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9246 Comments

  1. patchbr03 Feb 2023 @ 19:37

    I ran the RMAA test (24Bit/96Khz). I found that the lowDPC and C-media options could not output more than 20Khz. Only the normal ASUS option output more than normally. Is this supposed to be normal? Or what am I missing?

    Reply

    • CarvedInside05 Feb 2023 @ 00:39

      I'm not aware of such an issue. In real sound output tests, the card will output the sound including beyond 20kHz with Low DPC Latency configuration, this much I know.

      1. In RMAA there are a couple of options that limit the frequency range, for example there is one in General-> "Analyze noise and distortions only in 20 Hz - 20 kHz range", did you unchecked this in all tests?
      2. In each case (Normal, Low DPC Latency etc.), along with setting the cards and Windows Sound->Speakers to 96kHz, you also needed to change the Line In "Default format" to 96 000 Hz in Windows Sound settings, was this done?
      3. Which UNi Xonar driver version, OS and Xonar card do you have?
      4. When you say "could not output more than 20Khz", I assume you checked this by viewing one or more of the graphs from RMAA result, which ones?
      5. Mention any settings you might have changed in RMAA over the default settings.
      6. Send me (in the form select "other reasons than above") your RMAA .sav results for each case.

      Reply

      • patchbr05 Feb 2023 @ 03:16

        I used to use xonar DX and I knew this phenomenon then. But I used it as it was.
        I recently bought a new DX and found the same problem and wanted to know the cause of this.
        1. I checked and unchecked the option, but nothing changed.
        2. Line-in setting is set at 24-96
        3. Currently v1.64-r3. In the past, I sometimes tested several versions, but the problem has never been solved.
        5. The RMAA setting is in the default state.
        6. I sent an email with a file attached.
        Thank you very much for your concern.

        Reply

    • billgates22 Mar 2023 @ 04:12

      Yes, I had such a problem on ST on win10 that when outputting sound at a sampling rate of 192kHz, if there is NOISE in the sound above 20kHz (for example, converting from sacd to flac 192kHz), it turns into hiss at audible frequencies below 20kHz with -60dB level, while frequencies above 20kHz are simply cut off (all parameters are set correctly - output is 24 bit 192 kHz and the same for inputs). But when using asio everything is fine. I don't know if it's a problem on my system or if it's a problem with the driver (and I've checked ALL unixonar and original versions). In other words, the mme wdm wasapi and other modes do not work properly now. In any case, I listen through asio, so this problem is bearable for me.

      Reply

  2. UserOS11 Mar 2023 @ 21:12

    Xonar DX Windows 11 22H2. The sound stutters. I had to turn it off. Tried disabling TPM, didn't help.

    Reply

    • CarvedInside12 Mar 2023 @ 16:55

      1. When did this sound stutter issue started happening? Like when you updated to version 22H2 from previous Windows 11 version, since installing Windows 11, after last Windows updates etc.
      2. With the onboard soundcard you don't have this sound stutters?
      3. Have you tried reinstalling the Xonar drivers? Trying Low DPC Latency configuration?
      4. What CPU and motherboard do you have?

      Reply

  3. Ford12 Mar 2023 @ 17:57

    Hello again. I have read a lot on the internet on many forums. Tested a lot of things. nothing helps. have not yet seen anyone who really tries to solve the problem with these sound cards. so far there is no solution to the problem. I believe more and more that it is a harder problem. If this is a driver problem, why hasn't this been fixed? This is not a new problem but a problem that has existed almost since these sound cards were new. At least what I've read

    Reply

    • CarvedInside12 Mar 2023 @ 18:40

      What problem are you taking about? The white noise problem that you said you have with your STX card? Then your comment again isn't made where it belongs. In fact I don't see a point at all, only to complain that there is no solution.
      I told you that based on your description it does not look like the OCCASIONAL LOUD white noise issue, and from what I could tell back then, your didn't even bother checking the link to what I suggested your problem actually was...

