Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card

Having been used to Creative cards since Windows Millenium, But, since moving on to windows 7, My Sound Blaster card just wouldn't work properly or the Creative software wouldn't install the Equalizer I used a lot. Im building a Flightsim cockpit in 10x8ft box room. I needed to upgrade both my old lab tech speakers and find a 5/1 sound card that was going to be affordable yet an improvement on the basic win7 card bought 15 months ago on Amazon.So thought I would try this Asus Card, to go with the new Genious gaming Speakers Set.So how did the installation go? Well, thanks to the low profile palit GT440 graphic card, The new card slotted into The PCI slot,with no problems after taking out the old one. I was surprised at the obvious differance in size and chips, from the tiny basic win7 card. It does come with a smaller bracket in bubble bag, which you can use if your finding a tight fit, but I didn't need it.So card installed, used the Line in for the time being, fired up computer, put CD in for drivers, ummm. Not a lot happened, Did another auto run which opened, chose install drivers, But it also installs at some point the Xonar Software, that has all the goodies, bass management, Equalizer, with quite a few decent settings to make the best of your sound.Well The driver install stalled at the end of the bar :( The Xonar front page from the cd wouldnt go away, so had to restart computer, Which then told me No audio device installed, so off I goes installing it again, this time by opening disc. Wierd on win7 if you go into the sound card, and say update driver it states driver already the best one, but, obviously no driver installed, because volume control has X on it. Ok, This time, Driver installed correctly, win7 decided this was the one, and got sound at last. But the Xonar DG software Audio centre which has all user settings on it refused to show on tool bar. Not to be outdone, I restarted computer, to make sure driver was now installed properly, and this time round, The Xonar Audio centre install started and finished. So, although it can be fiddly to install software, restarting computer after successful driver installation, will probably then install the audio centre.Sound quality is good, Its noticeably crisper than the basic card, with many settings to choose from, and connections for a card of this price. Yet to be tested on this gaming Speaker system, may do a further review how it performed on a higher end 2.1 speaker system. After a while I go full 5.1 sound system, just costs keeps me to using the genius 2.1. I also let you know how that performs in a few days.(the low profile bracket supplied as an accessory has two tiny screws with it, if you Just empty out the bracket, from the plastic bag.. chances are, screws will fall out on floor, trust me they are very tiny!)

What I like- Much improved headphone sound output- Improved output level to speakers (not a massive difference in quality)What I dislike- Optical output only 2 channel (pointless)- Software is annoying- Spotty detection of headphone removalThe main reason I purchased this card was for the headphone amp output and for this reason alone I would recommend the purchase as it has a vastly superior headphone output than my on board sound. I was looking at purchasing a dedicated headphone amp but in my price range there was little that I would have spent money on so an upgrade to my sound card seem like the way to go, this would also create less clutter.Once the card was installed my system with software installed it was just a matter of configuring my output. As this has a built in headphone amp it is wise to ensure you are outputting the correct level of power to drive your cans, this is done via the hammer icon next to the analog out drop down when headphones are selected. There are three options to choose from less than 32ohms, 32~60ohms and over 60ohms, once you know your headphone rated impedance (40 ohms in my case) select the correct setting and away you go.The output level to my headphones was vastly superior once running correctly and as such I was able to run the volumes at a much reduced level. The sound stage was more dynamic and there was much better range. the only points of caution I would issue is that due to the high volume levels achievable be careful when you let the kids loose on the headphones and when changing headphones ensure you have the correct impedance level set.Overall PerfectFor a headphone user looking for better sound with more oomph, only a minor upgrade over the standard outputs for amp driven sound (through my amp anyway). Don't expect the optical out to be much use (stereo PCM only).