ASUS XONAR DSX

[mgsamps]

Hello,
Got this card today and it sounds awful, It does not sounds clean and smooth at all like my last Audigy 2 It sounds distorted, bass is muddled and treble sounds rough.
There is also a lot of noise in the background and the speakers don't come back on when headphones are removed as I thought they should. I'm Very dissapointed after all the hype about these cards.
Everything on default settings and tried with Sennheiser HD-595 and Cambridge Soundworks THX.
Has Anyone got any ideas why? or are my ears just too critical? as I'm about to send it back and go back to a Creative.

 

[gamerk316]

Odd, might need to toy around with the EQ a bit. I'd toy with the LFE Crossover frequency slider a bit at the very least. Make sure Dolby Headphone is disabled, etc.

And I do note the DS(X) is one of the lower tier Xonars, but I'd be shocked if anything sounded outright BAD using it...

 

[mgsamps]

Odd, might need to toy around with the EQ a bit. I'd toy with the LFE Crossover frequency slider a bit at the very least. Make sure Dolby Headphone is disabled, etc.

And I do note the DS(X) is one of the lower tier Xonars, but I'd be shocked if anything sounded outright BAD using it...

Update:
Thanks for the info. The games sounded OK'ish, it was the music sound quality I was most concerned about.
I may have jumped the gun a bit as I found the graphic equalizer to be turned on in windows media player and it was all over the place. I've turned it off now and it has made a big difference.

I did have a play with all the settings and found the sample rate settings made quite a difference. PCM 96Khz being a little fuller with higher treble and the PCM 192Khz setting was more open and cleaner. The other two settings were worse. I also Had to lift the volume levels to 86 on both channels in the mixer tab and reduce the master volume knob to the 2 O'clock setting to get better output levels without the sound limiter kicking in and ruining the sound.

Also I've found that as I've used it for a couple of days the general sound quality is improving. I think this is due to the "burn in effect" so hopefully the more I use it the better it will get. I Also plan on changing the Op-Amp IC to the LM4562, (Other suggestions welcome)

The difference between the DS and the DSX is that the DSX is a newer version and has the PCI Express x1 slot type.
This card does not have the Dolby headphone like the cheaper DG.

 

[gamerk316]

Yeah, any type of sound leving kills quality.

 

[staytuned]

Xonar DSX is the cheapest sound card that allows Op-Amp swap. Try to get some audiophile-grade Op-Amps (such as Xonar Essence One's NE 5532 or even Muse). The sound quality will be amazingly upgraded just like many audiophile sound cards!!

 

[mgsamps]

My DSX already came with an NE 5532 op-amp as standard. I have changed that for the highly coveted LM4562NA op-amp which has helped smooth out the sound a little, but I still don't think it sounds as good as my previous SB Audigy2. Maybe it needs a few weeks to burn in properly.