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Xonar Unified Drivers - Why/How do they sound better?

post #1 of 6
11/24/12 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 

I recently installed these third party drivers for my Xonar D1 just to try them out and I wasn't expecting it, but I'm pretty sure they sound better than the official Asus drivers.

 

I'm pretty curious though. How is it possible for these drivers to sound better?

Cheers!

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post #2 of 6
11/25/12 at 1:39pm

 According to Daniel_K, SB driver modder,   "drivers cannot improve sound quality", or something like that. I do not know if this is true or not, but either way, I do not think that excludes the possibility of a driver badly done spoiling the sound quality.

(any "english" mistakes,  due to Google Translate...)

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post #3 of 6
11/25/12 at 1:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rory88uk View Post

I recently installed these third party drivers for my Xonar D1 just to try them out and I wasn't expecting it, but I'm pretty sure they sound better than the official Asus drivers.

 

I'm pretty curious though. How is it possible for these drivers to sound better?

I think the guy(s) that do the "Unified Xonar Drivers" can take more risks and can work on the drivers at their own speed.

I'm guessing the guys at Asus are under pressure to keep the drivers stable.

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post #4 of 6
11/25/12 at 7:44pm
I agree with the statement above that "the drivers do not improve sound quality." Why most people prefer them in lieu of the official drivers, is because updates usually come more frequently (at the cost of stability) and more importantly, they can reduce the latency you experience when listening to music. The Unified Drivers strip out most of the dolby digital "enhancements" and other additions that most audiophiles consider useless anyways, in favor of a more lean set of options. Obviously this results in a more simple and "pure" listening experience.
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post #5 of 6
11/27/12 at 2:57pm
Thread Starter 

Interesting comments. I just couldn't see the logic in how the drivers could improve the sound. After a few days of listening, I can now safely the say the sound quality is just the same.

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post #6 of 6
11/27/12 at 4:22pm

The main thing to take from modded drivers is that they can reduce/eliminate issues that might (it isn't always the case) be present on stock drivers, which can be perceived as improved sound quality. However, there are some modded drivers (in general, not brand specific) that change stock processing in order to tweak sound, but that's not so much a recommended practice since it breaks neutral sound measurements.

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