[Sxperm]

I just purchased Asus Xonar Essence STX to use with my Sennheiser HD598 and Maverick A1 headphone amplifier. However I am confusing with a basic setting in STX and Dolby Headphone
 
I have read in Dolby.com itself about their DH technology and it said this technology has been designed to work with sources whether it comes from 2 channel stereo source or multi-channel sources like 5.1/7.1 turned into an immerse DH channel.
 
DH does works well with all 2 channel sources when turned it on, especially games and movies. It can turn 2 channel into quality surround 5.1 channel without a doubt. It has an exception with music. I found turned on DH and listening music from any sources will causes sounds quality distortion. You will got a dimension and cur surround sound but loss in quality anyway.
 
My real problem with STX and DH is multi-channels sources like 5.1 / 7.1. I found when I switched into 6 speakers mode with DH turned on (my main preference is DH2 "Liverer Room") the sound dimension and cue was very blur and muddy. I cannot point out where the sounds come from. However this problem will be solved if I turned DH off and use only 6/8 channels for 5.1 / 7.1 sources. I thought DH should work well with multi-channels sources but the results is not what I expected.
 
My question - Do anyone here ever experienced similarly? May I made some mistake with its setting? I do not think DH cannot handle just multi-channels source anyway. If I have to turn DH off when playing any multi-channels source then what is the point of purchasing this card? I would like to experienced Dolby headphone for my games and movie via quality headphone and I hope I could turn it on without making any negative effect on sounds.
 
Thank you in advance

 

[laxsar]

For general information on STX:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/421890/the-xonar-essence-stx-q-a-tweaking-impressions-thread
 
For general information on Dolby Headphone:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/534479/mad-lust-envy-aka-shin-cz-s-guide-to-headphone-gaming-particularly-with-dolby-headphone
 
What I do with my ST when watching movies (bluray/rips/6ch 48khz sources), when gaming (WoW, TF2, Borderlands, Eve):
 
In the Xonar Audio Center CP:
 
Audio Channel: 6ch
Sample Rate: PCM 44.1khz or 48khz
Analog out: Headphone | High Gain (I am using MS2i).
Dolby Headphone: Checked | DH1 (I prefer this due to the most uncolored sound, the reverb for DH-2 and DH-3 kind of sucks for me)
 
With the narrow soundstage (compared to senns) that I use, I have adequate DH SQ. I can still pin point sounds around me but it's more like around my face as opposed to 'realistic' 3D audio positioning. But I'm fine with it
 
IMO, the reason people buy Essence is because it is the cheapest, most powerful Desktop PC AMP + DAC solution. It is because of the priceerformance ratio. The DH is just an icing on the cake. The DAC on the essence is quite powerful, as well as the amps.
 
Since you already have the Maverick A-1, it is kind of redundant to be using the Essence's AMP.
 
You might want to try out the unified drivers, some people have found it has better DH output (link above).