      The amount of time I've spent going through your comments, trying to understand what you meant, moving your comments from new comments to replies, from unrelated replies to new comments, correcting your comments, asking you at least 3 times to write the product names properly. I can't do this anymore, so please make an actual effort to make the comments properly, comment only when necessary and only on the subject discussed. If you can't, or you still don't understand how the comment system works, then please don't comment anymore.

      Reply

      • Ford12 Mar 2023 @ 19:06

        Everyone who owns it
        Asus Xonar Essence STX or DX. but especially STX. know that they have big problems with (HISS) (HISSING) This is not exactly a new problem. No solution to the problem as far as I know.

        This is what I was talking about.

        Sorry if I called hissing something else 2 things can sound a bit similar

        Reply

        • JB12 Mar 2023 @ 21:35

          @Ford Yes I have a similar issue with the hiss, it's almost a little like a ground loop hum.

          I use a Xonar STX connected using analog RCA output to a 5.1 amp and speakers. The amp and speakers on their own produce no hum/hiss but as soon as the PC is turned on and the relay on card clicks, the noise starts.

          It seems much worse on the rear and center outputs, the front outputs don't seem to be affected as much.

          I have tried shielding the card, moving to another slot on the motherboard, and ensuring that the power supply to the card is not shared with anything else.

          Not sure if I might have an issue with the card now.

          Admin notice: Comment moved by admin from new comment to a reply. Please use Reply button when replying to a comment.

          Reply

          • CarvedInside13 Mar 2023 @ 00:04

            Your comment was originally written as a new comment instead of a reply to the comment your where replying to. When replying to an existing comment please use the Reply button on the right of the comment you are replying to.

            Despite Ford writing about the issue as hissing (yet again), he claimed it's not the permanent hiss issue and instead the occasional loud white noise issue.

            About the permanent hiss noise I've written here in case you are interested.

            Reply

          • Ford13 Mar 2023 @ 00:22

            There is no solution to this problem that I am aware of. I've tried absolutely everything. Even in 3 completely different computers, both with speakers and earphones. I have spent quite some time on the internet without finding a single solution to this problem. Some people think they have found a solution, but the problem does not go away completely.

            I'm afraid the only solution is to replace it with a different sound card.

            Maxedtech (UNI) does not make the driver itself, but makes it work in Windows versions 10 og 11. According to what I have read, the driver itself is no longer updated.

            Reply

    • Case13 Mar 2023 @ 04:16

      "If this is a driver problem, why hasn't this been fixed?"

      You should probably realize that the last time both the Xonar STX and DX have received an official driver update was in 2015, as in 8 years ago. I very much doubt anyone is working on new drivers, either at Asus or at CMI. CarvedInside tries the best he can, but he can't really solve driver-level issues, he's just a very dedicated fan, not an official support tech/dev.

      From the official standpoint, by all accounts these sound cards might all be considered no longer supported.

      Reply

  4. Sevid19 Mar 2023 @ 04:08

    Hello. I have an issue since a year ago more or less. It happens that sometimes the right channel goes away unexpectedly. It specifically happens when I’m watching a youtube/twitch video and I go forward de video by clicking the time bar; the moment that I do click, the right channel switches off. The only “solution” that I know is to restart the computer. It’s super super random because it can happen a few times in the same day or I can spent weeks without any problem.

    My audio card is Xonar DX. I use Windows 10 (22H2 right now, but it happened with previous versions as well). It happens with both drivers UNi-Xonar-1823-v1.80a-r3 and UNi-Xonar-W10-1825-v1.81a-r2.

    Thank you in advance.

    Reply

    • CarvedInside19 Mar 2023 @ 23:16

      What motherboard do you have?

      Check that the auxiliary power is properly connected to the Xonar DX, maybe it's a bit loose. See section 3 from this article on more info on this.

      When this issue happens you can use Xonar Driver Restart instead of restarting the PC.

      Reply

      • Sevid20 Mar 2023 @ 01:46

        I have an ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. B150M-C (LGA1151) with an i5-6600. I can't check the connection right now but I would say that it's well connected.

