DONATIONS - Donation list here

Let me first say that these drivers are free of charge for everyone. Those of you who appreciate my hard work and take pleasure in contributing, you can make a small donation (minimum $3 because of fees). Bear in mind you don't donate for ASUS/C-Media work, you do it for the work that I have done and the support I'm providing.

CONTRIBUTIONS - Contributors list here

Surely donating is not the only way you can support this project. You can submit your custom made icon, application or any other little enhancements that can make UNi Xonar better. Let's not forget about spreading the word about UNi Xonar drivers and helping other Xonar owners.

RELEASE NOTES

Release notes 1.81a

Driver for all supported cards. Includes 1825 audio drivers for Windows 10. Unlike previous audio drivers, the 1825 audio driver will only work in Windows 10 and later. Due to the number of known and possible issues, the 1825 audio driver should be considered beta quality.

Driver changes:

• Windows 10: Updated audio driver to 1825 (built date: 22 ‎June ‎2016, made by C-Media).
• Updated C-Media Panel.

Other notes:

• Replaced C-Media driver uninstaller with UNi Xonar driver cleaner.

Rev. 2 changes:

• Added support for STX II cards in ASUS Audio Center, cards will be detected as STX by ASUS Audio Center but feature wise almost everything should be there with the exception of missing "IEM or for 16 ~32 ohms headsets" gain settings.

Known issues:

• 1825 audio drivers have an issue when the audio card is uninstalled, disabled or the drivers are overwritten, resulting in a system crash. In order to avoid the uninstall system crash I've come up with a workaround  that's presented below
• ASUS Audio Center: GX button is no longer showing. It has to do with 1825 audio drivers and besides the fact that GX is broken, there may be another reason why ASUS/C-Media removed it with these drivers. I'm not sure if it's worth it to bring the GX on/off control back. You could try enabling GX from C-Media Panel, named Xear3D there, or from XonarSwitch.
• STX II: ASUS Audio Center is missing the gain to "IEM or for 16 ~32 ohms headsets". Try enabling it from XonarSwitch.
• Windows 10: Before updating to new version, you should uninstall the v1.81a drivers, as the update process might result in BSOD (#1).

Possible issues:

• STX II: XonarSwitch might not work. Need more feedback on this.
• Audio playback through headphones and SPDIF at the same time isn't possible anymore. Original report. Need more confirmations.
• DSX and probably other cards: DTS Connect with 5.1 speakers does not work. Original report. Need more confirmations.
• There are reports that the sound quality of these audio drivers is different. RightMarkAudio tests that I've made didn't show any significant differences between v1.81a and v1.80a.
• The 1825 audio driver may have higher DPC latency than previous drivers. Original report. The tests that I've made didn't show any difference in DPC Latency between v1.81a, v1.80a and v1.80b drivers. Maybe it has to do with the settings that are being used. My test where done with 2.0 analog output.
• When waking system from sleep, volume from one of the speakers could be x2 louder. Original report.

How to uninstall 1825 v1.81 drivers: In order to avoid a system crash while uninstalling 1825 drivers you will need to play an audio file before proceeding with the uninstall process. Restart system after the uninstall process is done.

Release notes 1.80

UNi Xonar installer changes:

• Added DPI interface scaling to the installer.
• Added card autodetection and if the audio card is not detected it will show an error message with possible reasons for that.
• Improved driver cleaning. It uninstalls all copies of the Xonar/C-media CMI8788 drivers that are present in the Windows driver repository. By installing drivers with "Run driver cleaning" option you won't be able to use "Roll Back Driver" option for the audio card in Device Manager.
• Changed the driver installation procedure. Added a fail safe driver installer that should help in those cases where you were required to manually install the audio driver or install it in safe mode. Silent installation is always on and its user option has been removed. If standard driver installation gets stuck (does not finish after 100 sec) it is automatically closed. If standard driver installer fails to install the drivers then an alternate driver installer is launched. If that fails too, you will get notified by the installer that driver installation failed.

Driver changes:

• Windows XP: Added support for other CMI8788 cards.
• Xonar DG, DGX, DG SI: Front Panel jack detection should now work if it did with the original drivers.
• Fixed GX not being turned off by default in "Normal" configuration for the following cards Xonar D2, D2X, DG, DGX and DG SI.

