# Asus xonar dsx 7.1 dts interactive settings



## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Set up is Yamaha HTR 6090 receiver. 7.1 bookshelf polk speakers, 15" velodyne subwoofer. Connected to my pc.


I am using dts interactive through a digital rca cable, and it is working great. Very discrete dts 5.1 in games. Works very well, better than I thought.

My question is most pc games are 7.1, but only 5.1 pops up on the reciever. What are the best settings for this?
Right now I have the top input for games @ 8 channel-spdif enable-dts interactive. It sounds great in games, better than xbox one actually. Not really complaining. I have tried to enable ex/matrix 6.1 settings on the receiver, and that works, but does not sound as good as the raw signal.  My question is what is happening to the extra two channel with dts interactive.?? I was expecting the ex or dts 6.1 to pop up, but only 5.1.

Took me till 2 am last night to figure out to set the windows speaker properties to speakers, and not spdif pass through as default to get dts interactive to work over spdif.  I got it to work just by accident.

Also, at first if you only have a spdif cable connect the first time you run the software, it will crash every single time if you try to enable spdif in the xonar software menu. It will crash until a analog cable is plugged in. This happened on a previous asus card I installed on my brothers windows 7 pc. Saved so much time knowing this when I installed this card.

Knowing these quirks, I would have saved hours. I am very happy with the card though, glad I kept it.

Onboard audio still works on my pc too. So I cloned a monitor and, use the hdmi out from the mobo as an audio cable going straight to the receiver. Hdmi 7.1 sounds the best, but doesnt work with everything so its nice to have the sound card option.

Edit: Also, the Xonar dsx shares the digital output, with the rear analog output. If you want to have 7.1 and digital out at the same time, the dsx has a internal 3 pin spdif out. I connected a spdif panel to it, but only the rca out worked, the optical did not work. No 5v for the light off the sound board

Edit, I got spdif out working with the bracket when I connect the 5v wire from bracket to a unused usb2 5v pin off mobo


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## Jetster (Sep 11, 2016)

When it comes to Optical it has limitations. Optical will not do uncompressed 5.1 HDMI is better as it has more bandwidth. As you are finding out there is a lot going on with audio and when you add DRM to it, it becomes a real pain

I think you found the best setting

What I use it HDMI to my receiver with a FFDShow (included in CCCP) and set to DTS.  Yamaha RX V571 but the end result is still 5.1 But I can get HD-DTS


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

I should probably upgrade my amp to something newer


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Jetster said:


> When it comes to Optical it has limitations. Optical will not do uncompressed 5.1 HDMI is better as it has more bandwidth. As you are finding out there is a lot going on with audio and when you add DRM to it, it becomes a real pain
> 
> I think you found the best setting
> 
> What I use it HDMI to my receiver with a FFDShow (included in CCCP) and set to DTS.  Yamaha RX V571 but the end result is still 5.1 But I can get HD-DTS



Please tell me more about this ffdshow. I played with it before, but never got it to work. Does it take the analog audio 5.1, etc, and deliver discrete sound over bitstream?


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## AlienIsGOD (Sep 11, 2016)

may I ask what drivers you are using? Most Xonar users use UNi modded drivers as they have better support and less problems then the Asus driver http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

I am using the windows 10 drivers from asus website. I might try those drivers too.


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

I really cannot understand what are you wanting to do. SPDIF is normally good for old PCM stereo, and nothing more. Leave it.

DTS-ES supports only 6 channels, both front are the same. It will pop on only on pass through mode with untouched content. Only Licensed realtek and creative are able to decode DTS and then mux them to you preferred output. Your receiver isn't capable of more on 7.1 also - even on HDMI it needs DTS-HD... 

You must still use the classic setup shitty setup with sound compression. Set speakers as default output in windows, config to 7.1, but in cmedia or asus panel set output to spdif 7.1. Unixonar is the best you can get.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Yes, I am aware of that. Most of my content is just regular dvd's, with regular dd 5.1 and dts. There is no difference in sound if I pass the signal with a hdmi or optical for this content or 2 channel mp3 audio when using pass-through, no mixing, etc. 

I was just curious what was happening to the rear channels when converting 7.1 to 5.1 with dts interactive. Most likely just being added to the surround channel.

