ASUS Xonar drivers are worse than Creative hands down...

[imperialreign]

This is interesting, because I have heard everyone raving about how good Xonar is and how bad Creative's offering is when compared to each other. But I think yours is an odd one out. Have you tried to contact the ASUS support?

Everyone was raving when the Xonar was still the "new kid" on the block. As their market share has increased, and more users are purchasing their cards, more and more problem are cropping up.

Sadly, I predicted this a couple of years ago during the peak of the Creative bashing, and when everyone was commiting to only purchasing ASUS cards in the future . . . I'm sure if need be I can probably dig up those ancient threads (although most users never believed me).


Anyhow, the biggest issues with audio drivers is how they "integrate" into the OS. Vista and OS7 are picky as almighty get-out, and don't play well with hardware (in general). Not to mention, the way Vis/OS7's audio kernel is, it adds a ton of latency and "passing the buck" between APIs . . . Creative have somewhat "cured" this problem with OpenAL, and better driver intergration with the API. ASUS, on the other hand, seem to want as little to do with OAL as possible (even though helping with development and implimenation/usage are 100% free), which is why (IMHO) they can't seem to "fix" their current slew of issues; why their drivers will work on Vista but not on OS7, or on OS7 but not on Vista . . .

We didn't have these problems with XP . . . the audio kernel was drastically different, and allowed software to utilize hardware at the driver level (instead of having to pass it through a few different APIs). XP's issues are typically related more-so to hardware "conflicts" (hardware competing for control of the PCIE/PCI BUS 90% of the time), whereas Vista/OS7 issues tend to be more communication "conflicts" (drivers/software/OS not communicating properly).

It's all a big mess that there's not much users can do about. You can keep your eyes open for "modded" drivers, but these are always hit or miss.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

the problem with Asus is they have probably forgotten that they have a soundcard dept. AFIK there have been only 3 driver updates since Windows 7 was in beta. their main priority is still motherboards, graphic cards & EeePc's i guess. & bitching, moaning & crying on their forums wont work cuz their user to user based -___- sigh. they sound great when the card works but its a bit long winded when you have problems with the card & need some advice. & who better to answer your questions then Asus's own staff who probably dont even know they have a forum dedicated to their soundcards too. funds are tight at the moment so I shall be sticking with this STX probably until the end of the year before i sit down & have a long rethink about going back to creative.

however - there are hundreds of sites that still recommend Xonars over Creative products so Asus must be doing something right....

 

[RejZoR]

That's because sites test the soundcards in Rightmark, in audio/video player and in 1 or 2 games. They show pretty charts and graphs and give us the verdict. It's simple.
It's like having a racing car. Sure it scores high on a track and lap times are quicker, but to live with such car on a casual road is something you don't want because of all the trade offs, bumps on the roads and that hars hard suspension and uncomfortable seats... It's the same here. It's all flying colors in tests, but when you have to live with such soundcard under realistic conditions, you can get very disappointed.

In fact i find it funny for ASUS not to boost software deveopment part considering like 99,99% of ASUS Xonar cards owners are former Creative users. It sucks when you think you'll escape one problem by changing the vendor just to find out they are no better either...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

It sucks when you think you'll escape one problem by changing the vendor just to find out they are no better either...

Out of the frying pan & into the fire so to speak.

I really dont know - I do know that the Xonar sounds incredible though (at least my STX does) & its made from components 50x better then what creative use to build their cards. music & movies sound excellent but its hit n miss with the DS3D GX

there are a lot of people in the Asus soundcard forums asking for help but other users arent able to help which results in the new owner of a Xonar sending the card back to the shop.

god bless all the Audiophiles that hang out in the STX section & do genuinely try to help when you have issues - but if the problems not about swapping opamps or what sort of headphones or hi-fi equipment to use - they are totally useless!! I dont see how they can stand Asus giving them the cold shoulder when Asus repeatedly refuses to acknowledge that people actually have bought their soundcards & has no hand what so ever in moderating or supporting users in the forums. & its a real shame. so much effort but such little substance.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I really have had no problem with my xonar dx,if i had i would have taken it out and gone back to onboard.If it came down to that i would possibly try another creative card as i am not that bothered i only took my x-fi out because of problems.The other thing that works fine on this xonar dx is my mic,i could never really get the mic to work on the x-fi satisfactorily.

