ASUS Xonar soundcards

In connection with ALchemy software needed to re-enable EAX on Windows 7 and Vista operating systems and problems with ALchemy+DCS Black Shark

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=34412

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=48158

I was wondering if anyone is using this soundcard as a soulution http://www.asus.com/ProductGroup2.aspx?PG_ID=deBXUzMkKnQuGLGK

This sound card appears to use - hardware (?) EAX emulation up to EAX 5.0.

Yep, been using one for a while now (Xonar DX). Simply a superb sound card, none of that alchemy rubbish you have to deal with on creative cards, and the drivers are actually well written and don't cause crashes every 5 minutes. Audio quality is far superior to any creative x-fi card I used in the past, and they come in PCIe x1 flavour as well as normal PCI.

Wow, ED should recommend Xonar series for DCS. Unofficially ofcourse because it's probably not Creative's fault that DCS BS has problems with ALchemy.

So, we have a solutution. Asus Xonar DS has GX2.5 EAX / EAX 5.0 implementation for Windows 7 and Vista and it's only $60 in Poland!

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wcFuNdxM0I4Sf10X&templete=2

Yep, been using one for a while now (Xonar DX). Simply a superb sound card, none of that alchemy rubbish you have to deal with on creative cards, and the drivers are actually well written and don't cause crashes every 5 minutes. Audio quality is far superior to any creative x-fi card I used in the past, and they come in PCIe x1 flavour as well as normal PCI.

More specifically, are you saying that there is no sound bug problem in DCS with Xonar DX sound card? And that the Xonar DX sound card properly precess 3D sound in Black Shark? The questions are about Vista OS.

You are right, I should cool down a bit and get a confirmation. There are two sounds which may most easily indicate if EAX works without flaws or not.

If EAX does not work properly:

- bullets hitting the ground are heard on very long distances (even in cockpit) as clatter

- rotor whistling has no dynamic range either and its volume will not go down as the source is getting further away

All can be heard on my comparative recording

"Side-by-side" comparison - Audacity 1.26 project - link updated

 

http://rs463l33.rapidshare.com/files/330065337/alchemyvsnoalchemy_vista_audacity_project.7z

 

Attention!

Open with Audacity 1.26 as 3.9 will delete data files!

 

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

The first effect can be heard at the beginning of the recording.

Now, I know it's a hustle for most of the people but keep in mind that one who will take the task of confirming it (by just paying attention during one of his future missions!), will make the DCS community a favor. So, I'm looking forward. Eddie? :)

I've done some testing on this issue, and unfortunately I can report that certainly the bullet impact issue still exists, and while I've not noticed the rotor sound issue as yet I'm sure it's there.

The simple fact is the issues described above (which I've never noticed up to now for some reason) are related to how Win Vista/7 handle audio rather than the hardware itself.

I do however 100% stand by my statement that the ASUS Xonar cards give much better audio quality than Creative cards, and have much more stable drivers. There is no way in hell I'll be going back to creative since I made the move to ASUS a couple of months ago.

Thank you very much for your effort. It's sad to hear that is not a solution to the EAX problems in DCS after all.

Edit:

I've just updated the bug report here http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=815449#post815449

Drat, now you have me crapping my pants!

Forgive me this once for quoting Independence Day:

"WOHooOOOOOOhoOOoOo! I've GOT to get me one o' THESE!

Drat, now you have me crapping my pants!

 

Forgive me this once for quoting Independence Day:

"WOHooOOOOOOhoOOoOo! I've GOT to get me one o' THESE!

Hah, I saw it just few days ago! :D

Asus Xonar soundcards support EAX 5.0 Advanced HD.

Quoting Asus representative

“Our implementation is not a 1:1 reproduction of EAX 5.0. Rather, DS3D GX 2.0 allows users the choice to universally access gaming audio effects that would otherwise be locked behind specific cards and patched game titles. While we do respect the capability of a dedicated DSP processor [such as Creative’s X-Fi] to offload the CPU work, we believe performance differences will continue to diminish based on the power of today's popular CPUs. We also expect more game developers to adopt software DSP effects [Dolby Digital and DTS] for their flexibility and universally guaranteed user experiences.”

Sounds bad? Not at all! PCLab.pl in their very detailed review pointed out that Creative X-Fi's are actually bad (erratic?) in creating range effects in some titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call Of Duty 4, Bioshock... http://pclab.pl/art32279-9.html

Addressing the quoted answer from Asus representative - ARMA 2 has already moved to software sound "generation". At first I was like :huh: but now I get it. I get it even better after few months of struggle to get Armed Assault sound to work at all! And then EAX in DCS...

Thanks Eddie for your effort and follow up on this issue.

May I just turn up late, and say to check the Asus forums.

These cards are like marmite, you either love them or hate them. (i.e. they either work or DON'T).

Personally i've tried no other cards, but none of Asus' drivers work correctly for me. At the moment i'm putting up with popping sounds whilst surfing the web (changing pages), so I turn my HiFi off.

EAX AFAIK wasn't supported, instead it's more 'emulated'. But I don't play on FPS' enough to test it. I'm sure you wouldn't tell the difference.

Just check those forums if you're considering buying.

And bear in mind you can't set the speaker distance very well. In my realtek onboard HD Audio I could set that 'time lag' thing to compensate for uneven/unequal speaker distances. Not available in ASUS Audio Centre.

Fingers crossed you won't have any issues though. All the best! MM