Rev. 2 changes:

• Improved and fixed some problems with the new driver installation procedure.
• Added different messages based on why installation failed.
• Fixed "Front Panel Microphone" not working by default.

Rev. 3 changes:

• Increased the delay between driver cleaning and driver installation procedures. Might help in some installation failing cases.
• Fixed the "Warning: Windows running in Test Mode or with Disable Driver Signature Enforcement is required!" message not showing up if needed in combination with the detected audio card.

The 1.80 drivers come in two variants:

• 1.80a "Standard"
  

Driver for all supported cards. Replacement for 1.75a driver. Includes 1816 audio drivers for Win XP and 1823 audio drivers for Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10.

Driver changes:

• Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10: Updated audio driver to 1823 (built date: 2 Jun 2015, made by C-Media).
• Includes updated driver installer, ASUS Audio Center and C-Media Panel.

Other notes:

• 1823 audio drivers are the first drivers released for Windows 10 by ASUS/C-Media. Whether they perform any better than 1822 or STXII 11.5 drivers remains to be seen.
• Xonar STX II cards: Drivers work with STXII cards but the changing audio settings may not work with ASUS Audio Center and only with C-Media Panel. Installation on Windows Vista/7/8.1/10 x64 requires Windows running in Test Mode or with "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" option.

Known issues:

• STX II: ASUS Audio Center does not work. You need to download this patched version and copy paste it over “C:\Program Files\UNi Xonar Audio\Customapp\”. Note that the option to set the gain to "IEM or for 16 ~32 ohms headsets" is missing from ASUS Audio Center, try enabling it from XonarSwitch.

Possible issues:

• Microphone stops working if running specific programs. If you run into this issue please report it in a reply to the original report. If you run into the issue you can switch to v1.75a drivers or connect the microphone to the onboard audio card microphone input.
• WASAPI playback issues might occur with some soundcards
• Occasionally when waking PC up from sleep the Xonar card does not output any sound.
• Drivers might stop installing on Windows 10. Try 1.75a, 1.80b or 1.81a instead.
• Windows 10 Creators Update: Windows would not boot after these drivers where installed. If you run into this problem you have to boot Windows in Safe Mode and remove the audio drivers. Original report. I could not reproduce the issue.

• 1.80b "STXII"
  

Driver mainly for STX II and  STX II 7.1 cards. It does work for the other UNi Xonar supported cards too. Replacement for 1.75b driver. Includes STX II version 11.5 audio drivers (built date: 18 Feb 2014, made by C-Media).

Driver changes:

• Includes updated ASIO (2.0.0.14), driver installer, ASUS Audio Center and C-Media Panel.
• Windows XP: Drivers now work for all UNi Xonar supported cards. These were not working with 1.75b drivers.

Other notes:

• Cards other than STX II: Installation on Windows Vista/7/8.1/10 x64 requires Windows running in Test Mode or with "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" option.

Rev. 2 changes:

• Fixed "Asus Audio Center" not working properly and getting replaced by C-Media Panel when installing with "Normal - Asus Audio Center" configuration.

Rev. 3 changes:

• Fixed some installation issues when drivers were installed on STXII cards (like missing driver uninstall entry in Programs and Features,  incorrect C-media panel name).
• Fixed a bug where optimal card configuration was not being applied if the drivers were installed without the "Re-enable stereo upmix" option.

Possible issues:

• Microphone stops working occasionally or when changing audio playback settings (DS->WASAPI). If you run into this issue please report it in a reply to this comment. If you frequently run into the issue you could try v1.75a drivers if possible or connect the microphone to the onboard audio card microphone input.

Previous release notes:

Notes about Windows 10 and Windows 11 (updated 16 Sep 2021)

UNi Xonar drivers v1.64 and above will work with Windows 10 and Windows 11. There could be some issues that you could run into depending on audio settings used. Different drivers could work differently so if you encounter any issues try installing the other UNi Xonar versions. You will have the same issues with corresponding versions of ASUS drivers.