 

[RejZoR]

This has to be the most bizzare issue i've ever had in my history of computers.
Yesterday i got Auzentech Forte and it BSOD'ed horribly with it just like with Xonar. So i was at square one again. So i decided to it from zero. Removed all chipset drivers (as far as i could do it), all display and all sound drivers. Cleaned with Driver Cleaner. I also swapped slots with gfx card and sound card. Installed drivers but skipped new Intel Rapid Storage driver (IRS). Tried few games, played them for long time, nothing happened. Cleaned and reinstalled everything and skipped Intel Rapid Storage again. It worked again. I also swapped SATA ports, DVD used to be on SATA0 and HDD on SATA1. So i changed it to HDD on SATA0 and DVD on SATA1. Now i'm not sure if it was the SATA ports or the IRS, but i'll try this today by installing IRS again. If it'll BSOD, it's IRS driver, if not, the fault was on SATA ports.

So now it turns out both Auzentech Forte and Xonar Essence STX are perfectly fine. Now i can't decide what to have I was perfectly happy with Xonar, but i'm again in love with the raw hardware power of the X-Fi and the quality of sound in games. On the other hand, music is kinda flat on Forte. With Xonar, games were so-so. Sound was clear as hell, but 3D sound was mediocre.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

the X-Fi and the quality of sound in games. On the other hand, music is kinda flat on Forte. With Xonar, games were so-so. Sound was clear as hell, but 3D sound was mediocre.

I think - it would be better to stick with the STX - purely for the fact that there is little support for EAX in current/upcoming games anymore & therefore shouldnt pose much of an issue to the Xonar with its failcake called DS3D.

if you think the sound could be better. maybe you could try swapping the opamps with something else - there are guides all over the net quoting the best opamps to use on the card.

 

[Mussels]

So now it turns out both Auzentech Forte and Xonar Essence STX are perfectly fine. Now i can't decide what to have I was perfectly happy with Xonar, but i'm again in love with the raw hardware power of the X-Fi and the quality of sound in games. On the other hand, music is kinda flat on Forte. With Xonar, games were so-so. Sound was clear as hell, but 3D sound was mediocre.

[/QUOTE]

do you want me to change the thread title?

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Wait 3-4 weeks, if you can. As pointed out in some reviews the forte needs warm-up time, and mine definitely sounded better after that period.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

wouldnt mind an Auzentech card myself but unfortunately Auzentechs European distribution is exceedingly bad with many retailers/E-tailers unable to source stock.

Ebuyer use to sell them = they stopped but 'AUZENTECH' still comes up when you type in the name to search which means they must of had something in at one point.

Amazon.co.uk = only brings up 3-4 Auzentech items with 2 items out of 3 not available = out of stock.

SCAN = you'd expect them to stock them since they stock just about everything for PC there - 1 item in stock, X-Tension DIN expansion card - no other Auzentech products.

----

Yoyotech - the people i shop from most of the time not just because I buy a lot of hardware from there but the guys who work there are great, friendly & always willing to help. they had stock of Preludes, X-plosions & Fortes at some point but ive been staring at the 'out of stock' tag for way over a month.

Had a look at Novatech - nothing at all...

Ebay - picked up only 3 items. 1 in the UK, 1 in france & 1 in USA

Auzentech need to get into talks with more distributors & get more of their products into Europe.

People are quick to shout about how great the product is when i reality getting laid is easier then getting hold of an Auzentech card in Europe

 

[Solaris17]

my D2X works fine I love it more than all the creative cards iv owned. It all depends on situation i guess though.