I have tried all the settings, all the shitty settings, etc.

I am very aware of the classic shitty setup...I was scratching my head trying to get it working.


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> I was just curious what was happening to the rear channels when converting 7.1 to 5.1 with dts interactive.



Well for DTS ES the fronts are the same and DTS6NEO the back channels actually are producing the same... actualy some sort of scam 

There is the virtual mapping option in the upmixer. You can set everything as you wish. For upping 5.1 to 7.1, haven't fired up my Xonar DX for a while. Already forgot the details.

Also... the last option is going oldschool analog while gaming. Just for the sake of trying it out.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Bottom line is SPDIF is limited to 5.1 anything above that is simulated.


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

INSTG8R said:


> simulated.



Pardon - faked  like fake boobs they are.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> Pardon - faked  like fake boobs they are.



Sure faked/simulated, but you're right. Tell it like it is


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> Well for DTS ES the fronts are the same and DTS6NEO the back channels actually are producing the same... actualy some sort of scam
> 
> There is the virtual mapping option in the upmixer. You can set everything as you wish. For upping 5.1 to 7.1, haven't fired up my Xonar DX for a while. Already forgot the details.
> 
> Also... the last option is going oldschool analog while gaming. Just for the sake of trying it out.




I would have been fine with analog mobo 7.1, I thought it would be fine since the board I am using has some special caps or whatever. But same as always, sucks. Distorted, no bass etc. Muddy sound


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> Well for DTS ES the fronts are the same and DTS6NEO the back channels actually are producing the same... actualy some sort of scam
> 
> There is the virtual mapping option in the upmixer. You can set everything as you wish. For upping 5.1 to 7.1, haven't fired up my Xonar DX for a while. Already forgot the details.
> 
> Also... the last option is going oldschool analog while gaming. Just for the sake of trying it out.



I tried all the options, all of them add fake reverb/muddy sound.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> Actually, everything is limited to the content being received.



Of course, but even with "proper source" 5.1(6 channels) is the limits of SPDIF so "up to" Dolby Digital and DTS if it's available. DDLive and DTSNeo are the "fake ones" I used to use DD Live on my laptop for music via Optical(RX-V661), while it was still Stereo it was better sounding than just straight "pass through" I bought a newer Yamaha that has Spotify Connect so no need for the "wires" but the quality is not near as good.


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> I would have been fine with analog mobo 7.1, I thought it would be fine since the board I am using has some special caps or whatever. But same as always, sucks. Distorted, no bass etc. Muddy sound



Haven't used mobo audio like 10 years for more than few hours for testing... dunno really I am really picky with sound sources I am still using everything in analog. The Xonar should have more beefy analog just because of more voltage for the opamps and better dedicated DAC's. The card will drive the cable also better.

The best multichannel card I still have btw is X-FI Elite PRO it packs four CS4396's for each channel. So not an option anymore because it is a PCI card. 

TBH would recommend to sell  the Xonar... as it is buggy as hell, currently creative drivers work really fine. Maybe get some cheap Audigy Rx and try software gimmicks from Creative like CMSS-3D, the heck ebay some refurbished X-FI Titanium for some twenty bucks, they are fine too for an experiment.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

INSTG8R said:


> Of course, but even with "proper source" 5.1(6 channels) is the limits of SPDIF so "up to" Dolby Digital and DTS if it's available. DDLive and DTSNeo are the "fake ones" I used to use DD Live on my laptop for music via Optical(RX-V661), while it was still Stereo it was better sounding than just straight "pass through" I bought a newer Yamaha that has Spotify Connect so no need for the "wires" but the quality is not near as good.



Yeah, I thought maybe there was a small chance that I could get 6.1 some how. I have some dts 6.1 discrete tracks, and they sound great, very discrete (yes, I know its just one channel in 7.1).... 6.1 automatically pops up...still a satisfying feeling =) I personally like the way dd/dts 6.1 sounds. Since we have similar amps, you know what I mean when it is not ex/es, the amp will not light up 6.1 on the "auto" setting. I was hoping there was a way to do that. But no, nothing new.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> Yeah, I thought maybe there was a small chance that I could get 6.1 some how. I have some dts 6.1 discrete tracks, and they sound great, very discrete (yes, I know its just one channel in 7.1).... 6.1 automatically pops up...still a satisfying feeling =) I personally like the way dd/dts 6.1 sounds. Since we have similar amps, you know what I mean when it is not ex/es, the amp will not light up 6.1 on the "auto" setting. I was hoping there was a way to do that. But no, nothing new.