Apart from driver issues, there could be issues solely from Windows 10/11 sound system that would be fixed with future Windows updates. There is also a small chance that some things could break with future Windows updates. Here are some solutions on how to prevent a forceful Windows 10/11 standard or version update.

Regarding Windows 11, early indication is that the drivers will work as they did with Windows 10, that includes Microsoft breaking something ever so often.

Some of these issues also apply to other audio cards (Realtek, Creative, EVGA Nu Audio, ASUS Strix etc.) and external DACs.

> Find out which Windows version you have installed.

Windows 10 (multiple versions) and Windows 11 (multiple versions) notes

Possible issues and fixes:

1. Microphone not working - Check this guide. (thanks Shane)
2. Audio crashes - If you have “Dolby Atmos for Headphone” app installed you should remove it and replace it with the updated “Dolby Access” app in order to avoid audiosvr process stack overflow errors that are crashing the audio subsystem. (thanks Chris Leipold)
3. Popping and cracking sounds - If you have a AMD graphics card, try disabling "AMD High Definition Audio Device" from Device Manager->"Sound, video and game controllers". It's possible to try the same steps for Nvidia HD Audio Device if you have a Nvidia card. (thanks Marc)
4. BSOD's after system wakeup from sleep - There are a couple of solutions:
   1. Try UNi Xonar v1.71.1 driver. Thanks Kalle.
      
   2. Use a script to disable the sound card before going the system enters sleep/hibernate state and enable the card once the system wakes up. See MT post about this solution.
   3. If you have a nVidia graphics card, In "Device Manager"->"Sound, video and game controllers" disable the sound device named "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" and "NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)". You may need to redo this after the nVidia GeForce drivers are updated. Might worth checking if this also applies to AMD graphics cards, in which case try disabling "AMD High Definition Audio Device". Thanks NoName-1.
5. For systems with 1.81a drivers, the upgrading process to new Windows 10 version might result in BSOD (#1) causing the installation to fail. To avoid this problem, uninstall the v1.81a driver before upgrading.
6. The number of audio channels resets itself back to 2 or can't change to more than 2 channels(stereo) - This might be caused by having enabled one of the Spatial Sound options (Windows Sonic for Headphones, Dolby Access, Dolby Atmos for Headphones, DTS Sound Unbound). Check that Spatial Sound is Off by right-clicking on Windows Volume tray icon.
7. Sound playback echos. Issues within Windows 10 might cause the enabling of different sound settings, one of them causes sound playback echos that are more or less evident. To ensure you always get the best audio quality it might worth checking this from time to time. See Fix sound echos in Windows.
8. No system sounds. See these solutions.
9. Audio stutter in games. Open Windows Sound (right-click on Windows Volume tray icon-> Sounds or if missing type in Windows search: "change system sounds"), select Playback tab, double click your default playback device (for example Speakers ASUS Xonar Audio Device), go to Advanced tab and in the Default Format option select another sample rate setting and back to your original setting. The described windows and settings look similar to those in this picture. (thanks Jean Paul).
10. No sound coming through speakers or headphones. There seems to be an issue where the default playback device is changed upon Windows restart to HDMI or other playback devices (#1). After each restart you can restore the default playback device to your preferred audio card by opening Windows Sound-->Playback tab-> select "Speakers (ASUS Xonar...)" and press "Set default". A more permanent workaround fix could be to disable all other playback devices in Windows Sound.

Windows 11 version 22H2 (September 2022 Update) notes

Known new issues: -

Possible new issues: -

Windows 10 version 21H2 (November 2021 Update) notes

Known new issues: -

Possible new issues: -

Windows 11 version 21H2 (October 2021 Update) notes

Known new issues: -

Possible new issues: -

Windows 10 version 21H1 (May 2021 Update) notes

Known new issues:

• S/PDIF output not working (#1, #2?, #3?). If you have this issue please report it under this comment. Anyone having this issue should report it to Windows support.

Possible new issues: -

Windows 10 version 20H2 (October 2020 Update) notes

Known new issues:

-

Possible new issues:

• No sound coming through speakers or headphones. There seems to be an issue where the default playback device is changed upon Windows restart to HDMI or other playback devices (#1). After each restart you can restore the default playback device to your preferred audio card by opening Windows Sound-->Playback tab-> select "Speakers (ASUS Xonar...)" and press "Set default". A more permanent workaround fix could be to disable all other playback devices in Windows Sound.