 

[jaydeee]

any more update about it?
Technical support as they say are replaced support... LOL!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Ive been doing a little digging around some in the hope that I would be able to update Asus's 3D audio engine

Xonar cards use something called 'Xear3D DS3D EAX 2.0' - Xear3D was infact created by Cmedia & to my understanding Realtek codecs use the same engine on their non XP driver packs since Realtek primarily use CMedia chips on motherboards.

if you google 'Xear3D' Cmedia comes up as one of the hits but when you search Cmedias website for more info or downloads reguarding Xear3D they have nothing listed....

so somethings not quite right there.... Cmedia could have sold the rights to the Xear3D engine to Asus but as far as i know Realtek chips still use the Xear3D engine...

So it could be possible there 'IS' some big issues with the Xear3D engine that they dont want people to see & find out about or Cmedia arent being very honest with Asus about it. I dont know what it is - but everything just doesnt make sense.

 

[epicfail]

Dont no why people complain about creative ive been creative for 7 years and no problems....

 

[JATownes]

Dont no why people complain about creative ive been creative for 7 years and no problems....

You are the exception to the rule. Creative 64-bit drivers were a major fail for almost all of their soundcards.

 

[Thrackan]

You are the exception to the rule. Creative 64-bit drivers were a major fail for almost all of their soundcards.

I'd say it's because the generally only people you see writing about drivers are the people that have problems with them.

 

[JATownes]

I'd say it's because the generally only people you see writing about drivers are the people that have problems with them.

This could very well be true...but I have had 3 friends with Creative Audigys running under 64-bit and none of them could get the drivers working right. They all had really weird issues, and none of their issues were the same .(I am sticking with my Razer Barracuda, it's old but still kicking right along )

 

[Mussels]

Ive been doing a little digging around some in the hope that I would be able to update Asus's 3D audio engine

Xonar cards use something called 'Xear3D DS3D EAX 2.0' - Xear3D was infact created by Cmedia & to my understanding Realtek codecs use the same engine on their non XP driver packs since Realtek primarily use CMedia chips on motherboards.

if you google 'Xear3D' Cmedia comes up as one of the hits but when you search Cmedias website for more info or downloads reguarding Xear3D they have nothing listed....

so somethings not quite right there.... Cmedia could have sold the rights to the Xear3D engine to Asus but as far as i know Realtek chips still use the Xear3D engine...

So it could be possible there 'IS' some big issues with the Xear3D engine that they dont want people to see & find out about or Cmedia arent being very honest with Asus about it. I dont know what it is - but everything just doesnt make sense.

you install any cmedia drivers, and you get Xear3D. the EAX emulation still sucks, and many games wont even start with it enabled (fallout 3 for example)

 

[RejZoR]

Well i don't know anything anymore. It appears there is indeed a conflict with Xonar that can go as far as one reboot after removal. Until i cleaned all the junk by hand. Now i'm running Forte only again and it's working fine. Yesterday i reinserted Xonar just to compare sound quality of both and i got BSOD right after driver install. And another one on recovery boot right after it. Exact problems i had before. So i removed it and cleaned everything. I've also installed latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers and everything is (still) fine. I have absolutely no clue why all this was happening but i'd say something inside Xonar doesn't work well with HD5850 graphic card on ASUS Rampage II Gene and Vista x64. My assumption is GX mode injecting processes working along HD5850's HDMI passthrough. But it can be anything. To be honest, i don't have the nerves to deal with this anymore. Forte is in, Xonar is out. And that's the end of it. I just hope it won't crap itself again after 3 days, when i'll think everything is fine and finally fixed...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

are you sure your running the lastest STX drivers? (it could be that it dont like your vista lol)

 

[RejZoR]

Yeah, i was running the latest ones. It's not like you have loads of options there...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

yeah just curious - cuz there have been 1 or 2 hacked custom driver packs that have surfaced on the net.

 

[RejZoR]

Ok, this is the final report. Few days with only Auzentech X-Fi Forte and not a single BSOD. Not with music, not with movies and not with games. It was either a compatibility issue with Xonar Essence STX drivers or the Xonar hardware itself with other components. So, the problem is now solved. I hope this will help a bit if anyone is experiencing similar problems with similar hardware.
Though i think that's quite unlikely...