Xonar Essence STX Audio card User manual
E7806 Revised Edition V2 October 2012 Copyright © 2012 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).
Contents Notices.......................................................................................................... iv Safety information........................................................................................ v Trademarks.................................................................................................... v License.......................................................................................................... v 1. Introduction................................
Notices Federal Communications Commission Statement This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: • • This device may not cause harmful interference, and This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
Safety information • • • • • • • • Before installing the device on a motherboard, carefully read all the manuals that came with the package. To prevent electrical shock hazard or short circuits, switch off the power supply before installing the device on a motherboard or connecting any singal cables to the device. If the device is broken, do not try to fix it by yourself. Contact a qualified service technician or your retailer. Before using the product, make sure all cables are correctly connected.
1. Introduction 1.1 Package contents • ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI Express audio card • 3.5mm-to-6.3mm adapter x1 • • • • 1.2 3.5mm-to-RCA cable x1 S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adapter x1 Support CD Audio Precision Test Report System requirements • One PCI Express 1.0 (or higher) compatible slot for the audio card • Intel® Pentium® 4 1.
Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz rmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz 0.0003% (-110dB) for Front-out 0.001% (-100dB) for Headphone-out 0.0002% (-113dB) for Line-in sponse (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz format): <10Hz to 80KHz 2 Vrms (5.65 Vp-p) Full-Scale Voltage mpedance bility 1.3 Specifications summary Optimized for 32~600Ω -PCI Express Rev.1.0a specification compatible -Max. full 2.
FlexBassTM environment from as few as two speakers. Dolby Pro-Logic II is the well-known technology to process any native stereo or 5.1-channel audio into a 6.1 channel output, creating a seamless, natural surround soundfield. -DS3D GX 2.5 supports EAX gaming sound effects and DirectSound 3D hardware enhanced functions for more games on Windows Vista & XP. (DirectX/DirectSound 3D compatible) -DS3D GX 2.5 adds latest VocalFX voice effects for online gaming or chatting.
2. Xonar Essence STX card layout 6 1 7 2 8 9 3 4 5 No Item Description 1 Front Right Out port Connect the Right audio cable (red) from your 2/2.1 channel speakers to this port. For multi-channel speaker systems, connects to the Front Right In port on the powered speakers. 2 Front Left Out port Connect the Left audio cable (white) from your 2/2.1 channel speakers to this port. For multi-channel speaker systems, connects to the Front Left In port on the powered speakers.
4 Line In port Connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers and other line-level sound sources to this 6.3mm port for audio recording or processing. (Through Ultra-high fidelity 118dB SNR A-D converter) 5 S/PDIF Out port Coaxial and optical TOSLINK combo digital output port. Connects to external digital decoder or digital speaker systems, Home Theater systems, AV receivers for outputting digital audio including PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA-Pro, etc.
3. Installing the hardware 3.1 Preparing your computer Before you proceed with the following installation steps, it is recommended that you disable the onboard audio device in the BIOS settings, or uninstall any other sound cards on your PC. For BIOS setting or uninstallation of other sound cards, refer to the user manuals of your motherboard and sound cards. 1. 2. Unplug the computer power cord from your computer and power outlet. 3.
3.2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Installing the Xonar Essence STX card Secure the audio card with screws and the metal bracket. Connect the 4-pin power cable of your power supply unit to the power connector of the audio card. Put back the chassis cover. Reconnect all cables. Plug the power cord to the computer and to a power outlet. Power ON the computer. The PCI Express high-quality audio card requires additional power from your computer.
3.3 1. 2. 3. Connecting to a TV tuner card If you have a traditional PCI or PCI Express TV tuner card on your PC, you may need to connect it to the Xonar Essence STX card to send the tuner card’s sound to your PC speakers. Secure the PCI/PCI Express TV tuner card and screw it into the back-panel. Connect the audio output header from the TV tuner card to the Aux-In header of the Xonar Essence STX card.
4. Installing software Installing the card driver Ensure that you have installed the VGA card driver before installing the Xonar Essence STX driver. Otherwise, driver installation error may occur. 1. 2. 3. 4. After you have installed the Xonar Essence STX card, turn on your computer. Windows® automatically detects the HDAV card and searches for device drivers. When prompted for the drivers, click Cancel. Insert the support CD into the optical drive.
5. Connecting speakers and peripherals 5.1 Connecting digital speaker systems (Home Theater) The Xonar Essence STX supports Dolby Digital Live technology, which transcodes any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital surround bit-streams. This makes playback through your home theater system possible, creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sound experience.