Windows 10 version 2004 (May 2020 Update) notes

Known new issues:

-

Possible new issues:

• System crashing when installing the Xonar drivers (#1). A possible solution might be to install the drivers with Windows booted in Safe mode.
• Equalizer and other sound effects from the cards control panel do not get applied to the sound when using S/PDIF output (#1).
• Occasional BSOD when waking the system from sleep (#1, #2, #3). The BSOD shows DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (cmudaxp.sys) as the cause. A possible solution could be to install v 1.71.1 drivers, please provide feedback if this worked for you.
• PC not booting after the Xonar driver install, issue possibly manifesting in conjunction with the use of Hibernate (Suspend to disk) (#1).

Windows 10 version 1909 (November 2019 Update) notes

Known new issues:

• Higher DPC latency which may cause massive stuttering (#1). The v1909 can be uninstalled from Control Panel->Programs and Features->View Installed Updates-> select and uninstall "Feature Update to Windows 10 Version 1909 via Enablement Package (KB4517245)". To prevent v1909 update (KB4517245) to be installed again you should use Wushowhide tool (guide on how to use it) or disable Windows Update altogether for the time being.

Possible new issues:

-

Windows 10 version 1903 (April 2019 Update) notes

Possible issues:

• Windows 10 1903 Has a Nasty Audio Stutter Bug Microsoft Hasn't Managed to Fix
• Windows 10 KB4515384 is now causing audio issues on some PCs
• After one of the recent September Windows updates, XonarSwitch does not run anymore. Discussions take place here. A possible solution is described here.

Other notes:

• Windows Sound is no longer accessible from Windows Volume-> Sounds. If you want to control the playback devices, recording devices, Windows sounds you can open Windows Sound by typing in search: “change system sounds“ or by going to Control Panel->Sound.

Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update) notes

Before upgrading to 1809, you should uninstall the UNi Xonar drivers especially if you have v1.81a installed, as the update process might result in BSOD (#1). As a reminder, in order to avoid a system crash while uninstalling 1825 (v1.81a) drivers you will need to play an audio file before proceeding with the uninstall process. Restart the system after the uninstall process is done.

Possible issues reported so far:

• Crashes at boot or after walking PC from sleep or hibernation (#1)
• Audio stops working after some time (#1)
• Inability to change the number of audio channels to other than 2 channels when using S/PDIF output if you have Speakers disabled in Windows Sound -> Playback (#1).
• For 1825 (v1.81a) drivers, during the installation of some Windows updates the system might get a BSOD (#1).

Windows 10 version 1803 (April 2018 Update) notes (updated 13 May 2018)

Our community member Chris Leipold reports that the wake up from sleep BSOD, settings reset and not working audio server process at startup issues that where introduced with Fall Creators Update are fixed with Red Stone 4 preview (pre 1803 release).

Possible issues and fixes:

• Microphone not working - Check this guide. (thanks Shane)
  
• Audio crashes - If you have “Dolby Atmos for Headphone” app installed you should remove it and replace it with the updated “Dolby Access” app in order to avoid audiosvr process stack overflow errors that are crashing the audio subsystem. (thanks Chris Leipold)

Possible issues reported so far:

• Settings (Bit-depth, sample rate, number of channels) reset bug when clicking the volume after restart might still happen (#1)
• Windows might freeze when installing Xonar drivers (#1)
• Microphone might not work even after doing the microsoft privacy toggle fix (#1)
• S/DPIF output might not work at least for some with Xonar DG cards (#1)

Windows 10 version 1709 (Fall Creators Update) notes (updated 13 May 2018)

Reported issues so far:

