[infiniteknight]

Got the Echelon version myself, Windows 10 drivers seem to be fine now (apart from lack of Dolby and Sonic Studio standard rather than Pro). As a bonus, tried it with my Note 10.1 (Android tablet) via a USB otg cable and works well.


Installed a previous version under Win10 on a tablet and seems to work fine. Get Sonic Studio Pro and the Dolby app. both working without issue so not sure what the problem is with the dedicated Win10 drivers.

Which drivers are you using for the tablet. Im on Win 8.1, dolby works but i cant open the main Xonar program 

 

[Magic Man]

Tried the 8.1 drivers on the Windows tablet, Xonar and Dolby run fine but was getting some crackles so went back to the Win10 drivers.

 

[chavdarb]

Hi, There,
  
   Just obtained this card yesterday and have something useful to share:
   I am using it with Windows 8.1 (64bit):
   There are two drivers listed on Asus page for this OS:
   one is Xonar U7 Driver for Win8.1 32/64-bits(A-Volute UI version: 1.0.13) 2015/02/04
   the other is U7 driver for Windows 8.1 WHQL driver 2014/01/22.
 
   I am using Foobar with ASIO to play my music and use low impedance quality headphones - ATH-M50X, Creative Aurvana Live! and Xiaomi Piston.
 
   Initially i installed the "later" driver and was slightly surprised by the SLIGHT CROSSTALK between channels at any volume level!
   Simple way to check this is to play sound in left channel for example and put your year to the right headphone. The music is audible clearly! This was reproducible with various other players.
 
   I checked multiple times that Dolby is disabled and all other effects. 
   I checked through foobar also.. the same. Do mind that the asio testing routine in foobar does not use attenuation ,but simply plays single channel.
 
   Then i uninstalled the driver and insalled the WHQL Version!
   SURPRISE! Crosstalk in headphone output have GONE!
 
   My conclusion is, that you can hurt the sound quality quite much by lame drivers!
   Also it spared me the dissapointment of returning the card right after the purchase...
 
   Edit: It seems the cross talk is still audible on sensitive IEM headphones but now is affected by volume meaning it is much less and is inaudible on ATH-M50.
 
 
Best Regards, Chavdar

 

[Technics]

I purchased a  U7 and hooked it up to the computer usb, and found the sound was very quiet. I had it set at stereo as I have 80s equipment which is analog, i used the rca output to the source ( i choose aux on the amp).  I am not sure If I will be keeping it yet. I will try it later on my V9 amplifier. The toslink outout would be great for a more modern digital amplifer.

 

[raoultrifan]

U7 is having a max. output level of 1V RMS: https://www.asus.com/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/specifications/.
 
CD players usually have about 2.3V RMS, most external DACs have between 1.9-2.3V RMS and high-end DACs have about 2.3-2.5V RMS.
 
More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level.

 

[plasmen]

Hello, since the Windows 10 update, I am having troubles with the card as well (more than 6 months). The sound format has dropped to 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality) and the output channels are now limited to stereo only. 

 
I have tried everything, uninstalling, installing, different versions, 3rd-party drivers, nothing worked. I have read somewhere that something has been removed from Windows 10 itself, preventing the card to work. I would appreciate if someone had found a way to fix it, to share it here. I attach a screenshot on how my drivers looks like now:
 
http://plasmen.info/share/windows-10-asus-xonar-u7.jpg

 

[raoultrifan]

plasmen, have you checked the USB1.1/2.0 switch?

 

[plasmen]

  plasmen, have you checked the USB1.1/2.0 switch?

Yeah, I have tried that a long time ago, it is at 2.0 position. I know the user guide says that at 1.1 it drops to the exact quality I have.
 
Are you using this card with windows 10? My Windows 10 is fully updated, to the latest builds.

 

[raoultrifan]

I'm only using Win7 and Ubuntu. Perhaps you may want to install on a USB stick Ubuntu Live, who knows...maybe you have some drivers issue in Win10.
 
In case you think it could be hardware related issue, do you have another computer to do a test?

 

[plasmen]

  I'm only using Win7 and Ubuntu. Perhaps you may want to install on a USB stick Ubuntu Live, who knows...maybe you have some drivers issue in Win10.
 
In case you think it could be hardware related issue, do you have another computer to do a test?

If we are talking about tests, I have performed all kinds of tests - the card on another physical PC, the card on my PC with windows 7 and 8. Always the card works fine. Only thing I have not tested yet is the same model card, but different unit under windows 10.
 
The problem, I read about on the web is around some Dolby digital module (or something like that) that has been removed from Windows 10, and this is causing all issues.

 

[Xtreme512]

Replying to Herman Krause:
 
I was one of those guys who insisted on using non-echelon WHQL drivers (Version 8.1.11.19) for both of the devices (echelon + non-echelon) due to the sound quality and features. WHQL drivers (Version 8.1.11.19) is the best. I dont know what were they thinking while making new drivers... They just not only screwed the device's potential sound quality but also removed the necessary features.
 
So Im using win8.1 x64 right now with (Version 8.1.11.19) on my echelon (wanted so bad to buy non-echelon though) and my concern is also what you said in the end, are these drivers are compatible with windows 10 x64? Because eventually Im gonna have to install windows 10 on my machine.
 
Some say that they are compatible...
 
Or did you any of you guys tried the latest win10 drivers for non-echelon? are they the same as the (Version 8.1.11.19)?
 
Note: Do not ever install Echelon drivers... thats out of the scope completely. They are all crap.

 

[Lumpiersorz]

I purchased this soundcard, since I no longer have room for an internal soundcard.
 
 
The bass response on this soundcard is horrific, I don't know why more people don't mention this. Even if you boost the equalizer up to max, it will NOT distort, which in my opinion is a bad situation, since it means even at max it can't even output enough bass to distort headphones even at high volumes. 

 

[Xtreme512]

  I purchased this soundcard, since I no longer have room for an internal soundcard.
 
 
The bass response on this soundcard is horrific, I don't know why more people don't mention this. Even if you boost the equalizer up to max, it will NOT distort, which in my opinion is a bad situation, since it means even at max it can't even output enough bass to distort headphones even at high volumes. 

Everything about this card is normal and natural. There is nothing wrong with it. And are you using old WHQL drivers? Check out previous pages, there is only one proper driver and software pack for this card.
 
edit: short answer -> use only this non-echelon WHQL drivers Version 8.1.11.19

 

[Lumpiersorz]

I traded in the soundcard and bought a used Xonar Essence STX. Saved 20 bucks in the progress.
 
Didn't want to bother with a soundcard like the U7.

 

[TheJRT]

 
Everything about this card is normal and natural. There is nothing wrong with it. And are you using old WHQL drivers? Check out previous pages, there is only one proper driver and software pack for this card.
 
edit: short answer -> use only this non-echelon WHQL drivers Version 8.1.11.19

 
Are you sure that these drivers fully work in windows 10?