ASUS XONAR D2, XONAR D2X Test Guide

Xonar D2/D2X

7.1 Channel Audio Card 192KHz/24Bit DuplexHDTM

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Featuring Dolby

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RMAA V.6.0.5 Test Guide and Results

Revision: 1.2 Date: Sep. 13, 2007

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

The Xonar D2/D2X sound card package includes RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) v.5.6, popular software intended for testing the quality of audio equipment, be it a sound card, portable MP3 player, consumer CD/DVD player, or a speaker system. However, the latest RightMark Audio Analyzer v6.0.5 is now available. This document describes the test guideline with RMAA v6.0.5, not only for Windows XP but also for Windows Vista, and the complete reference test results by latest Xonar D2/D2X driver package. The measurements are conducted by RMAA loop-back test approach, that is playing and recording the test signals (Out-to-In loop-back test), and using frequency analysis algorithms. The followin g provides a step-by-step loop-back test guide for your Xonar D2/D2X audio card. The test platforms are specified here:

OS: Windows XP or Vista 32bit RMAA Version: V.6.0.5 (By its loop-back test) Audio Card: Xonar D2 or D2X audio card (similar audio performance) XP Driver Version: 8.17.20

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Vista Driver Version: 8.17.25

1. Setting Up Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

Firstly open the Xonar D2/D2X Audio Center. Use the settings below:

1. Select the sample rate you will be using with RMAA test (here we set 48KHz for testing 48KHz/24bit signals).

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ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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2. Set analog output to 2-speaker mode (to get rid of any channel processing over RMAA stereo signals in the driver) If the Windows platform is Vista, please mind to also select “2 channels” for Audio Channel as the following picture.

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ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

3. T urn off all sound effects including Dolby, D TS, 7.1 speaker shifter, EQ, Environment, etc. A quick way to do so is to enable the “Hi-Fi mode” button in the Audio Center.

4. Go to the Mixer Recording page and select “ AL T” as the recording source . Click “Reset” to make sure the recording volume is on the default highest level (0dB). This is actually a high-quality onboard loop-back path from the Line-out directly to the Line-In. This allows you to get realistic output and input quality ratings for th e Xonar D2/D2X audio card.

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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Note: Yo u may al so ch oose to use an external 3.5mm line cable as follows (as short as possible) to connect the Front-Out jack to the Line-In jack for loop-back testing. In that case, please select “Line In” as the recording source on the mixer page. However, this

external cable may cause unexpected performance drop depending on its cable quality.

3.5mm Line Cable

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

5. Turn the master volume knob to the MAX level (0dB)

6. Click “Reset” on the playback volume mix er page to keep the volume to default setti ngs.

(i.e. WAVE volume to max (100) and LEFT and Right channel volume to default level (76))

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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2. Configuration on Vista (for Windows Vista only)

To achieve the best hardware quality and to test RMAA on Vista, it’s recommended to do

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some additional audio format configuration for both playback and recording on Vista sound device panel:

1.Setting the right format for playback: Right click the sound icon in the system

tray=>select playback devices=>select “Speakers (ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device)”

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

=>open “Properties” => Click “A dv anced” tab => select “24bit, 4800 0 Hz” in the format pull-down menu (for 24bit/48KHz test in RMAA)

2.Setting the right format for recording: Right click the sound icon in the system

tray=>select Recording devices=>select “ALT (ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device)” =>open “Properties” => Click “A dv anced” tab => select “24bit, 4800 0 Hz” in the format pull-down menu (for 24bit/48KHz test in RMAA)

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Again, in the case using a line cable for loop-back test, please set the format for “Line In” device in the recording page.

3. Configuration and Test with RMAA

Start RMAA and follow the setup procedure below.

1. On Vista, please select the playback device as “[DirectSound] Speakers (ASUS Xonar

D2/D2X Audio Device)” (or [MME] Speakers (ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device) and

recording device as “[MME] AL T (ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device)” . On X P, those will be “[DirectSound] ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device” for playback and “[MME] ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Device”. (Please also mind that NOT to select “ASUS Xonar D2/D2X

Audio Converter”, which is for ALT and PMP purpose.)

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ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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2. Select 24bit and 48KHz for the test signals. (Before you change the format her e for next test, please remember to go back to set the SAME sample rate output first in the Xonar D2/D2X Audio Center and Vista sound properties like the above procedure as well. Please mind that Xonar D2/D2X curr ently supports 44.1K, 48K, 96K, and 192KHz. 88.2K,

176.2KHz, and 32bit(float) tests are not supported.)

3. Click the General test options in RMAA and make sure “ Analyze noise and distortion only

in 20Hz-20KHz range” (audio in-band for human hearing) is selected.

