[rfe777]

I can't hear a proper dolby surround with my headphones. I think the reason for this is that the dolby settings of my Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card and Windows 7 are not "synchronized". I just watched a Gears Of War 2 walkthrough video, and weapon fire, explosions and talking, that came from the sides, back or far away, were very low or not audible at all.

How can I set this correctly?

TIA

 

[PurpleAngel]

I can't hear a proper Dolby surround with my headphones. I think the reason for this is that the Dolby settings of my Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card and Windows 7 are not "synchronized". I just watched a Gears Of War 2 walkthrough video, and weapon fire, explosions and talking, that came from the sides, back or far away, were very low or not audible at all.
How can I set this correctly?

Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio? in the BIOS.
Sometimes the Asus software does not install correctly and you might try reinstalling,
or even try using Unified Xonar Drivers.

 

[rfe777]

  Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio? in the BIOS.
Sometimes the Asus software does not install correctly and you might try reinstalling,
or even try using Unified Xonar Drivers.

I have installed the Unified Xonar drivers.
 
And why disabling the OB sound audio? I don't want to mess with the BIOS settings...
 
I've tried to listen to this video through both the STX and the OB sound card, and only the Dolby settings made ant difference. However(maybe I haven't mentioned this before...), before buying the STX I've always listened with my headphone using a subwoofer, and not directly from the OB sound card, so maybe all the sound and bass that I got were actually from the sub?

 

[Chodi]

 
I have installed the Unified Xonar drivers.
 
And why disabling the OB sound audio? I don't want to mess with the BIOS settings...
 
I've tried to listen to this video through both the STX and the OB sound card, and only the Dolby settings made ant difference. However(maybe I haven't mentioned this before...), before buying the STX I've always listened with my headphone using a subwoofer, and not directly from the OB sound card, so maybe all the sound and bass that I got were actually from the sub?

I haven't used my Xonar in a long time but as I recall I had to set it for Dolby Digital Live for things to come out correctly (especially if the source was DTS which most are these days). I just left it on DDLive and it worked for everything including gaming.

 

[Honkytime]

 
I have installed the Unified Xonar drivers.
 
And why disabling the OB sound audio? I don't want to mess with the BIOS settings...
 
I've tried to listen to this video through both the STX and the OB sound card, and only the Dolby settings made ant difference. However(maybe I haven't mentioned this before...), before buying the STX I've always listened with my headphone using a subwoofer, and not directly from the OB sound card, so maybe all the sound and bass that I got were actually from the sub?

Running the on board audio while running a sound card can sometimes cause all sorts of issues with the drivers. and turning it off can fix a lot of sound card issues.

 

[rfe777]

  I haven't used my Xonar in a long time but as I recall I had to set it for Dolby Digital Live for things to come out correctly (especially if the source was DTS which most are these days). I just left it on DDLive and it worked for everything including gaming.

How do you set it? and does it work with headphones or only with speakers?
 
Edit: I've just read in this STX review: http://www.computershopper.com/components/reviews/asus-xonar-essence-stx
that the STX needs to connected to en external receiver through the digital output in order to use the Dolby Digital Live. So I have to buy a receiver(is it a DAC or an amplifier?) in order to finally get my money's worth?

 

[PurpleAngel]

 
How do you set it? and does it work with headphones or only with speakers?
 
Edit: I've just read in this STX review: http://www.computershopper.com/components/reviews/asus-xonar-essence-stx
that the STX needs to connected to en external receiver through the digital output in order to use the Dolby Digital Live. So I have to buy a receiver(is it a DAC or an amplifier?) in order to finally get my money's worth?

Disabling the on-board audio is free and there is a good chance that having the on-board enable is what is causing you current headphone/Dolby issues.
You need to click the "Delete" a few seconds after starting the computer to access the BIOS.
If you can tell me the make and model of the motherboard, I can tell you where the on-board audio setting are.

 

[Chodi]

 
How do you set it? and does it work with headphones or only with speakers?
 
Edit: I've just read in this STX review: http://www.computershopper.com/components/reviews/asus-xonar-essence-stx
that the STX needs to connected to en external receiver through the digital output in order to use the Dolby Digital Live. So I have to buy a receiver(is it a DAC or an amplifier?) in order to finally get my money's worth?

I haven't used the Xonar in a long time, but when I did I had it set to output to a dac/amp which worked either through coax or optical out on the Xonar. I can't say if DDLive works on the Xonar through the headphone output but the manual should clearly address the use of DDLive on your model Xonar. So few games and movies are using Dolby Digital these days that DDLive was essential for me. That allows conversion on the fly of DTS signals into a Dolby usable surround output.