5.2 Connecting stereo headphones Headphone Out The Headphone Out port has a built-in high-quality amplifier to drive headphones. Connect your stereo headphones to the Headphone Out port son the Xonar Essence STX card.
5.3 Connecting 2/2.1 channel speakers 2 Speakers 2.1 Speakers 1 1 1 Front Right Out Front Left Out 12 No Item Description 1 Front Left/Right Out The Left/Right Front Out ports have a built-in high-quality amplifier to drive headphones. Connect the 2/2.1 speaker set’s 3.5mm plug to the bundled RCA-to-3.5mm Y cable, and then connect the Left/Right ends to the Front Left/Right Out ports on the Xonar Essence STX card.
5.4 Connecting microphone 1 2 2 1 Front Right Out Front Left Out Mic In 2 No 1 Item Description Front Left/Right Out port/Headphone port Connect the headphone’s 3.5mm plug to the bundled RCAto-3.5mm Y cable, and then connect the Left/Right ends to the to Front Left/Right Out ports on the Xonar Essence STX card. Microphone Input port Connect your external PC microphone to this port by using the bundled 6.3mm-to-3.5mm adapter for voice communication, recording, or karaoke.
5.5 Connecting Line-In audio sources 1 14 Line In No Item Description 1 Line Input Jack Connect the CD/MP3 Player or any other Line level analog audio sources to this Line-In port by using the bundled 6.3mm-to-3.5mm adapter for sound recording or real-time Dolby sound processing through the Monitoring path (See the Mixer section of the driver guide).
6. Xonar Audio Center 6.1 Xonar Audio Center GUI 1. After the driver installation is complete and your computer has been rebooted, you will find the Xonar Audio Center’s icon in the system tray on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Double click this icon to open the Xonar Audio Center utility. If the icon could not be found in the system tray, launch the Xonar Audio Center from the Windows desktop by clicking Start > All Programs > ASUS Xonar Essence STX Audio > Xonar Essence STX Audio Center.
16 No Item Description 1 Support link Clicking this button will lead you to the ASUS official website. 2 Display Area This display area shows the 10-band signal meter, volume level, and the status of the Dolby/DTS technologies, EQ, and DSP modes. Note: this area just displays information, but is not used to alter settings. 3 Setting Menu Panel This panel gives access to setting tabs, including Main Settings, Mixer/volume, Effects, Karaoke, FlexBass, and VocalFX.
6.2 Main Setting 6.2.1 Sample Rate The sample rate determines the number of audio samples per second that the Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC) and S/PDIF digital interface will output. The Xonar Essence STX card can support sample rates up to 192KHz (44.1K, 48K, 96K, 192KHz). Usually audio CDs and MP3 files are 44.1KHz; DVD-Video uses 48KHz; DVD-Audio or other HD media may contain 96KHz or 192KHz highdefinition audio content.
6.2.2 Analog Out mode 1 2 3 18 No Item Description 1 Analog Out The Analog Out setting is used to match your actual speaker setting, such as headphones and 2/2.1 speakers. Xonar Essence STX will play the channels and do the proper 3D/Dolby sound processing accordingly. Select the correct speaker type for your connected speakers. 2 Speaker Test Click this button to show the speaker test window in the right pane.
6.2.3 SPDIF Out/DDL Xonar Essence STX is capable of outputting Dolby Digital Live, which is a real-time encoder that transcodes any audio, including games and music, into industrystandard Dolby Digital bit-streams on-the-fly. This is ideal for playback through a home theater system, creating an impressive cinema surround sound experience. It enables a single digital connection to carry high quality Dolby Digital surround audio from your PC to digital speakers and AV Receivers.
6.2.4 Audio Channels (For Vista only) This setting only appears in Windows Vista. Vista will deliver the audio channels to the audio driver according to this setting, no matter what the original audio content is or how many channels they have. Therefore, you need to set this in accordance with your audio content before you play it. Please note that this setting is synchronized with Vista’s system speaker configuration and changing the setting during playback will cease the audio playback program.
6.2.5 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter The 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter has the following major features: • Expanding/upmixing audio to 7.1-channel surround sound • Shiftable virtual speaker positioning allows you to adjust the best sound field easily without moving physical speakers and wires • Virtualizing 7.1 surround sound over any set of speakers 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 No Item Description 1 Shifter enable/disable Click this check box to enable the 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter.