• Drivers above 1821 v1.71 may cause BSOD when waking system from sleep (#1, #2, #3). It's unclear if it is a driver issue or a Windows issue that's triggered in specific conditions that are met when using drivers above 1821 v1.71. Since ASUS/C-media driver support is pretty much dead and most people didn't have this issue until Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, people having this issue should contact Microsoft support and submit their crash dumps.
• Card settings are being restored after each restart. A temporarily workaround would be to save your settings as a XonarSwitch profile and apply it each reboot. Anyone affected should report the issue to Microsoft. Update 6 Feb 2018: it looks like this is fixed in insider builds >= 17074, and it will be fixed in Windows 10 version 1803. Update 8 Mar 2018: this should be fixed with KB4074588 update for version 1709.
• Default format (bit-depth and sample rate) from Windows Volume->Playback devices and the number of audio channels resets each time the Windows Volume icon is clicked (#1, #2). Anyone affected should report the issue to Microsoft. Update 8 Mar 2018: this should be fixed with KB4074588 update. Update 13 May 2018: This issue might still happen even after installing KB4074588 (#1).
• Possible high frequency tone when playing audio.

Previous Windows 10 notes

Driver Downloads (Windows only) - click here if downloads are not showing

Standalone applications for changing settings or enhancing audio: 

1. Standalone apps pack. Based on a script made by Virus. Before running the files, close any audio source/application. Legacy, preferably use XonarSwitch and configure it with separate profiles.  Does not work correctly when used with STXII ("b") drivers. Contains:

1. Front panel switch v3.2
2. SampleRate switch v1.2
3. Microphone Array Enabler v1.1 - Might be useful if you have an microphone array
4. HDAV HDMI enabler v1.0 - This application hasn't been tested please submit feedback if it works or not. It appears it is not needed anymore.
5. Acoustic Echo Cancellation enabler v1.0 - Useful for other Cmedia 8788 based cards that lack this setting
6. Stereo upmix switch v1.0
7. 7.1 virtual speaker shifter enhanced profile v1.0 - Profile created by Cu. This profile should enhance the effect of positioning in games when using Dolby Headphones and 7.1 virtual speaker shifter. Please provide feedback about this profile. Demo.
8. Headphones ohm Amp switch v1.0  - Works only with the cards that support this.

2. Additional tweaks

1. Disable SpeakerCompensation tweak
2. Increase microphone volume by 3 dB tweak

3. Xonar related applications:

1. XonarSwitch (beta) - Alternative panel to Asus Audio Center and C-Media Panel. Allows you to control various Xonar’s audio settings, define them as switchable profiles and apply them on-the-fly without having to stop the audio playback.
2. Front Panel switch (new version) - Application that seamlessly changes between rear speakers and front panel speakers output.
3. UNi Xonar driver cleaner - Standalone driver cleaner based on the one that's included in UNi Xonar drivers.
4. Xonar Restoree Extended - Tool to restore Xonar cards hardware ID. The extended version includes support for Xonar STX II and Xonar DG SI cards.
5. Xonar Driver Restart - Application that will restart the Windows Audio Service and C-media audio driver. Useful for sound loops, no audio output and other issues.
6. Xonar Relay Restart - Application that will force the the Xonar relay switch to reinitialize. May be useful when there is no audio output after system boot or wake up from sleep. May be used instead of Xonar Driver Restart as it is quicker and does not affect running applications. This will cause a temporary 1 sec switch between rear and front panel outputs.
7. Xonar-EQ - Control Xonar equalizer settings from your Android phone or tablet. By Sascha.

4. Auxiliary audio applications:

• ASIOConfig - ASIO configuration viewer/changer that can be used when you can't access the Xonar ASIO Configuration directly. By djdecks.
• SoundLock - Set the maximum output volume that sounds can be at. Can replace Xonar SVN in some cases (like limiting the volume of loud noises in movies). Works on Windows Vista and newer.
• more...

_{Tags: ASUS Xonar drivers, ASUS Xonar D1 driver, ASUS Xonar DX driver, ASUS Xonar D2 driver, ASUS Xonar D2X driver, ASUS Xonar Essence ST driver, ASUS Xonar Essence STX driver, ASUS Xonar Essence STX II driver, ASUS Xonar DG driver, ASUS Xonar DGX driver, ASUS Xonar DS, ASUS Xonar DSX driver, ASUS Xonar HDAV driver, ASUS Xonar Xense driver, razer barracuda AC-1 drivers, HT Omega Claro driver, Auzentech X-Meridian 2G drivers, uni xonar treiber, razer barracuda ac-1 windows 10}