Asus XONARD1 manual

Xonar D1 Audio card User manual[...]

2 ASUS Xonar D1 E7810 Revised Edition V2 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 [...]

3 ASUS Xonar D1 Contents Notices .......................................................................................................... 5 Safety information ....................................................................................... 6 T rademarks .......................................................................................[...]

4 ASUS Xonar D1 Contents 7.2 Conguration and T est with RMAA ................................... 57 7.3 RMAA T esting Results ...................................................... 62 8. RightMark Audio Analyzer test .................................................... 63 9. T roubleshooting and F AQs ............................................[...]

5 ASUS Xonar D1 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 eq[...]

6 ASUS Xonar D1 This symbol of the crossed out wheeled bin indicates that the product (electrical, electronic equipment and mercury-containing button cell battery) 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[...]

7 ASUS Xonar D1 1. Introduction 1.1 Package contents • ASUS Xonar D1 audio card • ASUS Xonar D1 support CD (including RMAA V6.0.6 utility) • Additional low-prole bracket • S/PDIF T OSLINK optical adapter x1 • Quick Installation Guide 1.2 System requirements • One PCI compatible slot for the audio card • Microsoft ® Windows ® Vist[...]

8 ASUS Xonar D1 1.3 Specications 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) : 0.00056% (-105dB) for Front-out Input Total Ha[...]

9 ASUS Xonar D1 *Specications 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) : 0.00056% (-105dB) for Front-out Input Total Harm[...]

10 ASUS Xonar D1 1 2 3 4 5 2. Hardware overview Xonar D1 layout 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 8[...]

1 1 ASUS Xonar D1 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- amplier . 1 Line Input jack Connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers and other line-level sound sources to this 3.5mm jack for audio recording or proc[...]

12 ASUS Xonar D1 3. Installing the Xonar Hardware 3.1 Preparing your 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. (For BIOS setting or uninstallation of other sound cards, refer to the user manual[...]

13 ASUS Xonar D1 3.3 Connecting to a graphics card with HDMI support 1. Install a graphics card with HDMI output support. 2. Using the bundled S/PDIF cable, connect one end to the 3-pin S/PDIF Out header on the Xonar D1 audio card, and connect the other end to the 2-pin S/PDIF In header on the graphics card. S/PDIF cable Graphics card Xonar D1[...]

14 ASUS Xonar D1 3.4 Connecting a TV tuner 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. 3. Connect the audio output header from the TV tune[...]

15 ASUS Xonar D1 4. Installing Software Installing the audio card driver 1. After you have installed the audio card, turn on your computer . Windows ® automatically detects the audio card and searches for device drivers. When prompted for the drivers, click Cancel . 2. Insert the support CD into the optical drive. If Autorun is enabled in your sys[...]

16 ASUS Xonar D1 5. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals 5.1 Connecting Digital Speaker Systems (Home Theater) The Xonar D1 supports Dolby Digital Live technology , which transcode any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital surround bit-streams. This makes playback through your home theater system possible, creating a[...]

17 ASUS Xonar D1 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 amplier to drive headphones. Connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack. 1[...]

18 ASUS Xonar D1 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 hea[...]

19 ASUS Xonar D1 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 po[...]

20 ASUS Xonar D1 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[...]

21 ASUS Xonar D1 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[...]

22 ASUS Xonar D1 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 Cente[...]

23 ASUS Xonar D1 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.[...]

24 ASUS Xonar D1 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 3.5mm plug of the CD/MP3 Player or any other Line level analog aud[...]

25 ASUS Xonar D1 6. Xonar D1 Driver Guide 6.1 Introduction to the Xonar D1 Audio Center GUI 1. After the driver installation is complete and your computer has been rebooted, you will nd the Xonar D1 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 utilit[...]

26 ASUS Xonar D1 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. 2 Menu Open/Close Clicking this button will move the display area and reveal the conguratio[...]

27 ASUS Xonar D1 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 D1 audio 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[...]

28 ASUS Xonar D1 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 2.1). Xonar D1 will play the channels and do the proper 3[...]

29 ASUS Xonar D1 6.2.3 SPDIF Out/DDL Xonar D1 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-y . This is ideal for playback through a home theater system, creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sou[...]

30 ASUS Xonar D1 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. Therefore, you need to set this in accordance with your audio content before you play it[...]

31 ASUS Xonar D1 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 • Shiftable virtual speaker positioning allows you to adjust the best sound eld easily without moving physic[...]

32 ASUS Xonar D1 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 5.1 or 7.1- channel surround. No Item Description 1 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx enable/disable[...]

33 ASUS Xonar D1 6.2.7 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 studio[...]

34 ASUS Xonar D1 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. 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 a v[...]

35 ASUS Xonar D1 6.3 Mixer/V olume The mixer page is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar D1. In addition, the Xonar D1 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 such as Dolby tec[...]

36 ASUS Xonar D1 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. 2 Source/Path Name This shows the source name for each volume control slider , including: Mix: Stereo Mix which will record all analog inputs and digital wave audio you are playing on PC MIC: record[...]

37 ASUS Xonar D1 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. Y ou may have to restart the recorder program if you switch to a different source. (Note: On Vis[...]

