INTERACT FORUM
Devices => Sound Cards, DAC's, Receivers, Speakers, and Headphones => Topic started by: Bengi010 on February 12, 2012, 10:57:21 pm
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As I mentioned in the Subject I have the Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard and I have a few questions / issues that I'm hoping someone here can address.
The thing about the Xonar drivers and their GUI is that nothing seems to be done automatically. I have to manually select how many channels the source has (2,4,6 or 8), and the Sample Rate (from 44.1 KHz to 192 KHz), which would be ok only if everything I played was the same. But it's not, so if, for example, I switch from listening to music to watching I movie I have to go into the Xonar Audio Center and switch from 2 channels to 6 and from 44.1 to 48 KHz. Is there a way to do this automatically?
Somebody may be about to recommend I use ASIO output, which as I understand it bypasses any processing, and presumably the need to fool around with the soundcard settings. That seems to be the case as when I use ASIO changing the channel or sample rate setting seems to have no effect. That solves one problem but causes another.
The issue with using ASIO is that when I switch to watching a movie with 6 channels (or anything with more than 2 channels of audio) all I can hear is the background noise. I only have a 2.1 speaker system and do most of my listening/watching with headphones, neither of which has a center channel speaker so the voices are just lost. Since ASIO bypasses everything I can't find a way to fix it other than to switch back to direct sound.
I've tried WASAPI but it causes a popping and skipping noise. WASAPI Event Style seems to work ok though it doesn't appear to bypass the soundcard processing so back to the first problem. And although I've seen it recommended as second only to ASIO in preferred outputs, I'm not sure I can hear a difference between WASAPI and Direct Sound. ASIO on the other had sounds much better, just brighter and more alive.
OK so here's the ideal solution I guess. Can JRiver autimatically switch from ASIO for audio playback to Direct Sound for movies? That would pretty much solve the problem.
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I would recommend ASIO output and setting DSP Studio > Output Format to '2 channels' with JRSS enabled (it will only engage when playing movies to do 5.1 / 7.1 to 2.0 downmixing).
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I would recommend ASIO output and setting DSP Studio > Output Format to '2 channels' with JRSS enabled (it will only engage when playing movies to do 5.1 / 7.1 to 2.0 downmixing).
The OP mentioned that he uses a 2.1 speaker system and headphones. So for the headphones the Output format to '2 channels' makes sense, but for speakers should be 2.1.
Give either of these a try and you will find the center channel dialog will move nicely to your L & R speakers or headphones.
Rod
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Normally 2.1 speakers are 2.0 output to a subwoofer that splits into 2.1 (and keeps the 0.1 for itself).
If you actually have discrete 2.1 output, then nwboater is exactly right that picking 2.1 is better.
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I've been testing this a little this morning and here's what I've got so far. I have the display diagnostics when starting ASIO checked.
-When I select DSP 2 channel mode the diagnostics states that it will play in 2 channels. When I select DSP 2.1 channel the the diagnostic says it's playing in 6 channels.
-Either way it didn't fix the problem. There was still no center channel mixed in, still no voices.
-What did fix the voice issue was enabling JRSS v2.0 surround sound (before I had no up or down mixing selected). With the mixing enabled both 2 and 2.1 channels sound the same.
-What has also happened is that Media Center has become somewhat unstable. Each time I stop the movie and change a DSP setting the program freezes. That wasn't happening before.
-Also I see that there is an option under mixing "Move center to front L/R" which seems like an obvious fix but it is greyed out and unselectable.
For reference I will list some specs below, not sure what is/isn't relevent so maybe this will help someone, maybe not. Either way I'm satisfied with the solution so THANK YOU!
Windows 7 64bit
Media Center 17.0.82
Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard using the UNi Xonar 1784 v1.41 driver
Speakers are Logitech Z4's (not high end but good enough 2.1 computer speakers)
Headphones are AKG Q701
DSP Settings that work: Channels - 2 or 2.1;
Mixing - JRSS v2.0 surround sound with "For stereo sources, only mix to 2.1" checked;
Subwoofer - JRSS Subwoofer (60 Hz lowpass) (I didn't test the subwoofer on any other settings, not really sure what it would accomplish)
Bitdepth is set to 24, though all my media is 16, again I'm not sure what changing that would accomplish. Would setting it to the source bitdepth improve anything?
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I believe your speakers are the type that Matt described - they have their own crossover and I assume that you only have left and right connections from your soundcard to the speakers. Thus in DSP Studio you should set 'Channels' to '2 channels stereo'. Mixing to 'JRSS V2.00 Surround Sound'. Don't worry about "Move center to front L/R" being grayed out. That function is handled by JRSS and is apparently now working. Right?
The other subwoofer settings are not applicable in your case because they are being handled by the crossover in your speakers. They would only be used if you had a separate connection from the subwoofer to the soundcard.
Someone else will have to help on the freezing problem.
Rod