        Thank you for that driver, at least is more convenient than restarting the computer.
        ---
        Update: The connection is fine

        Reply

        • CarvedInside22 Mar 2023 @ 07:12

          I think the issue is caused by some hardware issue with your card. The Xonar Driver Restart application will work because the card is reinitialized when the driver is restarted.

          Reply

  5. X700722 Mar 2023 @ 02:49

    should I use this for eCLARO OMEGA HT PCIe card? which one is the best for windows 11 22H2 moment 2. i only want to use it for Headphones with Sennheiser HD800s and DTSX or the Xear3D Headphones

    Reply

    • CarvedInside22 Mar 2023 @ 07:07

      You can use them with your card. Check the UNi Xonar Features page to see if any of those are of interest to you. Try the 1.80a version.

      Reply

  6. fiqulty05 Apr 2023 @ 13:54

    I wish to feedback that there is an obvious difference between the sound produced by music files (played via Spotify) on the Asus Essence STX II 7.1, between the UNi Xonar 1.80b r3 driver, versus the UNi Xonar v1.81a r2 driver. The soundstage is present on the "UNi Xonar 1.80b r3 driver, but seems to be missing from the UNi Xonar v1.81a r2 driver. I am using the same Equalizer settings (Soft Rock) on both v1.80b r3 and v1.81a r2 drivers.

    Reply

    • CarvedInside06 Apr 2023 @ 20:34

      Which Windows have to tested this on? Have you noticed this also without the Equalizer being enabled? If you haven't and get the chance to test this at some point let me know of the results.

      When I have more time I will (re)do RMAA audio tests with and without Eq and some audio listening tests to see if I notice the same.

      Reply

  7. Zav17 Apr 2023 @ 04:36

    Hello. I had a problem with the right channel. I think the reason is Discord. If Discord is turned off, there are no problems with sound for 3-4 days.

    Xonar DX + 1.80a driver

    Reply

  8. PimpUigi19 May 2023 @ 08:12

    Hey there!
    I only tend to crash when switching from 2 Speakers to Headphones, or vice versa. When the click happens on the soundcard; the system just crashes and I hear the bios beep. No BSOD.
    I was wondering if there were any suggestions on how I could reduce the odds of this happening? It seems to be about a 50/50 chance.

    This is the event viewer error from the WHEA Logger:
    A fatal hardware error has occurred.

    Reported by component: Processor Core
    Error Source: Machine Check Exception
    Error Type: Bus/Interconnect Error
    Processor APIC ID: 0

    Reply

    • PimpUigi25 May 2023 @ 10:25

      Thought I'd give a followup post here: I figured the problem is I'm running a Ryzen CPU with an Asus Crosshair VI WiFi board.
      But I wanted to give the positive news that I've been rock solid stable as long as I avoid anything that makes the card go *click*; and even then it's about a 50/50 chance I'll be fine.

      I've worked around this by using a breakaway cable with my headphones and just running it in headphones mode since I'm using PCM/optical audio for my speakers.
      Crash free since. Just plug in my headphones and mute my speakers when I need to do that.

      Reply

  9. Pengu24 May 2023 @ 12:14

    Currently using: Essence STX
    Colleague of mine is giving me his Essence STX II can I plug the STX II in without uninstalling drivers or is it wiser to uninstall and reinstall anyway?

    Reply

    • CarvedInside24 May 2023 @ 22:54

      Uninstall and reinstall. Preferably install 1.80b driver that's specifically made for STX II cards.

      Reply

      • Pengu25 May 2023 @ 06:37

        Thank you very much for your reply. As for the Essence STX I, should I ideally use the v1.81a r2 or the v1.80a r3 version? (I am using windows 10)

        Reply

        • CarvedInside25 May 2023 @ 17:52

          v1.80a is a better choice. Don't really recommend v1.81a, unless you have some issue you want to see if it does not manifest on other drivers.