Yeah I remember being happy seeing the DD light up when I used to run optical from my laptop. My new on is fully "networked" so everything is just point and click and even has an "App" for "Remote Control" But I do miss I the old one it was a bit better quality overall.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> Haven't used mobo audio like 10 years for more than few hours for testing... dunno really I am really picky with sound sources I am still using everything in analog. The Xonar should have more beefy analog just because of more voltage for the opamps and better dedicated DAC's. The card will drive the cable also better.
> 
> The best multichannel card I still have btw is X-FI Elite PRO it packs four CS4396's for each channel. So not an option anymore because it is a PCI card.
> 
> TBH would recommend to sell  the Xonar... as it is buggy as hell, currently creative drivers work really fine. Maybe get some cheap Audigy Rx and try software gimmicks from Creative like CMSS-3D, the heck ebay some refurbished X-FI Titanium for some twenty bucks, they are fine too for an experiment.



Cool, I will look into it. Honestly I am super happy with discrete 5.1 working with dts interactive for games.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> I really cannot understand what are you wanting to do. SPDIF is normally good for old PCM stereo, and nothing more. Leave it.
> 
> DTS-ES supports only 6 channels, both front are the same. It will pop on only on pass through mode with untouched content. Only Licensed realtek and creative are able to decode DTS and then mux them to you preferred output. Your receiver isn't capable of more on 7.1 also - even on HDMI it needs DTS-HD...
> 
> You must still use the classic setup shitty setup with sound compression. Set speakers as default output in windows, config to 7.1, but in cmedia or asus panel set output to spdif 7.1. Unixonar is the best you can get.



I noticed when I have the hdmi connected, under the windows options only dts and dd are options. If I buy a receiver with truehd and dts-hd decoder, will those options show up?


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> I noticed when I have the hdmi connected, under the windows options only dts and dd are options. If I buy a receiver with truehd and dts-hd decoder, will those options show up?



Under properties it usually shows what it can do. Like here.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Oh wow, what receiver are you using? Are you cloning a screen? Or are you running the video out of the receiver to the screen? I want to just use the hdmi for audio, and not run the screen through the receiver

EDIT 
Can you please take a pic of the enhancements, and advanced options? Thanks


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## Ferrum Master (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> Oh wow, what receiver are you using? Are you cloning a screen? Or are you running the video out of the receiver to the screen? I want to just use the hdmi for audio, and not run the screen through the receiver



Nah i just made quick googling for a screenie. I don't have a reciever. No need for such thing.

Just don't power on the screen. The denon will be available as an audio device always as it is powered on. Nothing should be different from your current situation. Same logic applies.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> Oh wow, what receiver are you using? Are you cloning a screen? Or are you running the video out of the receiver to the screen? I want to just use the hdmi for audio, and not run the screen through the receiver
> 
> EDIT
> Can you please take a pic of the enhancements, and advanced options? Thanks



HDMI is "smart" and devices "talk" to each other and display all their capabilities. That is actually a beef I have with my new Amp it is "supposed" to do DTS-HD and I use my PS3 as my Media Server/BD player and it also does DTS-HD(and Dolby TrueHD) But when they "chat" DTS-HD doesn't show up as possible. Bought new HDMI Cables, upgraded the amps Firmware, no dice(was one of the reasons I chose it in the first place) I have to use Linear PCM and the PS3 does the "decoding"


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 11, 2016)

Does dts-hd truehd work with other components? Do you have it working with pc? My receiver lights up MPCM plays dts-hd and truehd 7.1 in kodi if I disable passthrough, and enable dts-hd decoding in the kodi software. Even like this only mpcm shows up on the receiver. If I look really close on the yamaha 6090 screen, there is a little place that says Truehd. I have never seen that light pop up. If I enable pass through and click truehd, I get no sound. That little truehd label has been driving me crazy. Nowhere in the brochure or yamaha website, or manual it mentions the receiver decoding truehd, but that light on the screen is there un-lit