4. It’s recommended by RMAA to ignore the two tests: “Frequency response (swept sine)” and “Total harmonic distortion (set of tones)”, which are for speaker test primarily. Please uncheck the two items.

5. Click loop-back playback/record test button

6. Check that the Adjusting level window shows that the recorded levels are OK (the level meter summary is green light. The value should be ideally as close as to -1dB. Too high

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ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

or low level may affect the test authenticity). Begin the test by clicking the “Start test” button.

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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If the recorded level is not high enough, please check and make the WAVE and Master Volume have been at the maximum level; Instead, if the recorded level is too high, please lower the WAVE and Master volumes gradually until the level is ok. (In case you cannot get the level to be “OK” after fine-tuning or RMAA may sometimes show some inter-channel leakage alert, please try to ignore it first and just click “Start test” anyway . It sometimes happens because RMAA programming rules but it doesn’t necessarily imply any hardware quality issue.)

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

After starting test, there will be a pop-up progressing bar and please wait a few seconds.

7. Select one empty slot to save the data and you may change the name. Then click “OK”.

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8. RMAA will pop up the T est results window as follows.

You can click the “Select” checkbox

and click

to “Make html report”.

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

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9. Check and key in the report name/options as follows and then click “OK” to generate the HTML report in an assigned directory.

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ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

4. Xonar D2/D2X RMAA Testing Results

The following tables copied from RMAA disclosed the complete test data results for DirectSound_16bit, DirectSound_24bit, MME_16bit, and MME_24bit. Each table contains

44.1K, 48K, 96K, and 192 KHz sample rate tests. Generally speaking, Xonar D2/D2X can

achieve arround 116dB SNR for 24-bit and 96~103dB SNR for 16bit in RMAA loop-back test. Most important, all results can get “Excellent” general performance credits. (Please note

that though Xonar D2/D2X has good anti-noise design, the test results may have slight deviation on different PC platforms due to the various levels of system noise interferences and distortion, especially for 24-bit 116dB-high sensitive quality.)

DirectSound 16-Bit Test Results

DirectSound 24-Bit Test Results

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

MME 16-Bit Test Results

MME 24-Bit Test Results

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

5. Xonar D2/D2X HTML Test Report

You can review the HTML report including the gr aphics for the test plots. Open the html file you created and saved in the test above (section 2), and it will display the report with both data and plots in your browser. The following report is an example and you can see how high-fidelity and crystal-clean the Xonar D2/D2X audio card is for both output and input (one of the world’s finest sound cards, it has even higher q uality than most CE devices.) You can also try testing the performance for other sample rates and bit-depths with the same procedure.

RightMark Audio Analyzer test report

Testing device ASUS Xonar D2 Audio Sampling mode 24-bit, 48 kHz Interface DirectSound Testing chain External loopback (line-out - line-in)

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA Version 6.0.5

20 Hz - 20 kHz filter ON Normalize amplitude ON Mono mode OFF Calibration singal, Hz 1000 Polarity inverted/correct

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Summary

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB +0.08, -0.04 Excellent Noise level, dB (A) -116.3 Excellent Dynamic range, dB (A) 116.2 Excellent THD, % 0.0003 Excellent THD + Noise, dB (A) -105.0 Excellent IMD + Noise, % 0.0009 Excellent Stereo crosstalk, dB -115.3 Excellent IMD at 10 kHz, % 0.0005 Excellent General performance Excellent

Frequency response

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB -0.11, +0.09 From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB -0.04, +0.08

Noise level

Left Right RMS power, dB -115.0 -115.2

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMS power (A-weighted), dB -116.2 -116.4 Peak level, dB FS -92.8 -93.2 DC offset, % -0.0 -0.0

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Dynamic range

Left Right Dynamic range, dB +115.0 +115.1 Dynamic range (A-w eighted), dB +116.2 +116.3 DC offset, % -0.00 -0.00

THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Left Right THD, % +0.0003 +0.0003 THD + Noise, % +0.0005 +0.0005 THD + Noise (A-weighted), % +0.0006 +0.0005

Intermodulation distortion

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

Left Right IMD + Noise, % +0.0010 +0.0009 IMD + Noise (A-weighted), % +0.0005 +0.0004

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Stereo crosstalk

Left Right Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB -116 -112 Crosstalk at 1000 Hz, dB -115 -114 Crosstalk at 10000 Hz, dB -112 -112

IMD (swept tones)

ASUS Xonar D2/D2X Audio Card

RMAA v6.0.5 Test Guide V.1.2

Left Right IMD + Noise at 5000 Hz, 0.0006 0.0006 IMD + Noise at 10000 Hz, 0.0005 0.0005 IMD + Noise at 15000 Hz, 0.0005 0.0005

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