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Essence STX + AudioEngine A5 questions

C

Curse The Sky

n00b
Joined
Apr 3, 2010
Messages
46
Hey guys,

I replaced my old Z-5500 + X-Fi Fatal1ty setup with a Xonar Essence STX and AudioEngine A5. The speakers are hooked up via sound card L/R -> RCA to 3.5mm adapter -> speakers.

In the Xonar software, when I set the sound channels to 2, it sounds like crap. Seriously, the speakers sound like they're playing inside of a cardboard box - muddy bass, mids are very confused, no detail, and even highs are mediocre at best. However, when I set the sound channels to 8 and then go to the "Effect" tab and change the equalizer effect to "Classic", it sounds awesome - great detail, good highs, good mids, and decently clear bass. The only down side is I seem to be getting a slight amount of reverb that gives an echo in some songs. If I set the Xonar control panel's sound channels back to two, it won't let me use the equalizer.

What gives? Are these speakers really that bad? I thought coming from Z-5500s they'd be a great improvement. Again, I want to stress that with the equalizer set to Classic, they sound wonderful (but I get a slight echo with all 8 sound channels, even worse with 4 channels).

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
I have the same card connected in the same way to a pair of Swan M200MKII's and this setup sound amazing. Don't really know what to tell you. Hit the "HF" button in the DSP modes section and that will turn off any crap that might mess with the sound.

Capture-10.png



EDIT


I just tried to change my audio channels to 8 (don't know why you would... you have stereo speakers) and it crashed MediaMonkey....
 
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criccio said:
I have the same card connected in the same way to a pair of Swan M200MKII's and this setup sound amazing. Don't really know what to tell you. Hit the "HF" button in the DSP modes section and that will turn off any crap that might mess with the sound.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k215/criccio102286/Capture-10.png[/IG][/QUOTE]

Don't mean to threadjack, but I noticed you have PCM at 44.1KHz and PCM off. Would that give me better sound quality? My PCM is currently on and my PCM is at 192Khz.
Click to expand...
 
cn06 said:
Don't mean to threadjack, but I noticed you have PCM at 44.1KHz and PCM off. Would that give me better sound quality? My PCM is currently on and my PCM is at 192Khz.
Click to expand...

Are you using the digital out? Thats the only reason to have that on, It does nothing for the analog out. Notice how its under the "S/PDIF Out" section? And is all of your music/media 192KHz? I doubt it... so why upsample it? Its not going to make it sound any better. Only more conversion that has to be done which could ultimately make it sound bad. The vast majority of media you will play back will be 44.1KHz.
 
The only reason I changed it to 8 channels was for the ability to use the equalizer under the Effect tab. Like I said, with the equalizer set to "Classic" it sounds really good - extremely clear, good mids, etc. With the equalizer off, it sounds fairly bad. Unfortunately, when I switch to 2 channels, it disables the equalizer. Or, I should say, any changes to the equalizer setting don't make any difference in the overall sound quality with 2 channels. With it set to 8 channels, moving the 4KHz slider up just a bit produces a noticeably different sound overall, for example.

It's not just me either. I've had several people stand present as I've switched from 8 channel / equalizer to 2 channel / no equalizer, and everyone agrees that without the equalizer it sounds very poor. The best way I can describe it is if you were to listen to something on HD-555s / ATH-AD700, then unplug those and listen to the same song on a pair of $20 Walmart headphones. That's how drastic the quality difference is with the equalizer.

Maybe these speakers were just over-hyped. :( I thought they'd at least sound better than the Z-5500s that they replaced.
 
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They should. I can use the EQ perfectly fine in with 2 channels selected and its quite easy to hear it making a difference.
 
criccio said:
They should. I can use the EQ perfectly fine in with 2 channels selected and its quite easy to hear it making a difference.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Mine does nothing. I also don't see the normal bars associated with various sound levels through the Hz ranges jumping like they do in 8 channels.

Can you post a screen shot of your Effect tab for me please? Also, what operating system? I'm on Windows 7 x64.
 
Windows 7 x64

What driver did you install? Version 7.12.8.1777 or Beta Version 7.12.8.17731? I'm running the Beta driver.

Capture-11.png

Capture-12.png
 
Uninstalled the previous driver and installed the beta driver - the equalizer is now working perfectly with 2 channel audio. Music sounds great again!

Thanks. :D
 
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