          Reply

          • Pengu27 May 2023 @ 05:32

            Thank you very much for taking your time to reply to my questions.

            Reply

          • Pengu26 Jun 2023 @ 05:37

            Dear CarvedInside,

            I strongly believe the Essence STX II has problems working with my b550 Aorus Pro (v1) motherboard. I have been experiencing random reboots out of no where without error codes. No BSOD even with automatic restart option disabled. Today I read that the Essence STX I and II might have compatibility issues with the later Ryzen releases. Funnily enough it seems like the Essence STX I works just fine.

            The specifications of my system and tested components are:
            B550 Aorus Pro v1 (Bios used: F14 (Agesa 1.2.0.5), F15 (Agesa 1.2.0.7), F15c (Agesa 1.2.0.8))
            Ryzen 5800x3d (also tested with 5600x)
            RTX 3080 (also tested with older gtx 770 used DDU in safe mode to uninstall drivers)
            RAM: Corsair vengeance 3600mhz CL16 2x16gb (also tested with Ballistix 3600mhz CL16 4x8GB)
            PSU: Corsair RMx 2021 750watt

            Edit:
            Essence STX I: Driver used 1.80a
            Essence STX II: Driver used 1.80b

            Reply

            • CarvedInside02 Jul 2023 @ 17:27

              I don't know where you've read that STX I has compatibility issues, but that assumption is incorrect as those issues are with mostly with STX II.
              You have the article I wrote, there you have all the information about Xonar cards and AMD Ryzen motherboards compatibility issues. Try those possible solutions, start with 3 and 7 which are easier to do, then try 1, 8 and 9.

              Then write a comment there reporting all the information, which possible solution worked, which didn't. For reference, mention the fact that STX works fine on the platform.

              Please keep future support questions separated, if you have a new separate issue then start a new comment and not as a reply to a previous discussion thread. If a issue has a dedicated page, then the discussion should be carried there.

              Reply

            • Klajicek19 Oct 2023 @ 08:14

              Hey.

              Did you try to set the PCI EX profile to version 2 in BIOS? I found out, that when set to higher version or Auto, the PC randomly shuts down the same way you described.

              Reply

              • CarvedInside20 Oct 2023 @ 04:02

                While I appreciate you trying to be of help, in this case, it wasn't necessary as my comment already covered this aspect.

                If you like to be helpful to someone else, make a new comment under this article where you mention your motherboard, your soundcard, the PCIe slot where you plugged in the sound card (lets say 3nd from the top, x1 slot ), and mention that it works for you only with PCI EX profile (or whatever the name is) set to 2.0, otherwise it would periodically restart your PC.

                Reply

  10. Z O X25 May 2023 @ 12:52

    Hello!

    Just wanted to inform you that channel drop on Xonar DX is "solved".
    Installed 1.80r3 and using Xonar switch. With official drivers and 1.81 the card would randomly lose right channel when switching between FP headphones and speakers.
    Also, with 1.80r3 I would lose sound if speaker config is unequal when using HP and 5.1 - e.g. if I'm using 7.1 for HP and 5.1 for speakers.
    So, 5.1 for HP and 5.1 for speakers works flawlessly...
    What is interesting is that by using switch and not any control panel, the clicking sound is a lot lower.
    I've disabled any other controls other than switch from starting up since it works so well.
    It has been four days and I switch between HP/5.1 at least 10 times a day ...

    Reply

  11. MHLoppy05 Jun 2023 @ 17:58

    In the past.. month or so I've had an odd issue where all outputs through my STX seem to sort of "stall"? No sound is produced from any program at any volume level (front panel headphones, rear panel headphones, rear panel RCA), but no errors pop up. Foobar (music player) will repeatedly loop its playback on the same ~1s sample during this state. Switching Windows' audio output to a different hardware device causes playback to stop looping, but returning it again afterwards to the STX makes it loop again (i.e., switching playback device off the STX and then back again does not solve it).

