[muad]

Hey guys,
 
So I just sent my O2/ODAC in to JDS Labs for some mods. In the meanwhile I have had to revert back to my Xonar DG. I currently am using it with some LCD2Fs, which really sound good. Now here is the weird thing, the Xonar sounds better. I had the same experience a few years back, with my HD650s. The difference isn't some slightly airier type bull, but the soundstage is more out of my head, imaging and separation are noticeably better, more holographic overall. I can't say if there is any difference in the frequency spectrum. I recently had the Centrance Dacmini, which sounded pretty much exactly like the O2 amp, if I had to come up with a difference between the two, there is a possibility that it would be more my imagination that reality. 
 
Something to note is that I have the Xonar set to hifi mode, which turns off all DSPs and is effectively the cleanest signal it is capable of. So this leads me to wonder if the Xonar DG has some built in voodoo under the hood. But when I looked up measurements nothing was out of the ordinary. What the hell is going on? 
 
EDIT: I think I figured it out. It has a headphone mode. To me it sounds like the "headphone" DSP cannot be bypassed. Sounds nice . When I turn it to 2 speaker mode it sounds more like the o2/odac. 

 

[mindbomb]

selecting headphone allows you to select headphone specific dsp's, but i don't think it enables them by default. One thing I was wondering about is if selecting speakers bypasses the onboard amp.

 

[muad]

I found a noticeable difference between headphone mode and speaker mode with the DSPs off. The headphone mode soundstage has some sort of enhancement going on. It is much more holographic and 3d with all of my cans. Whereas the speaker mode sounds very close if not exactly the same as the o2, ipod and centrance. 

 

[mindbomb]

i tried this on my xonar d1, and i found no difference between speakers and headphones when no additional dsps were selected. I'm thinking maybe on the xonar dg, selecting speakers disables the built in headphone amp, and what you were hearing was the effect of the amp on stereo separation. There is also dolby headphone available when headphone is selected, and although that fits the description of what you experienced perfectly, that shouldn't work with hifi mode. I'm curious as to what would happen if you hooked up a dac with optical input to the xonar and enabled spdif output while headphone was selected. Would the difference still be there?
 
Also, if you weren't aware, xonars always disable all hardware effects when ASIO is used (including volume control, so be prepared for potential loudness). So that might help if your music program has asio support.

 

[muad]

Yeah, dolby headphone is off. The only other thing I can think of is that there is an enormous amount of crossfeed going on with the headphone amp on. I already tried asio and wasapi with no change to what I was hearing. I will play with it some more when I get a chance.

 

[esldude]

Try a loopback test.  Play something and record the output using the analog inputs on the card.  Then change settings from headphone to speaker and try again.  See if, and how they differ by digitally subtracting one from the other.

 

[Strangelove424]

  Yeah, dolby headphone is off. The only other thing I can think of is that there is an enormous amount of crossfeed going on with the headphone amp on. I already tried asio and wasapi with no change to what I was hearing. I will play with it some more when I get a chance.

 
I have an STX, but it has the same UI and similar features. Headphone out vs. speakers out (to a separate amp) sound the same. The only difference is more power coming from the amplified headphone out than the line out. There must be some sort of deviation in speaker mode on your DG.
 
Try doing a L/R speaker test to make sure you are not in mono for any reason (that will collapse the soundstage completely) and check to make sure that there is no crossover, and the LFE signal is not being routed to your subwoofer output if you have 2.1 enabled for speakers.

 

[muad]

  Try a loopback test.  Play something and record the output using the analog inputs on the card.  Then change settings from headphone to speaker and try again.  See if, and how they differ by digitally subtracting one from the other.

 
Hmm, that would probably be the best way to test this. I will do this when there is time.