Testing
As I stated in the Xonar Xense review, it is difficult to truly test an audio device. Listening is very subjective. Some people are super picky, and others can’t tell the difference. For my testing with the Xonar DG, I listened to the same material from games, music, and movies, over and over again with different settings . I was looking for huge sound differences to small nuances.
Test equipment:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.20GHz
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 1600
Mobo: ASRock 890FX Deluxe3
PSU: Sparkle 850W Gold Class
GFX: AMD Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5
Sound: ASUS Xonar DG
OS: Windows 7 64bit
Other equipment:
Home theater receiver: Yamaha HTR-5540
Speakers: Axiom m40Ti (Front), JBL 2500 (rear)
PC Speakers: Altec Lansing Ultimate 641 (4 channel)
Headphones: Audiology Stereo Headphones
Headphone Amp
The ASUS Xonar DG is the only soundcard in its price range that offers a headphone amp. Most people will probably wonder what a headphone amp is and if they need one. The short answer is yes. The normal 2 channel analog output can easily overpower (distort) headphones causing a perceived imbalance of sound. The headphone amp on the Xonar DG takes a bit of the edge off the analog output, producing sound that is more suited for headphones. The result is much more balanced sound, allowing you to hear more of what the headphones are capable of and less distortion.
Dolby Headphone
Like the Xonar Xense, the Xonar DG comes equipped with Dolby Headphone. Dolby Headphone’s job is to take any input signal (2 channel or more), and create a surround effect of 5.1 channel audio in a normal set of 2 channel headphones. The Xonar DG has three different Dolby Headphone settings, Reference Room, Livelier Room, and Larger Room. The Reference Room keeps the sound ‘close’ to you, it has very little echo and surround delay. If you want a bit more of an ‘open’ sound, the Livelier Room is a good choice. It provides nice spacing and direction without being too close or too far. I often found the last setting, Larger Room, to be a bit too ‘large’. Sounds felt too spaced out and far away with Larger Room enabled. For the most part, I found myself going back to the Livelier Room. It is just the perfect balance between Reference and Larger.
Any time I was playing a game or watching a movie, I made sure Dolby Headphone was enabled. It doesn’t quite truly replicate a 5.1 setup, but it does provide very nice ambiance and well rounded sound. The only time I elected not to enable Dolby Headphone was when I listened to music. That doesn’t mean listening to music with Dolby Headphone is bad, I just prefer to listen to music in its original 2 channel state.
Gaming
On the technical side, the Xonar DG definitely has same roots in gaming. Its GX2.5 produce 128 simultaneous sounds, and supports EAX games up to EAX 5.0.
I’ve read reports on the net that some older EAX enabled games can cause the Xonar DG to get stuck in audio loops and eventually crash the game. To test this, I dug into my archive and pulled out a couple old games, Unreal Tournament (1999), and Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Both games support EAX, so the first thing I did was made sure EAX was enabled in the game. Then I configured the Xonar DG in 8 channel mode, 96kHz sample rate, GX2.5 enabled with 4 channel analog out selected. I played each game for hours and hours on end. Not once did I experience any audio loops or crashes. Now this doesn’t mean that everything is OK, but it does show that older games can and do work fine with the Xonar DG. I also tested out some newer games like Crysis 2, F.E.A.R. 3, and Unreal Tournament 2004. Throughout all of my gaming tests, but particularly the newer games, the Xonar DG produced amazing sound. There were times I forgot that I was using an analog setup. Sound was clear, on point, and immersive. In fact, I was so immersed playing Crysis 2 on my old headphones with Dolby Headphone enabled, that I lost track of time and played until 6:00AM. If that doesn’t say something, I don’t know what will.