 8 4 6 1 Recording V olume T ab Click this button to show the recording volume page. 2 Left/Right balance This horizontal slider controls the volume between the left and right channels. 3 Recording volume slider Drag this slider down to decrease the recording volume. Drag up to increase[...]

  • Page 36

    29 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 6 Monitoring button Click this button to monitor and loopback recording audio to output speakers. The recording volume will affect the monitoring signals from the speaker output. The audio will be mixed into the streams from your PC and all DSP ef fects will be applied to the source and the output. A typical application is [...]

  • Page 37

    30 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Effects Environment Effects Use environment effects to create realistic listening experiences that mimic different environments. There are a total of 27 environment options that can be applied to all 2D sound sources such as music. 1 2 3 1 Default environments These four buttons activate Bathroom , Concert hall , Underwater[...]

  • Page 38

    31 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 10-Band Equalizer The equalizer modies the audio output for different frequencies, and is used to compensate for deciencies in your speakers/sound systems. There are 12 default patterns and you can also customize your own settings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Default equalizer options Click an equalizer pattern from the 12 availabl[...]

  • Page 39

    32 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Karaoke The Xonar Essence ST provides powerful features for Karaoke, including Key- Shifting, V ocal Cancellation, and Microphone Echo. Key-Shifting changes the pitch of Karaoke background music, and V ocal Cancellation reduces the original vocal in songs and keep the music and symphony for karaoke. 1 2 3 4 5 1 On/Off Click[...]

  • Page 40

    33 ASUS Xonar Essence ST FlexBass FlexBass, an advanced bass management and enhancement technology , allows you to select each satellite speaker’s type for optimal sound performance from the speakers. The Speaker types are: • Small : common speaker that cannot produce low frequencies. • Large : wide-band speakers that can produce low frequenc[...]

  • Page 41

    34 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 0dB (Full-scale) -  -10 dB Music 1 Music 2 SVN Off SVN On T 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,[...]

  • Page 42

    35 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 2 1 3 1 SVN On/Off Click this button to enable SVN. When enabled, this button is illuminated by a blue light. 2 SVN blue light When SVN is enabled, the master volume knob is illuminated by a blue light. It is illuminated by a red light if the volume is muted. 3 SVN display When SVN is enabled, “Smart V olume” lights up [...]

  • Page 43

    36 ASUS Xonar Essence ST DS3D GX and DSP Modes Xonar Essence ST introduces 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. Unlike some proprietary API like OpenAL, DS3D GX does not require games to s[...]

  • Page 44

    37 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 3 2 1 4 5 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. 2 Hi-Fi Mode This mode is set for Hi-Fidelity playback, where all effects are cleared to keep the original digital data and analog output quality as high [...]

  • Page 45

    38 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 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). 1 2 3 4 5 1 V oiceEX It produces realistic and[...]

  • Page 46

    39 ASUS Xonar Essence ST For 3D Games 1. T ick the V oiceEX and Local V oiceEX checkboxes. 2. Ensure that you and your team member can talk to each other in the game. For VOIP 1. Click App List . 2. If you do not see your VOIP application in the list, click Add . Ensure that you have installed the latest version of Skype or MSN Messenger . 3. Navig[...]

  • Page 47

    40 ASUS Xonar Essence ST 4. Y our VOIP application will be added to the list. 5. T ick the ChatEX and Magic V oice checkboxes to chat online. When you select any of the V ocalFX functions, this message appears: This message indicates that the recording device is set to microphone. Ensure that the GX function is enabled. Click OK to accept, or Cance[...]

  • Page 48

    41 ASUS Xonar Essence ST T roubleshooting I cannot install the audio card driver on my computer . • Ensure that you have properly plugged the audio card in the PCI slot on your motherboard. • Check that the Windows ® hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is found, please try scanning for new hardware. ?[...]

  • Page 49

    42 ASUS Xonar Essence ST • Check if you are using a Dolby Digital Live encoder through the S/PDIF output. If this is the case, the analog output is muted to get rid of any interference between your digital speaker system and analog speakers or headphones. • Try rebooting your computer . I cannot hear any sound from the S/PDIF output. • Ensure[...]

  • Page 50

    43 ASUS Xonar Essence ST I found no sound effects when playing 96K or 192KHz sound sources. • Currently , Xonar Essence ST effects including Dolby , supports common 44.1K, 48KHz sound sources processing and provides high-denition audio (96K/192KHz) in hi-delity playback. This is also usually the behavior that professional audiophiles and mu[...]

  • Page 51

    44 ASUS Xonar Essence ST Does the Xonar Essence ST support EAX on Windows ® V ista? Y es, Xonar Essence ST supports EAX2.0 on both Windows ® XP and V ista through the innovative DirectSound3D Game EXtensions v1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0) technology . Why do I need Dolby for PC games? • Dolby Digital and Pro-Logic IIx are available on the latest game conso[...]

  • Page 52

    45 ASUS Xonar Essence ST When I selected “Digital Output device” as the default audio playback device on Windows ® V ista, the sound effects and UI controls do not work. For Xonar sound cards on Windows ® Vista, there are usually two audio devices: Speakers and Digital Out Device such as S/PDIF . Speakers is the default device. Use this devic[...]

  • Page 53

    46 ASUS Xonar Essence ST ASUST eK COMPUTER INC. (Asia Pacic) Address 4F , No. 150, Li-T e Road, Peitou, T aipei, T aiwan 1 1259 Website www .asus.com.tw T echnical Support T elephone +886228943447 Support Fax +886228907698 Software download support.asus.com* ASUS COMPUTER INTERNA TIONAL (America) Address 800 Corporate W ay , Fremont, CA 94539, U[...]