ASUS Xonar Essence One - Super "loud"

[PenguinMusic]

Hi guys,

Recently, I had the chance to get my hands on an ASUS Xonar Essence One DAC/HP amp.

I hooked it up to my computer using the TosLink cable (and USB cable also).
The computer is Linux powered (Manajro - Arch based distro - ALSA direct output).

To listen to my music I plug in my B&O H9 Gen III headphone or my Philips Fidelio X2HR (waiting for the X3 !).

The sound seems to be really good.
I really am under the impression that I hear things I could not hear before.
But that is not the important thing, as it probably is totaly "psycho-acoustic"...

The problem is, the volume is not really to be "fine tuned".
If we assume that the volume can go from "0" to "100" here's what I get (approximately) :
- "0" to "4" : no sound or barely audible ;
- "4" to "6" : volume OK according to source ;
- "7" and up : too loud already.

So basically : 90 "steps" of volume unusable...
And of course, unable to "fine tune" the listening volume... It quickly gets too quiet or too loud :-(

I thought there would be a "lo-gain" or "hi-gain" setting as there is on the little brother (Xonar Essence STU).
But there is no such thing :-(

Any idea if there is a way to solve this ?
Is my device defective ?

Thanks for your answers.

Regards.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Hi,

It seems someone has measured my DAC/Amp and said the he measured 11.1 ohms from the headphone output.

Anyone can say what that means and if that can be the cause for the "super loud output" from the headphone amp ?

I must say I don't understand nothing to this "impedance" thing...

 

[spede]

There aint much headroom for Fidelio x2, its really easy to drive.Got Muses version of same device.

Volume pot starts at ~7 clock, at 9-10 clock volume is allready plenty for X2. 11 clock is blasting volume.


However if i go much demanding headphone like Arya i have to turn volume to 2 or 3 clock to really blast sound.

 

[PenguinMusic]

There aint much headroom for Fidelio x2, its really easy to drive.Got Muses version of same device.

Volume pot starts at ~7 clock, at 9-10 clock volume is allready plenty for X2. 11 clock is blasting volume.


However if i go much demanding headphone like Arya i have to turn volume to 2 or 3 clock to really blast sound.

Hi,

Thanks for your answer...
That confirms that my unit is not defect.
I thought that already when I read the TechPowerUp review for this device.

Maybe the problem can be solved another way.
I can lower the volume output with the player.

Would doing so alter the sound that I will hear ?

Regards.

 

[spede]

Well there is general concessus that lowering volume "digitally" in Windows is not preferred if you have option to do it by analogical control in amplifier.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Well there is general concessus that lowering volume "digitally" in Windows is not preferred if you have option to do it by analogical control in amplifier.

Thanks a lot for your answer,

Well, I am not on Windows, but on Linux (not sure it matters).

But that is exactly the point : I do not have the option to do that by analogical control as that as the result often is either too loud or too quiet.

So that leaves me with 3 options :
- change headphones (but I will not do that)
- dump the Xonar Essence One (most probable option)
- use player volume control to lower the volume (probably the temporary option)...

 

[PenguinMusic]

Hi guys,

As a follow up I would like to say that I tried to connect the headphones via a XLR to Jack cable as the Xonar has XLR outputs.

It works and I can fine control the volume and I do not have any impression of a sound being not as good as it should be.

I guess this is what I will stick to

Regards.