    Sleeping the PC and then waking it up right after seems to fix the problem functionally-indefinitely. This has happened 2-3 times across the past 2-4 weeks, so I figured I'd put it on our collective radar.

    - Xonar STX
    - Uni drivers 1.71.1 (low DPC I think?) with Xonar Switch - I rolled back to this older version several months ago when troubleshooting BSODs
    - Windows 10 22H2 19045.2965
    - CPU: Ryzen 5950X
    - Mobo: Asus Prime X370 Pro

    Other probably-not-but-maybe relevant details:
    - Rode AI-1 audio interface
    - RTX 3060 Ti driver version 528.24, supplied via NVCleanstall, not official driver installer
    - My storage configuration is relatively exotic (lots of physical drives, lots of partitions, and a Storage Space)

    Reply

  12. Sam0nite16 Jun 2023 @ 03:52

    Hello, after 10 years, I finally bought the STX II. Mostly out of curiosity but couldn't deny my excitement as 16yr old me could only dream of ever affording it. It was a real shame to find out about all these driver issues and lack of support from Asus but really cool to find this forum. The drivers and guides have been incredibly helpful!

    Thank you CarvedInside and anyone else who has contributed.

    So far my card works safe for switching to FP which I never do or intend to. Hopeful it doesn't cause instabilities elsewhere down the line as I'm actually really enjoying the surround sound features in Red Dead Redemption 2

    Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme
    Ryzen 5950x
    Windows 11 64bit

    Reply

  13. dankjan16 Jun 2023 @ 13:52

    As of lately, and by googling it seems that most that have updated to 21H2 and above with some update in between, have an issue with the Xonar Audio Center not being able to run properly, getting an error when running it that says "Can't find any device" and just an OK button that quits the program. It remembers my headphone amp settings(what I need it to do the most), but it won't apply any EQ settings I've used in the past. It will work fine for a day or two(I guess until a reboot happens) and then it gives out the same error. Tried both 1.80 and 1.81 versions, same error.

    Reply

    • CarvedInside18 Jun 2023 @ 11:45

      Windows 10 or Windows 11? Which Xonar card?
      Try adding "AsusAudioCenter.exe" to the antivirus exceptions, for example on Windows Defender this guide could be helpful.
      This error has been discussed in the past, maybe go over the website's search results, maybe you run into something helpful.

      Reply

      • dankjan20 Jun 2023 @ 18:40

        It is W10, 21H2 LTSC. I have defender disabled, no antiviruses, and it started recently about a month ago or so.

        Edit:
        Oh, and Xonar DGX by the way. Forgot to drop that in. Will look into recent comments, but so far nothing conclusive to a solution. Thank you for replying!

        Reply

      • dankjan20 Jun 2023 @ 18:59

        I looked up a couple of solutions you posted throughout the years, the EEPROM thing, it's not it, I have the default HWID for the card. For me, it is not fixable with C-Media Panel, because I require the headphone amp setting to "exciter mode" in order to drive my headphones somewhat properly.

        Edit:
        But, I seem to have made it work with C-Media Panel, and the XonarSwitch program you created. It's not a one click solution now, but atleast it still works, and will keep it running hopefully for years to come. Thank you for everything, I have donated in the past, but it was not on the current paypal email(the old one was under a name). Regardless, I hope you get to see even more donations come in. Thank you for this project, keeping these cards alive!

        Reply

  14. Artur19 Jul 2023 @ 01:45

    Hello. After several years of trouble-free use of Unixonar drivers and STXII card, I need to format the disk. The problem is that I don't remember what version of the current drivers I have. Is there any chance to check what I downloaded and installed in the past? 🙁

    Reply

    • CarvedInside19 Jul 2023 @ 06:24

      For your card more likely you will have v1.80b.

      Open "Device Manager", expand "Sound, video, and game controllers", double click on the ASUS Xonar card, go to Driver tab and there you have the Driver Version field. The last 3 or 4 digits which audio driver version it is. If it "11.5" then you find that driver in v1.80b.

      Reply

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