Review and Measurements of Asus Xonar U7 MKII ADC/DAC/HP

[ernestcarl]

it has coax. where is the toslink?

I believe the coax is the toslink out as well(?) It needs a 3.5mm pointy adapter thing to fit in the coax hole.

 

[whazzup]

If not using wasapi, would people still run into the linearity / conversion issue?

 

[trl]

Linearity shouldn't get affected by the driver you use or by ASIO/WASAPI/KS etc., unless there are well-known drivers issues (not the case here).

 

[whazzup]

Linearity shouldn't get affected by the driver you use or by ASIO/WASAPI/KS etc., unless there are well-known drivers issues (not the case here).

Thanks for the reply! Because Amir mentioned when running asio4all on the u7, he couldn't select 24bit and had to settle for 16bit. So does that mean even in a regular setting where I just use u7's default configuration in windows (and assuming Windows allow selection of 24bit), I would still run up against this truncation issue?

And how would this issue manifest itself in real world listening? Drop in dB at certain frequencies?

I guess I'm trying to understand whether the conclusions I should be drawing here are that
1. the u7 has a broken asio implementation (so I'm fine if I don't use asio), and/or,
2. the u7 has a broken 24 > 16bit conversion (so I'm fine if I don't use 16bit), or
3. the u7 is broken on the above 2 points, in all configurations of the device.

 

[ernestcarl]

Dunno about the situation with the ASIO as I don't have the their software installed. I only use generic WASAPI and it works fine:

 

[trl]

I'm OK with latest ASUS drivers for Win7 and for Win10, with ASIO4ALL and as well with the built-in OS drivers in Win10, Ubuntu and MacOS.

 

[whazzup]

I'm OK with latest ASUS drivers for Win7 and for Win10, with ASIO4ALL and as well with the built-in OS drivers in Win10, Ubuntu and MacOS.

Meaning with asio4all, u can utilize 24bit no issue?

 

[trl]

Meaning with asio4all, u can utilize 24bit no issue?

Yes.

 

[whazzup]

Cool, great to know, so guess since the review, drivers have been fixed. Thanks!

 

[whazzup]

Thank you for this review on the U7 and additional knowledge provided by all the forummers. Have gotten the card because I'm looking for a multi channel solution to equalize my sub separate from the main speakers for my 2.1 setup. I also did a quick comparison with my Topping D10, and it seems the U7 is lower in volume by 5db. Nothing serious, just thought someone may find it useful.

Anyway, setting things up so that the sub was a discrete .1 channel was not as straightforward as I first thought. Thankfully there was this guide that walked through the required config in Equalizer APO.
https://www.brechtbaekelandt.net/bl...kii-with-default-windows-usb-audio-20-drivers

But guess what? If you follow the above guide, please note that,
'Copy: SUB=MUP' meant that you're throwing out the SUB/LFE channel and replacing that with the L/R channels. So if you use the Windows sound panel to test your sub (by clicking on the subwoofer icon), you'd find that no sound is emitted.

To retain the LFE channel, please use 'Copy: SUB=SUB+MUP', or 'Copy: LFE=LFE+MUP'
This ensures that both multi channel tracks (with actual .1 channel) and stereo music will play properly on your sub. However, I do not know whether the stereo upmix will make any noticeable changes to the playback on the sub when playing multi channel audio. In which case, will just need to remember to disable the setting.


After spending some time on the above and making sure the audio was playing as it should, a twist appeared. It seems, that all this while, the Peace GUI I was using, had an Effects Panel button, that has the required channel routing functionality already built in.

So in summary, first follow the above guide to set up your Windows speakers to 5.1/7.1, then just ignore the rest of the guide (if you use Peace and prefer button clicking), and set up your subwoofer channel similar to the image below. Click the 3 L/R/Sub channels (circled in red) to assign the 'plus-es' and you're done.

This should be applicable to other multi channel soundcards and usb dacs as well. Sharing this so that others don't have to waste anymore time than they need to...

Edit: This is a more accurate routing for 2.1 users.

 

[Vasr]

This should be applicable to other multi channel soundcards and usb dacs as well. Sharing this so that others don't have to waste anymore time than they need to...

It is a little more complicated than that to get it right. If you aren't using a crossover, then just copying all content into Sub is going to sound odd. Also if you are getting 5.1 from video content, the LFE is recorded 10db lower than the left and right so mixing them in the same proportion is not going to work. Bass will sound weak.

You may want to take a look at my notes here
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-a-8-ch-pre-pro-experiment.14785/post-462671
for setting up a multi-channel audio on a PC using EAPO to do bass management, etc.

That will work for 2.1 as well.

 

[Vasr]

Cool, great to know, so guess since the review, drivers have been fixed. Thanks!

I am not sure the main issue with 24 bits due to truncation has necessarily been fixed though. Thought that was a firmware issue rather than a driver issue. The driver issue was that it wouldn't allow 24 bit selection earlier but now it does but that doesn't necessarily mean the 24-bit handling inside the box works with good linearity. This is my main concern in using this box for an application I have in mind, especially for its price.

 

[whazzup]

It is a little more complicated than that to get it right. If you aren't using a crossover, then just copying all content into Sub is going to sound odd. Also if you are getting 5.1 from video content, the LFE is recorded 10db lower than the left and right so mixing them in the same proportion is not going to work. Bass will sound weak.

You may want to take a look at my notes here
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-a-8-ch-pre-pro-experiment.14785/post-462671
for setting up a multi-channel audio on a PC using EAPO to do bass management, etc.