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## INSTG8R (Sep 11, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> Does dts-hd truehd work with other components? Do you have it working with pc? My receiver lights up MPCM plays dts-hd and truehd 7.1 in kodi if I disable passthrough, and enable dts-hd decoding in the kodi software. Even like this only mpcm shows up on the receiver. If I look really close on the yamaha 6090 screen, there is a little place that says Truehd. I have never seen that light pop up. If I enable pass through and click truehd, I get no sound. That little truehd label has been driving me crazy. Nowhere in the brochure or yamaha website, or manual it mentions the receiver decoding truehd, but that light on the screen is there un-lit



Nah I just have my PS3 hooked and it's "capable" of just about everything. he receiver is "supposed" to do DTS-HD but if I run the "setup" those "smart capabilities" show all the formats except for that DTS-HD I am after. Like I said I just run Linear PCM anyway(MPCM on Yamaha I remember my old one did that too) So it's not like I am "losing" anything just annoying I bought the receiver for the DTS-HD as most of my BD collection is using it and it's the one thing it won't do...I have never tried putting another source through it my PVR does DD so that is about the limits of what I can test with. My SB ZX in my PC only has optical out so then we are back to 5.1 again  Just added a pic so you can see. The "rest" are just PCM formats...


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## Jetster (Sep 11, 2016)

In FFDshow check the Lav Audio settings. Make sure 5.1 is selected.(Windows) In Kodi Expert mode its separate as Kodi decodes itself. Now keep in mind this is all based on the source. And use your HDMI  So really your not even using your ASUS sound card. And make sure all your drivers are installed for your motherboard


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 12, 2016)

A little bit confused with mpcm..Here is some screen shots of Kodi settings, and some demo 7.1 dts-hd and truehd 7.1 with some on screen info. Is what I am hearing the best it can be? Meaning is this the same as if the receiver would light up truehd or dts-hd? Is mpcm uncompressed lossless?? Sorry if these are newb questions.

Edit, I am using the realtek gigabyte drivers for the onboard. I tried a few. I have been chasing a random pop or delay when setting the output to 192k. The sound card actually got rid of that. Everything is up to date with the drivers. There is no option for dolby digital live for this mobo. This onboard audio on this mobo despite the advertising sucks. I am sorta dissapointed. My old crappy oem gateway amd pc (with clean windows 10 on a ssd) had better onboard mobo audio. It even had ddlive, and 32 bit audio options.


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## INSTG8R (Sep 12, 2016)

LOL so after being all frustrated and talking about not getting DTS-HD, well in fact everything is "working as advertised" My PS3 is still an old "phat" and they actually do the decoding and send it over PCM just as I have been doing it all along. The PS3 Slim they upgraded the HDMI chip so IT can do DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD over Bitstream...  I guess if and when this one dies I will be looking for a Slim...



Fasz Kalap said:


> Is mpcm uncompressed lossless??


It can be "uncompressed" but cannot always be considered lossless. Depends on bitrates/sample rates/implantation. Full on Uncompressed PCM is generally considered lossless or "bit for bit" so are both the HD standards.


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## ItsSoQuiet (Sep 12, 2016)

So just thought of something with the xonar. If I am only able to get 5.1 through spdif, then wouldnt it be best to set the windows speakers setting to 5.1 instead of 7.1? Also, if the windows speaker settings are set to 5.1, will I have to input 6 channel instead of 8 channel in the xonar menu? Do games know if the pc is using 5.1 or 7.1? I read somewhere games use what ever windows settings are?


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## INSTG8R (Sep 12, 2016)

Fasz Kalap said:


> So just thought of something with the xonar. If I am only able to get 5.1 through spdif, then wouldnt it be best to set the windows speakers setting to 5.1 instead of 7.1? Also, if the windows speaker settings are set to 5.1, will I have to input 6 channel instead of 8 channel in the xonar menu? Do games know if the pc is using 5.1 or 7.1? I read somewhere games use what ever windows settings are?



Yeah you should try to keep it "matching" If you are using SPDIF 5.1 is your limit and games will be the same depending on the game  So of course set the Xonar to 5.1 as well. I mean I run 5.1 on my PC and set my speakers the same and games run in 5.1 95% of the time without needing to change any settings.


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