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Need some help with my Xonar DG.

Azureth

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 29, 2008
Messages
5,323
So I have it and a pair of Audio Technica AD700s. Thing is for some reason it kind of sounds if things are "muffled" kinda, like not as clear as they should be. Up till now I was using a pair of Logitech G35s.

My settings are: 6 channel, PCM 44.1 Khz, Analog out headphone, under HP advanced settings excited mode, dolby headphone checked. DH-2.
 
Make sure nothing is set under second tab - effect. The "more" button next to the combobox shouldn't be glowing. HiFi is a quick way to disable everything like that, click "HF" under the volume knob.
 
Hmm...Nothing is checked and hitting the "hf" button just makes it sound worse like you're in a well.
 
Azureth said:
So I have it and a pair of Audio Technica AD700s. Thing is for some reason it kind of sounds if things are "muffled" kinda, like not as clear as they should be. Up till now I was using a pair of Logitech G35s.

My settings are: 6 channel, PCM 44.1 Khz, Analog out headphone, under HP advanced settings excited mode, dolby headphone checked. DH-2.
Click to expand...

since the AD700s are 32ohms impedance headphones probably you want to drop the excite setting back to 32 or 32-64 and / or try both and see how that sounds. I'd probably uncheck the dolby thing also... just tried it on mine (but I'm using a amp an speakers) and the dolby check mark made my speakers sound like ass.
 
Hmm...Doing that just made them sound worse kind of like it's not as "clear" as it could be. Though I noticed when I plugged it into me and my friends onboard audio it sounded much the same. Could it be possible going from the G35s to the AD700s just sounds different so my ears need to adjust?
 
the ad700s (i have them) i only like for gaming..they lack bass pretty much for music to my ears. what are you using to test them? music (what program / quality encoding ..etc) or game(s)


vs the logitechs they might be less forgiving of poor source material (low / poorly encoded mp3s for example)


do you have any flac music or audio cd's you could try w/ VLC or something?

when I started getting nicer stuff... bookshelf speakers (polk RTi4 and Monitor30s) and vintage Pioneer SA-710 amp vs my old Logitech z560 computer speakers I was amazed at how many of my older (128kbps) mp3s sounded like ass. I can't remember thinking my ad-700s needed break in but you might also give them a bit (not everyone even believes in break in..meh i'm not sure...I think my JVC RX-700s headphones did sound better after I had them for awhile.... also i like listening to music w/ my RX-700s very much as well as gaming with them.)
 
i use my AD700s with either my FiiO E9 or the headphone jack of my SA-710 I think they lack low end but they have never seemed muffled / muddy to me
 
Azureth said:
Hmm...Nothing is checked and hitting the "hf" button just makes it sound worse like you're in a well.
Click to expand...

HiFi mode turns off Dolby Headphone, so depending on the source it might make it sound better (music) or games (worse). If you are listening to music I would use HiFi mode, but not for games. Is it sounding muffled all the time? I had AD700s and a DG and I agree with atarione, they lacked low-end but they didn't sound muffled. Have you tried using them with a reciever or another source (even an iPod or something) for comparison?
 
Hmm..Well I just tried playing L4D2 and set the audio in the game to 5.1 and it sounded quite good. It did sound better with the dolby headphone checked though.

As far as audio I've listened to some MP3 files I've gotten from Amazon and playing in WMP Classic. I think you may be on to something about them being less forgiving because I noticed when I tried playing some music from my PSP the click and some of the Pink Floyd MP3s sounded quite nice but when I had played some vids I had downloaded onto it from YT they sounded worse than I remember.

And even when I play some HD quality YT vids like AMVs and such it doesn't sound as good as with my logitech, but that could just be YT.

EDIT: For me both music and games sound better with Dolby Headphones on. When I turn HF on when playing music it kind of sounds like the music is much closer to me kind of as if the were speaking right next to me, is that normal?
 
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Azureth said:
When I turn HF on when playing music it kind of sounds like the music is much closer to me kind of as if the were speaking right next to me, is that normal?
Click to expand...

Yeah, DH (HiFi off) normally makes music sound a little hollow so it'll sound "closer" with HiFi mode on. I normally switch between DH (HiFi off) for games and HiFi for music.
 
Listen, I personally found the Xonar DG to be a HORRIBLE card.

I bought one as a cheap alternative to on board audio and found it to be worse than my on board!!!

I don't think its the settings or your headphones that are the problem...I think the card is just a cheap POS and thus has horrible sound. I noticed with mine that the sound stage was very narrow, high and low-end sounds where very muffled and unrealistic...just over all found it to not even be worth the $30 I paid for it.

