Asus XONARDS manual

Xonar DS Audio card User manual[...]

ii E7809 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 kept by the p[...]

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

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[...]

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[...]

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1 ASUS Xonar DS 1. Introduction 1.1 Package contents • ASUS Xonar DS PCI audio card • S/PDIF T OSLINK optical adapter x1 • Low Prole Bracket x1 • Support CD • Quick Start Guide 1.2 System requirements • One PCI 2.2 (or higher) compatible slot for the audio card • Microsoft ® Windows ® Vista (32/64bit) / XP (32/64bit) / MCE2005 ?[...]

2 ASUS Xonar DS 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 Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted) : Up to 0.0017% (-95dB) Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-[...]

3 ASUS Xonar DS *Specications are subject to change without notice. Items Description Audio Performance Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): Up to 107dB Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 100 dB Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted) : Up to 0.0017% (-95dB) Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-We[...]

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

5 ASUS Xonar DS 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 process[...]

6 ASUS Xonar DS 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 [...]

7 ASUS Xonar DS 3.2 Connecting to a TV tuner card 1. If you have a traditional PCI or PCI TV tuner card on your PC, you may need to connect it to the Xonar DS card to send the tuner card’s sound to your PC speakers. 2. Secure the PCI/PCI TV tuner card and screw it into the back-panel. 3. Connect the audio output header from the TV tuner card to t[...]

8 ASUS Xonar DS 4. Installing software Installing the card driver Ensure that you have installed the audio card driver before installing the Xonar DS driver . Otherwise, driver installation error may occur . 1. After you have installed the Xonar DS card, turn on your computer . Windows ® automatically detects the audio card and searches for device[...]

9 ASUS Xonar DS 5. Connecting speakers and peripherals 5.1 Connecting digital speaker systems (Home Theater) The Xonar DS supports DTS Interactive technologies, which transcode 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 a[...]

10 ASUS Xonar DS 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.[...]

1 1 ASUS Xonar DS 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 he[...]

12 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

13 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

14 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

15 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

16 ASUS Xonar DS 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.[...]

17 ASUS Xonar DS 5.4 Connecting 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 headphon[...]

18 ASUS Xonar DS 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).[...]

19 ASUS Xonar DS 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 [...]

20 ASUS Xonar DS 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 just displays information, but is not used to alter settings. 3 Setting[...]

21 ASUS Xonar DS 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 DS 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 48[...]

22 ASUS Xonar DS 6.2.2 Analog Out mode 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 DS will play the channels and do the proper 3D/DTS sou[...]

23 ASUS Xonar DS 6.2.3 SPDIF Out / DTS Interactive Xonar DS is capable of outputting DTS Interactive, which are real-time encoders that transcode any audio, including games and music, 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 sur[...]

24 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

25 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

26 ASUS Xonar DS 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, such as MP3, CD, 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 ena[...]

27 ASUS Xonar DS 6.3 Mixer/V olume The mixer page is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar DS. In addition, the Xonar DS 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 DTS techn[...]

28 ASUS Xonar DS 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 reveals the percentage number from 1 to 100 in terms of the ful[...]

29 ASUS Xonar DS 5 Monitoring button Click this button to monitor and loopback recording audio to outputs (PC speakers). Therefore, the recording volume will inuence the monitoring signals from speaker outputs. The audio will be mixed into the streams you are playing out from your PC and all DSP ef fects will be applied to the source, too. A typ[...]

30 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

31 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

32 ASUS Xonar DS 6.5 Karaoke The Xonar DS 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 the[...]

33 ASUS Xonar DS The following message appears when Mic Echo is selected: This message implies that the recording device will be set according to your requirement. 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[...]

34 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

35 ASUS Xonar DS 4 LFE Crossover Frequency Adjusts the cut-off frequency (50~250Hz) for LFE (low- frequency effects) signals. Xonar DS will lter out the bass signals below the crossover frequency from small speaker channels and forward them to the subwoofer . The higher the crossover frequency , the more bass signals will be subtracted.[...]

36 ASUS Xonar DS 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 hassles inherent with sound sources of different loudness. It allows you to listen to various conte[...]

37 ASUS Xonar DS 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, “Smart V olume” will be lit up at the bottom [...]

38 ASUS Xonar DS 6.8 DS3D GX and DSP Modes Xonar DS is introducing 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 V ista for 3D games. Unlike some proprietary API like OpenAL, DS3D GX doesn’t require games to support Open[...]

39 ASUS Xonar DS 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[...]

40 ASUS Xonar DS 6.9 V ocalFX V ocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology to let your voice get into the realistic game landscape (V oiceEX) or to emulate the background scenes in online chat (ChatEX). It also allows you to change your voice pitch to disguise who you are (Magic V oice). These features dramatically increase the fun for voi[...]

41 ASUS Xonar DS For 3D Games 1. Check 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. Press App List 2. If you don’t see the VOIP application of yours in the list, press Add.(Make sure the Skype and MSN Messenger are the latest version) 3. Look for the applicatio[...]

42 ASUS Xonar DS 4. Y our VOIP application has been added into list. 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 fu[...]

43 ASUS Xonar DS 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 PCI slot on your motherboard. 2. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is found, please[...]

44 ASUS Xonar DS 4. If you are using 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 is the case. 5. Go to the sound and audio device of Windows Control Panel to check if the playback default device is set to Xo[...]

45 ASUS Xonar DS [F AQ] Q1: Does the Xonar DS support Windows V ista? Answer: Y es, the Xonar DS driver package does support Windows Vista 32/64 bit and most key features are available. In addition, Xonar DS supports unique DS3D GX on Windows Vista, which can recover DirectSound 3D hardware and EAX gaming sound effects on V ista for a lot of existi[...]

46 ASUS Xonar DS Q6: What is the most important benet of the Xonar DS for musicians? Answer: 1. Ultimate Fidelity: Xonar DS has the highest quality of audio in/out for the cleanest sound production. 2. Duplex HD: Supports audio sampling rates up to 24bit/192KHz for outputs and 24bit/96KHz for inputs. 3. ASIO 2.0: Xonar DS includes an ASIO 2.0 dr[...]

47 ASUS Xonar DS Q9: Why do I found no sound effects when playing 96K or 192KHz sound sources. Answer: Currently Xonar DS effects including DTS support common 44.1K, 48KHz sound sources processing and will assure high-denition audio (96K/192KHz) in hi-delity playback. This is also usually the behavior that professional audiophiles and musicia[...]

48 ASUS Xonar DS[...]