Strange results with Asus Xonar D2 to TC-7510

[YoG]

Hi, I was sent a Xonar D2 today, to replace my onboard Realtek device.

The prob for me is: i cannot get the same results as with the cheap Realtek.

I wonder if the Beresford can actually handle the Xonar? Why, you might ask? Well the sound is nice and detailed. But, it behaves like the music is streamed from a radiostation: very compressed like. It softens loud sounds. Very noticable in 'analog' music, like Jeff Buckley's Eternal Life but almost impossible to hear with digital music, like Empire Of The Sun.

Another strange thing that occurs is that i can hear the music from my PC on ANY selected input (both the optical and coax channels, though its physically connected to the second coax input of the beresford)

Im not familiar with his but my guess is that the Beresford cannot handle the electrical in/output specs from the Xonar?

did i just waste my money?..

[leo]

Afraid I don't know the Xonar and only just had a 7510 yesterday which I'm repairing for somebody so don't know a lot about that yet either

A thought though is the SPDIF output set too high on the Xonar? is it clipping dynamics?
I presume things like drivers etc is installed for the Xonar, whats the analogue out of the Xonar like, is that ok

[YoG]

Afraid I don't know the Xonar and only just had a 7510 yesterday which I'm repairing for somebody so don't know a lot about that yet either

youll love it.. once its run in

A thought though is the SPDIF output set too high on the Xonar?

Ive been playing with nearly all the settings, except for the volume. No its not clipping (vinyl-scratch dust noises) but softening all loud sound and bring forward all soft ones, like the compression-technique they use in radiostations.

BUT

Ive set the Volume Control in Windows Kmixer panel to about 20%. Now its sounding a lot better.
But i dont think this is the solution to keep. Dunno how to explain but i think its rather a on/off setting somewhere that will fix it, than fiddling with volumes.. this is digital stuff
With the current 20% setting, i can never be 100% sure its not clipping/removing little subtle sounds..
I could set the Volume Control to 1% and increase the volume on my amp to the max.. but i dont think thats the way to go

SPDIF should be able to handle 100% volumes, right? Like my cheap Realtek did

is it clipping dynamics?

I think thats the right way to describe it

I presume things like drivers etc is installed for the Xonar, whats the analogue out of the Xonar like, is that ok

i still have to try that out.. gonna do right away

[Tom472]

Are you using the exact same cable and interface as before - i.e. coax vs optical?

[YoG]

Are you using the exact same cable and interface as before - i.e. coax vs optical?

No only tried the Coax.
But i dont think any type of cable is involved here. Im now listening with analogue cables and have the same problem.
So its not the Beresford causing it (even though its strange all sound from pc is spread over all the inputs )

I think (and very much hope so) its software-related

Like Leo said, 'Clipping Dynamics' is the best way to describe my problem.
What generally causes this?

thanks for the help so far

[YoG]

.. i have to add, the Xonar is sounding awesome. There is definately a difference in different digital sources
it might be just 1's and 0's in theory, but there is a huge improvement in sound quality with this lovely Asus card

[YoG]

So the dynamic clipping is not caused by the DAC. But still, the Xonar doesnt like it. And i hope it does not damage the beresford. Mainly because the DAC keeps sending sound to my amp even when i power it off! I have to plug out the power supply to make it stop

I suppose the Xonar is too 'heavy' for the beresford?
Does this have anything to do with Ohm ?

[foxysounds]

I know this is a stupid question but...

Is the realtek device still in the PC too? If so, does it have an audio connection directly to your amp? (The fact that you appear to get output from the DAC regardless of which input is selected and even if you switch the DAC off, suggests to me that the audio is in fact taking a totally different route).

By the way, if you still haven't installed the Asus drivers then do so. You won't get the best out of the card using standard Microsoft Windows ones.

Simon.

[YoG]

I know this is a stupid question but...

Is the realtek device still in the PC too? If so, does it have an audio connection directly to your amp? (The fact that you appear to get output from the DAC regardless of which input is selected and even if you switch the DAC off, suggests to me that the audio is in fact taking a totally different route).

no its an onboard sounddevice. I disabled it inside the Bios-setup, it also doesnt show up in my Windows Device Manager anymore.

By the way, if you still haven't installed the Asus drivers then do so. You won't get the best out of the card using standard Microsoft Windows ones.

yep did that in first place i might wanna try the hacked/modified ones..

but guess what? i was fiddling with the windows mixer and left/right channels. And all of a sudden, THE CLIPPING IS GONE YAY ! Even though i got every volume (from asus cotrol panel, foobar etc) set at 100%.
Music is totally fine now, brilliant detail and no loss in detail (unlike before: i had the volume set at 20%, cant be good for maxing out the dynamics ??)

So its software-regulated somehow. I hope it stays in this state when ive rebooted

I love my Xonar although the first handshake was little overpolite