And TRUST ME I did EVERYTHING I could think of, even turning to these forums for help. I checked all settings, used different drivers, used different sound sources (headphones, home theater, etc), used different audio outputs...just damn everything...I never got the card to sound "proper" and eventually uninstalled it and just went back to on board...which let me tell you sounded amazing after dealing with the Xonar DG.

I DO NOT know if its the card itself...maybe we both have gotten "bad" cards? Maybe something IS wrong...but if there is something wrong I never found it, especially on the software side of things. Hardware is another story if there's a bad capacitor or something.

SO HAVING SAID ALL THIS, I recommend you either go back to on board OR buy a better card. MAYBE try another one, like I said, maybe it is defective?

I ended up picking up a Creative X-Fi USB and it sounds better than my on board and sounded worlds better than the Xonar DG.
 
Yeah, nice to hear that. Gaming sounds fine but like when people talk it sounds like they are right next to you and hollow even with HF on.

Hmm...That Creative X-Fi USB looks interesting. So basically you just plug it into any USB port like you would a USB headset but you can also plug an analog headset into it as well?
 
hmm honestly i have never used my headphones w/ just the xonarDG directly

my set up is DG > FiiO E9 > then from the line out > Pioneer SA-710

in my case having HF enabled sounds good with either headphones or speakers w/ the E9 or SA-710 respectively in games or w/ music.


i'm not discounting the one dudes back experience w/ the XonarDG but his results seem far different than many / most ..certainly different than my own.. I really like my DG and have had no problems with mine... maybe he had a dud or maybe it just had a conflict with something in his particular set up? who knows.

certainly for my part i am very please w/ my results using the XonarDG.
 
atarione said:
i'm not discounting the one dudes back experience w/ the XonarDG but his results seem far different than many / most ..certainly different than my own.. I really like my DG and have had no problems with mine... maybe he had a dud or maybe it just had a conflict with something in his particular set up? who knows.

certainly for my part i am very please w/ my results using the XonarDG.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm thinking...either everyone is whack and doesn't know good sound OR my sound card was bad.

Myself, just like most here, know my hardware VERY well...like I said above I can say 100% that it was not the software or settings nor was it my hardware (receiver, headphones, headphone amp, cables, connectors, etc.). I triple checked everything, tried different gains, different equalization settings, different sound output settings (stereo, Dolby Headphone, etc, etc)...just nothing I could do made this card sound better than my on board let alone anywhere near better.

SO the ONLY thing I can think of is that either my card was bad (don't hear much if anything about "bad" sound cards...either work or they don't) or other people don't really know what to listen for...I mean my audio gear is pretty high-end (Denon/JBL home theater and Sony PFR-V1 headphones with AudioTrak amp) so maybe I can just discern the issues better than those using cheap speakers or headphones.

Either way, I've always discouraged the use or purchase of the DG.

EDIT: Sorry if I sound like a stuck up audio snob in my above post but I just don't have any other explanation as to how people can say it sounds awesome...
 
I don't think people say it sounds amazing, most praise for it is that it is better than onboard, supports Dolby Headphone (big for gaming) and costs $20. I still have mine so I could do a side-by-side with my Essence, except I don't know that the DG would drive my DT880s well enough to make it a fair comparison. Maybe I'll dig out my HD555s and try them with it again.
 
If you want to drive nice headphones like the AD700s then you will either need to upgrade to a card with a built-in headphone amp like the Xonar ST/STX or run the DG to a desktop headphone amp like the Fiio E9 as mentioned a few times in this thread.

Another cheaper option is the Fiio E10 USB Dac/Amp http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10-USB-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B005VO7LG6 but you'll lose Dolby Headphone
 
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SithSolo1 said:
If you want to drive nice headphones like the AD700s then you will either need to upgrade to a card with a built-in headphone amp like the Xonar ST/STX or run the DG to a desktop headphone amp like the Fiio E9 as mentioned a few times in this thread.

Another cheaper option is the Fiio E10 USB Dac/Amp http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10-USB-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B005VO7LG6 but you'll lose Dolby Headphone
Click to expand...

The AD700s are very easy to drive (only 32 ohms); you don't need an amp for them. And the DG has a built-in amp anyway.
 
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Xonar DX on the other hand is really Crisp and clean so clean I sold it. Picked up a DG not sure what to expect. I shouldn't of sold the DX though. I thought onboard was going to be fine with my z906 setup but I got alot of popping and cracking. I loved my Soundblaster Audigy card which work on my old motherboard that thing is the bomb but Creative products are a landfill and they only sell top end cards it seems now.
 
Okay here's something I noticed. On my Logitech G35s in its control panel I have the Treble and Bass all the way up. I noticed that when I turned the treble down it sounded muffled like with what I hear with my Xonar. I checked the xonar effects but there's no real treble slider.
 
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