Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Drum and Bass setting help - Audio Engine A5 > ASUS Xonar STX
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Drum and Bass setting help - Audio Engine A5 > ASUS Xonar STX

post #1 of 12
4/20/11 at 4:32am
Thread Starter 

Hello,

 

I am a big fan of the Drum and Bass genre, I have tried looking for the best configuration for a two speaker setup using the ASUS Xonar STX sound card and really haven't found much other than headphone settings.

 

Also I am having problems with slight crackling in audio, it's very very faint but I am not sure if it's my sound card or speakers or perhaps the audio quality I am listening to. I have disabled any onboard audio.

 

Questions would be what is PCM? What is a good sample rate for any music and also work for gaming?

 

ASUS Xonar Settings

 

1. GX Mode enabled for gaming.

 

2. Smart Volume turned off.

 

3. Output Device - Two Speaker Setup - No SPDIF Out - No PCM Out


4. Audio Channel - 2 Channels

 

5. Sample Rate - PCM 44.1KHz

 

6. Windows 7 Sample Rate at 16 bit - 44.1Khz

 

7. DSP Mode Settings: Dolby Pro Logic IIx ON, Dolby Virtual Speaker ON, 7.1 Virtual Speaker ON

 

8. EQ Mode: Disabled

 

9. With Virtual Speaker, I pressed the plus button two times to move the speakers a bit closer.

 

Computer Specs Below

-------------------------------

 

Case: LIAN LI PC-P80 Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 CPU: Intel Core i7-980X 4.00GHz
Heatsink: Lapped Noctua NH-D14 120mm/140mm/120mm - Three fans! Thermal Pad: Indigo Extreme RAM: 12GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 1600mhz
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 480 PSU: SILVERSTONE ST1500 1500W SSD OS/APPS: Crucial RealSSD C300 HDD / GAMES: 600 GB Velociraptor 6 GB/s
HDD: 5 HDD's in Raid 5 for Scratch Disk: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 Blu-ray:Pioneer Black Blu-ray DVD Lightscribe: PLEXTOR 24X DVD/CD
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Fan Controller: Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme

 

 

 

Thanks for any help!

Reply
post #2 of 12
4/20/11 at 4:59am

I'd turn off all the effects and plug-ins.

Reply
post #3 of 12
4/20/11 at 7:57am
PCM stands for Pulse-code modulation, don't worry about it. For games and music you should generally keep your sampling rate at 44.1KHz, since that's what most music CDs are recorded at (applies to MP3s, FLACs etc. as well).

I'm not a fan of Dolby and I keep it off for both games and music, but then I'm using headphones. See what works best for you. If you use ASIO, Kernel Streaming or WASAPI in your audio player, then the sound shouldn't be affected by Dolby.

As for crackling, it might be the Dolby Virtual Speaker. See what happens if you turn it off. Try upping the buffer length in your audio player. Does the crackling occur while the computer is idle or is it possible that it's caused by some downloads running in the background, you browsing the web, copying files?
Edited by fufula - 4/20/11 at 8:00am
Reply
post #4 of 12
4/20/11 at 9:05am
Thread Starter 

In Windows 7 should I set it at 16 bit or 24 bit 44.1khz?


 

Reply
post #5 of 12
4/20/11 at 9:07am

If your music is 16bit then 16bit if it's 24bit then 24bit.

Reply
post #6 of 12
4/21/11 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 

So what is the real reason not to use the Dolby features? I mean it does make the music sound a bit more lively.


 

Reply
post #7 of 12
4/21/11 at 1:22am

Agreed on disabling all those DSPs, as well as Virtual Speaker. Start with clean sound, and turn some things on if it ticks you the right way, but at least you'll know that it's not the effects that are causing the crackling.

 

I always disable either Dolby or CMSS, I never were a fan of those surround virtualization solutions.

 

What player do you use? Like fufula said, increasing buffer length of your audio player often fixes crackling issues, if they're derived from buffer settings.

 

And what DnB are you currently listening?

Reply
post #8 of 12
4/21/11 at 8:17am
Thread Starter 

So I am not sure if the youtube quality makes them unlistenable but I am assuming that.

 

 

 

iDOLEAST - To The Moon (this one sounds crackly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6teKn1bZG-Q&feature=autoplay&list=WL5E6EADC3F12D638C&index=1&playnext=1

Suicide - Secondary (Sounds muddy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtxYUhKShSg

 

Reply
post #9 of 12
4/21/11 at 9:09am
The first one is all crackly right from the beginning (left channel), and I assume it gets a lot worse when the bass starts hitting. I'd recommend "benchmarking" your setup by listening to some Noisia, Pendulum. Not a fan of those two, to say the least, but as far as DNB goes, the sound quality of their newest stuff is top notch.
Reply
post #10 of 12
4/21/11 at 9:23am

Noisia & Pendulum confused_face(1).gif frown.gif mad.gif deadhorse.gif, i like remarc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMYAiVZ-vNQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CklPIi2u_aY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t62WnaxBKyI&feature=related or twisted individual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G8vevScXF8 .

 

 

 

I recommend disabling all your DSPs and check the connetions on the speakers.

Reply
post #11 of 12
4/21/11 at 1:03pm

Yes, Pendulum is very good indeed, just like Andy C, DJ Marky, among a few others.

 

Basically Daal, everyone recommended you to turn those DSP features off. Start with that.

Reply
post #12 of 12
4/22/11 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 

Yes I did. I turned the Hi-Fi option on. It sounds better. I love Pendulum, I was just trying out other DnB. Anyways, does anyone think I should get a seperate subwoofer. I know there is one built into the Audio Engine A5's however I feel that I am ruining or breaking my speakers playing loud drum n bass on them.


 

 

 

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Drum and Bass setting help - Audio Engine A5 > ASUS Xonar STX