6.2.6 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx Dolby Pro-Logic IIx is a 7.1 surround upmixing technology and is widely used in home theater systems, TVs, game consoles, and car audio systems. It can expand stereo audio, such as MP3, CD, and TV programs into immersive 5.1 or 7.1-channel surround. 2 3 4 1 22 No Item Description 1 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx enable/disable Click this check box to enable Dolby Pro-Logic IIx. Clicking the text bar will switch the right window to the Pro-Logic IIx page for manual adjustments.
6.2.7 Dolby Headphone Dolby Headphone creates a stunning multi-channel surround experience over ordinary stereo headphones for playing 3D games, watching 5.1 DVD movies, and listening to music. Dolby Headphone produces surround sound cues so realistic that you will believe you are listening over speakers in a well-controlled studio. Dolby Headphone can also improve listening comfort and reduce "listener fatigue" from long listening over headphones.
6.2.8 Dolby Virtual Speaker Dolby Virtual Speaker technology simulates a 5.1-speaker surround sound listening environment from as few as two speakers. Dolby Virtual Speaker also creates a wider two-channel environment during playback of stereo CDs and MP3 content, and when combined with Dolby Pro Logic® II processing, delivers a virtual 5.1-channel surround listening experience from any high-quality stereo source.
6.3 Mixer/Volume The mixer page is designed to control the volume for playback and recording on the Xonar Essence STX. In addition, the Xonar Essence STX also provides a highquality digital monitoring function for hearing the recorded audio from the speakers. You can also process the input signals with all playback sound effects such as Dolby and DTS technologies. 6.3.1 Playback Volume 1 6 2 3 4 5 No Item Description 1 Playback volume tab Click this button to show the playback volume page.
6.3.2 Recording/Monitoring Volume 1 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 No Item Description 1 Recording Volume Tab Click this button to show the recording volume page. 2 Left/Right balance This horizontal slider controls the volume between the left and right channels. 3 Recording volume slider Drag this slider down to decrease the recording volume; drag up to increase the recording volume. The tool-tip reveals the percentage number from 1 to 100 in terms of the full scale level.
6 Monitoring button Click this button to monitor and loopback recording audio to outputs (PC speakers). Therefore, the recording volume will influence the monitoring signals from speaker outputs. The audio will be mixed into the streams you are playing out from your PC and all DSP effects will be applied to the source, too. A typical benefit is to apply Dolby Pro-Logic IIx 7.1-ch spreading for your TV audio, CD, MP3, or stereo game console audio from Wii, Xbox, PS2/PS3/PSP, etc.
6.4 Effects 6.4.1 Environment Effects Environment effects can be used to create realistic listening experiences that mimic different environments. There are a total of 27 environment options, which can be applied to all 2D sound sources, like music. 3 1 2 28 No Item Description 1 Default environments These four buttons activate Bathroom, Concert hall, Underwater, and Music Pub environments, respectively.
6.4.2 10-Band Equalizer The equalizer can modify the audio output for different frequencies, and be used to compensate for deficiencies in your speakers/systems. There are 12 default patterns and you can also make your own settings. 1 3 2 4 5 6 No Item Description 1 Default equalizer options There are 12 available equalizer patterns. Click one to apply it.
6.5 Karaoke The Xonar Essence STX provides powerful features for Karaoke, including KeyShifting, Vocal Cancellation, and Microphone Echo. Key-Shifting can change the pitch of Karaoke background music, and Vocal Cancellation can reduce the original vocal in songs and keep the music and symphony for karaoke. 5 1 2 3 4 30 No Item Description 1 On/Off Click the switch to turn on or off the functions on this page.
6.6 FlexBass FlexBass, an advanced bass management and enhancement mechanism, allows you to select each satellite speaker’s type for optimal sound performance from the speakers. (Small: common speaker that cannot produce low frequencies; Large: wide-band speakers that can produce low frequencies well). It comes with an adjustable crossover frequency for the boundary of the bass signals.
4 32 LFE Crossover Frequency Adjusts the cut-off frequency (20~250Hz) for LFE (lowfrequency effects) signals. Xonar Essence STX will filter out the bass signals below the crossover frequency from small speaker channels and forward them to the subwoofer. The higher the crossover frequency, the more bass signals will be subtracted.
6.7 Smart Volume Normalization Smart Volume NormalizationTM (SVN) automatically keeps all music or video/TV audio output at a constant level to reduce manual adjustment hassles inherent with sound sources of different loudness. It allows you to listen to various content, like MP3, TV program, DVD video and even games with consistent sound level. The following graph shows how different signals 1 & 2 will become the same level (for example, 10dB below full scale) after you turn on SVN.