38 ASUS Xonar D1 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. No Item Description 1 Default Environments These four buttons activate Bathroom, Co[...]

39 ASUS Xonar D1 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 on[...]

40 ASUS Xonar D1 6.5 Karaoke/Magic V oice The Xonar D1 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 ca[...]

41 ASUS Xonar D1 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 adjustable[...]

42 ASUS Xonar D1 6.7 AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) Xonar D1 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. AEC is an innovative feature to make Xona[...]

43 ASUS Xonar D1 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. It allows you to listen to various content, like MP3, TV program, DVD video and even games with consist[...]

44 ASUS Xonar D1 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. 3 SVN Blue Light When SVN is enabled, the master volume knob will be illuminate[...]

45 ASUS Xonar D1 6.9 DS3D GX and DSP Modes Xonar D1 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. Unlike some proprietary API like OpenAL, DS3D GX doesn’t require games to support Open[...]

46 ASUS Xonar D1 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 . 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 qual[...]

47 ASUS Xonar D1 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. (Y ou can hear your voice form speakers) 3 App List Y ou can add VOIP appli[...]

48 ASUS Xonar D1 3. Look for the application’s location and Open it. 4. Y our VOIP application has been added into list.[...]

49 ASUS Xonar D1 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. Make sure the GX function is enabled. Click “OK” to accept it, or ?[...]

50 ASUS Xonar D1 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 D1 driver package has included an ASIO2 compatible driver for application programs that have ASIO or ASIO2 output. ASIO can ensure lower latency during playback and recor[...]

51 ASUS Xonar D1 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 D1 ASIO” as the Audio Device. 4 Hardware Setup Step 4 is to click th[...]

52 ASUS Xonar D1 2 3 4 5 7[...]

53 ASUS Xonar D1 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. 2 Driver Mode Step 2 is to select “ASIO” as the driver mode in Advanced tab. (WDM and MM[...]

54 ASUS Xonar D1 7. RMAA Test Guide The Xonar D1 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. The measurements are conducted by playing and recording test signals, and using freq[...]

55 ASUS Xonar D1 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 D1 audio card. Y ou should use an external 3.5mm line cable as follows (as sho[...]

56 ASUS Xonar D1 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[...]

57 ASUS Xonar D1 7.2 Conguration and T est with RMAA Start RMAA and follow the setup procedure below . 1. Select both of the playback/recording devices as “ASUS Xonar D1 Audio”. 2. Select 24bit and 48KHz for the test signals. (If you change the format here, please remember to go back to set the same sample rate output in the Xonar D1 Audio C[...]

58 ASUS Xonar D1 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 .) 5. Click loop-back mode test button 4 5[...]

59 ASUS Xonar D1 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 VE and Master V olume have been at the maximum level; Instead, if the recording volume level is too high, please lower the W A VE and Master volumes gr[...]

60 ASUS Xonar D1 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 D1 Audio” in the New slot name and select one Empty slot. Then click “OK”. 8 9[...]

61 ASUS Xonar D1 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”. 10 1 1[...]

62 ASUS Xonar D1 7.3 RMAA T esting Results Open the html le you created and saved in the test above, and it will display the report with both data and plots in your browser . The following report is a sample and you can see how high-delity and crystal-clean the Xonar D1 audio card is for both output and input (one of the world’s nest sou[...]

63 ASUS Xonar D1 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 8. 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: +0.01, -[...]

64 ASUS Xonar D1 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: -87.5 -88.4 DC offset, %: -0.00 -0.00[...]

65 ASUS Xonar D1 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), %: 0.0010 0.0009[...]

66 ASUS Xonar D1 Intermodulation distortion Stereo crosstalk Parameter Left Right IMD + Noise, %: +0.0010 +0.0009 IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %: +0.0008 +0.0007[...]

67 ASUS Xonar D1 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, 0.0009 0.0009[...]

68 ASUS Xonar D1 9. 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 installed the audio card in the PCI slot on your motherboard. 2. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is foun[...]

69 ASUS Xonar D1 4. Please go to the sound and audio device of Windows Control Panel to check if the playback default device is set to Xonar D1 Audio Device, instead of other onboard AC97 or HDA codec device. If it’s not, please set it to Xonar D1 Audio Device and restart your applications. 5. Please try restart your Windows. I can’t hear audio[...]

70 ASUS Xonar D1 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. If you[...]

71 ASUS Xonar D1 Q3: Why is Xonar D1 the best audio card for HTPC and multi-channel speakers? Answer: The Xonar D1 supports Dolby Digital Live, which allow a single digital connection to your A V receiver to carry Dolby Digtial audio. In addition, Xonar D1 also provides Dolby Pro-Logic IIx to upmix TV and other music to multi-channel surround sound[...]

72 ASUS Xonar D1 Q7: Will PCM sound output through S/PDIF be just 2 channels even with different analog output channels? Answer: The S/PDIF protocol specication (IEC-60958) can only carry 2-channel PCM data or non-PCM AC3/DTS data. So, when a user selects PCM output for S/PDIF , the Xonar sound card will always deliver 2 channel PCM data through[...]