[andkore]

My Xonar DG came in a few days ago and I'm having trouble getting Dolby Headphone to work properly. Basically the problem is that enabling Dolby Headphone does not yield better positional sound. Hell, if anything the positional sound is worse, and I have lower sound quality and lots of reverb (this wouldn't bother me too much if I actually had good positional sound). I have a pair of HD 650s, which are plugged into the proper jack on the DG. I have Analog Out set to Headphone, Audio Channel either on 6 Channels or 8 Channels, depending on whether I'm trying movies/TV or games, respectively. I have Sample Rate on PCM 44.1 KHz, and Dolby Headphone checked and set to DH-1. I'm use Media Player Classic for movies/TV. In games I set the audio to 7.1/8 channels or a similar setting. I don't know if I was expecting too much or something, but most people seem to like Dolby Headphone, so I have no idea what's going on. So if any of you have any experience getting Dolby Headphone to work properly on Xonar sound cards, I'd appreciate your advice.
 
Edit: Oh, and I have made sure that the videos I'm playing with Media Player Classic have more than two audio channels. MediaInfo shows that almost all of them have 6 channels (5.1).
 
Thanks,
andkore

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

My Xonar DG came in a few days ago and I'm having trouble getting Dolby Headphone to work properly. Basically the problem is that enabling Dolby Headphone does not yield better positional sound. Hell, if anything the positional sound is worse, and I have lower sound quality and lots of reverb (this wouldn't bother me too much if I actually had good positional sound). I have a pair of HD 650s, which are plugged into the proper jack on the DG. I have Analog Out set to Headphone, Audio Channel either on 6 Channels or 8 Channels, depending on whether I'm trying movies/TV or games, respectively. I have Sample Rate on PCM 44.1 KHz, and Dolby Headphone checked and set to DH-1. I'm use Media Player Classic for movies/TV. In games I set the audio to 7.1/8 channels or a similar setting. I don't know if I was expecting too much or something, but most people seem to like Dolby Headphone, so I have no idea what's going on. So if any of you have any experience getting Dolby Headphone to work properly on Xonar sound cards, I'd appreciate your advice.
Edit: Oh, and I have made sure that the videos I'm playing with Media Player Classic have more than two audio channels. MediaInfo shows that almost all of them have 6 channels (5.1).

The Senn HD650 is a 300-Ohm sound card, that pushing the limits of the Xonar DG.
Have you set the gain to max?
The gain setting is one of those little green squares to the right of the "Audio Out" setting.
Have you disable the on-board sound on your computer (in the bios)?
 
 
 

 

[andkore]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I know the DG is probably not ideal for the 650s. I've used all three different gain settings, but I've been keeping it on the middle setting instead of the high one to avoid accidentally blasting my ears with really loud volume. Is using the middle setting instead of the high one bad for sound quality? I didn't disable the integrated sound on my motherboard because I thought it would be nice to have it on so I could do comparisons if I wanted to. I saw that Asus recommends disabling it. What's their reasoning on that? Also, I'm sure you know better than me, but it doesn't seem like these settings could affect Dolby Headphone; they seem more like general settings for optimal sound quality.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I know the DG is probably not ideal for the 650s. I've used all three different gain settings, but I've been keeping it on the middle setting instead of the high one to avoid accidentally blasting my ears with really loud volume. Is using the middle setting instead of the high one bad for sound quality? I didn't disable the integrated sound on my motherboard because I thought it would be nice to have it on so I could do comparisons if I wanted to. I saw that Asus recommends disabling it. What's their reasoning on that? Also, I'm sure you know better than me, but it doesn't seem like these settings could affect Dolby Headphone; they seem more like general settings for optimal sound quality.

I'm just trying to cover the basics.
Disabling the on-board will help make sure your Windows OS is not sending the audio signal to the on-board sound, instead of the Xonar DG.
So please disable it in the bios. That is what 99% of what computer techs would ask you to do.
 
You want to leave the gain on the high setting (< 64 0hm), I doubt your going to blast your hears.
The middle setting is recommended for 32 to 64-Ohm headphones, and your headphones are 300-Ohms.
 
These are general setting, but they might be effecting Dolby.
 
 
 

 

[musicreo]

When you use the speaker shifter with Dolby Headphone  can you hear  on every channel audio?

 

[andkore]

What's the best way to test that?

 

[musicreo]

Quote:

What's the best way to test that?

Just play a file with 5.1 audio and activate 6 ch in you xonar card. Then use the speaker shifter to shift each channel. If 6 channels are played you should notice a difference when you shift the center and the two rear channels.