That will work for 2.1 as well.

That is some detailed shit! Thanks for sharing! Didn’t know about the 10db LFE issue.

I haven’t started dealing with the crossovers yet. Previously I was using a stereo dac, so Eq was sort of unified for both speakers and sub.

 

[whazzup]

I am not sure the main issue with 24 bits due to truncation has necessarily been fixed though. Thought that was a firmware issue rather than a driver issue. The driver issue was that it wouldn't allow 24 bit selection earlier but now it does but that doesn't necessarily mean the 24-bit handling inside the box works with good linearity. This is my main concern in using this box for an application I have in mind, especially for its price.

How will this issue show up in day to day playback use, like streaming / occasional CDs? Assuming I do not use ASIO / WASAPI. The default settings are at 24bits / 48khz in shared mode. Will I see any potential issue if say I downloaded an audio file that's in 16bits and played it on VLC / foobar?

I did do a quick moving mic fr check between the topping d10 and u7 earlier, the u7 rolled off slightly faster but otherwise didn't seem to affect the response of the speakers.

 

[Vasr]

How will this issue show up in day to day playback use, like streaming / occasional CDs? Assuming I do not use ASIO / WASAPI. The default settings are at 24bits / 48khz in shared mode. Will I see any potential issue if say I downloaded an audio file that's in 16bits and played it on VLC / foobar?

I did do a quick moving mic fr check between the topping d10 and u7 earlier, the u7 rolled off slightly faster but otherwise didn't seem to affect the response of the speakers.

I am not an expert in this.

May be others would know what audible effects the non-linearity may have.

 

[whazzup]

It is a little more complicated than that to get it right. If you aren't using a crossover, then just copying all content into Sub is going to sound odd. Also if you are getting 5.1 from video content, the LFE is recorded 10db lower than the left and right so mixing them in the same proportion is not going to work. Bass will sound weak.

You may want to take a look at my notes here
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-a-8-ch-pre-pro-experiment.14785/post-462671
for setting up a multi-channel audio on a PC using EAPO to do bass management, etc.

That will work for 2.1 as well.

Do you know of any downloadable / streamable examples of the 10db lower LFE? Would netflix be a good source to test?

 

[Vasr]

Do you know of any downloadable / streamable examples of the 10db lower LFE? Would netflix be a good source to test?

Any commercial video with Dolby Digital (or Plus) even ripped from DVDs should do for testing. The lossless uncompressed formats can also be used.

Interesting to note that the miniDSP application note for bass management with nanoAVR uses the same set up for handling the -10db attenuation in LFE as I do in my notes (turning up the sub 10db higher and mixing others into LFE at -10db).

https://www.minidsp.com/applications/home-theater-tuning/bass-management

 

[whazzup]

Hi @amirm (or anyone knowledgeable in this), just trying to understand the significance of this linearity error, googling didn't turn up anything with regards to audio.
Is it possible that users who use the U7 for playback (with default direct sound, 24bits / 48khz in shared mode ) will encounter this issue? Is this error audible?

 

[whazzup]

Thank you for this review on the U7 and additional knowledge provided by all the forummers. Have gotten the card because I'm looking for a multi channel solution to equalize my sub separate from the main speakers for my 2.1 setup. I also did a quick comparison with my Topping D10, and it seems the U7 is lower in volume by 5db. Nothing serious, just thought someone may find it useful.

Anyway, setting things up so that the sub was a discrete .1 channel was not as straightforward as I first thought. Thankfully there was this guide that walked through the required config in Equalizer APO.
https://www.brechtbaekelandt.net/bl...kii-with-default-windows-usb-audio-20-drivers

But guess what? If you follow the above guide, please note that,
'Copy: SUB=MUP' meant that you're throwing out the SUB/LFE channel and replacing that with the L/R channels. So if you use the Windows sound panel to test your sub (by clicking on the subwoofer icon), you'd find that no sound is emitted.

To retain the LFE channel, please use 'Copy: SUB=SUB+MUP', or 'Copy: LFE=LFE+MUP'
This ensures that both multi channel tracks (with actual .1 channel) and stereo music will play properly on your sub. However, I do not know whether the stereo upmix will make any noticeable changes to the playback on the sub when playing multi channel audio. In which case, will just need to remember to disable the setting.


After spending some time on the above and making sure the audio was playing as it should, a twist appeared. It seems, that all this while, the Peace GUI I was using, had an Effects Panel button, that has the required channel routing functionality already built in.

So in summary, first follow the above guide to set up your Windows speakers to 5.1/7.1, then just ignore the rest of the guide (if you use Peace and prefer button clicking), and set up your subwoofer channel similar to the image below. Click the 3 L/R/Sub channels (circled in red) to assign the 'plus-es' and you're done.

This should be applicable to other multi channel soundcards and usb dacs as well. Sharing this so that others don't have to waste anymore time than they need to...

Edit: This is a more accurate routing for 2.1 users.

Have to make a new reply as I couldn't edit the previous post any longer. Since the last edit, I realised my understanding of peace was still incorrect. When combining 6 channels into the subwoofer channel, the percentage of each channel got 'lower' and volume became softer.

Instead, the better way is to use the buttons to toggle between stereo and multi channel sources (turn off upmix & turn on downmix, etc). Additional bit of config, but should still be sufficiently simple for laymen. Note again that I'm using U7 with a 2.1 setup.

 

[sof006]

Hello, quick question. I already have this card (had to swap back to it) and I am wondering if it will drive the DT 770 Pro (80 ohm) model.