3 2 1 34 No Item Description 1 SVN On/Off Click this button to enable SVN. This button is outlined blue when active. 2 SVN blue light When SVN is enabled, the master volume knob will be illuminated by a blue light. It will be lit red if the volume is muted. 3 SVN display When SVN is enabled, “Smart Volume” will be lit up at the bottom of the volume meter and the volume meter will show the level.
6.8 DS3D GX and DSP Modes Xonar Essence STX is introducing an innovative technology –DirectSound 3D Game Extensions v1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0)- to restore DirectSound 3D Hardware acceleration mode and its subsidiary EAX effects on Windows Vista for 3D games. Unlike some proprietary API like OpenAL, DS3D GX doesn’t require games to support OpenAL API. All existing games compatible with Microsoft DirectX and DirectSound 2D/3D will be supported with DS3D GX technology.
3 36 4 2 5 1 No Item Description 1 GX Mode DirectSound 3D Game Extensions mode to support EAX and DirectSound 3D Hardware extensions for lots of DirectX/ DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista. 2 Hi-Fi Mode This mode is set for Hi-Fidelity playback, where all effects will be cleared to keep the original digital data and analog output quality as high as possible. 3 Music Mode This mode is set for Music playback. 4 Movie Mode This mode is set for DVD Movie playback.
6.9 VocalFX VocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology to let your voice get into the realistic game landscape (VoiceEX) or to emulate the background scenes in online chat (ChatEX). It also allows you to change your voice pitch to disguise who you are (Magic Voice). These features dramatically increase the fun for voice communication on PC. 3 4 5 1 2 No Item Description 1 VoiceEX It produces realistic and dynamic environmental reverberation for your voice in 3D gaming communication.
For 3D Games 1. 2. Check the check box of VoiceEX and Local VoiceEX. Make sure you and your team member can talk to each other in the game. For VOIP 1. 38 Press App List 2. If you don’t see the VOIP application of yours in the list, press Add.(Make sure the Skype and MSN Messenger are the latest version) 3. Look for the application’s location and Open it.
4. Your VOIP application has been added into list. 5. Check the check box of ChatEX and Magic Voice. 6. You can use ChatEX and Magic Voice when you chat online. Click the checkbox to enable VocalFX function, then a prompt message will pop up: This message implies the record device will be set to microphone. Make sure the GX function is enabled. Click “OK” to accept it, or “Cancel” if you want to enable it later. Check “Don’t remind me again” if you don’t want to see this message pop up next time.
7. Troubleshooting and FAQs [Troubleshooting] The audio card driver could not be installed on my PC. Instructions: 1. 2. 3. 4. Make sure that you have properly plugged the audio card in the PCI Express slot on your motherboard. Check that the Windows hardware device manager has discovered a multimedia audio device. If no device is found, please try scanning for new hardware. Try soft reboot (restart) your Windows. Remove the card, plug it into another PCI Express slot, and try again.
3. 4. 5. Ensure that the device master volume or the software player has NOT been muted on the Xonar Essence STX Audio Center. If you are using Dolby Digital Live encoder through the S/PDIF output, the analog output will be muted to get rid of the interference between your digital speaker system and analog speakers or headphones. Check if this is the case. Try restarting your Windows. I cannot hear any sound from the S/PDIF output Instructions: 1. 2. 3. 4.
I found no sound effects when playing 96K or 192KHz sound sources. Instructions: 1. 2. 3. Currently Xonar Essence STX effects including Dolby supports common 44.1K, 48KHz sound sources processing and will assure high-definition audio (96K/192KHz) in hi-fidelity playback. This is also usually the behavior that professional audiophiles and musicians prefer. If you still want to have the effects, you can use some editing software (Ableton Live, Cakewalk, CoolEdit, Soundforge, etc.
Q4: Does the Xonar Essence STX support EAX on Vista? Answer: Yes, Xonar Essence STX can support EAX2.0 not only on Windows XP but also on Vista through innovative DirectSound3D Game EXtensions v1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0) technology. Q5: Why do I need Dolby for PC games? Answer: 1. 2. Dolby Digital and Pro-Logic IIx are available on the latest game consoles, like XBOX360, PS3, and Wii. Dolby can provide the best gaming sound experience and compatibility with home theater or TV systems.
44 ASUS Xonar Essence STX
