ASUS XONAR U1 User Manual

Xonar U1
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External USB Audio Station
User’s manual
E3858
Third Edition V3 April 2008
Copyright © 2008 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).
Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the product is defaced or missing.
ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF USE OR DATA, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE), EVEN IF ASUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR IN THIS MANUAL OR PRODUCT.
SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL ARE FURNISHED FOR INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY, AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY ASUS. ASUS ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS OR INACCURACIES THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS MANUAL, INCLUDING THE PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN IT.
Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners’ benefit, without intent to infringe.
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Contents
Contents ...................................................................................................... iii
Notices .......................................................................................................... v
Safety information ...................................................................................... vi
Trademarks .................................................................................................. vi
License ........................................................................................................ vi
1. Introduction ..................................................................................... 1
1.1 Package Contents .............................................................. 1
1.2 System Requirements ........................................................ 1
1.3 Specifications summary ..................................................... 2
2. About Hardware .............................................................................. 4
2.1 Xonar U1 Audio Station ...................................................... 4
3. Installing the Xonar Hardware ....................................................... 5
3.1 Installing Xonar U1 ...................................................................... 5
4. Installing Software .......................................................................... 6
4.1 Installing the Audio Station Driver ...................................... 6
4.2 Installing the PMP Lite software
(Portable Music Processor™ Lite) ..................................... 7
4.3 Uninstalling or Reinstalling Software ................................. 7
5. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals ......................................... 9
5.1 Connecting Digital Speaker Systems (Home Theater) ...... 9
5.2 Connecting speakers ....................................................... 10
5.3 Connecting headphone / microphone ...............................11
5.4 Connecting Line-In Audio Sources ................................... 12
6. Xonar U1 Driver Guide .................................................................. 13
6.1 Introduction to the Xonar U1 Audio Center GUI ........................ 13
6.2 Main Setting ..................................................................... 15
6.3 Mixer/Volume ................................................................... 23
6.4 Effects .............................................................................. 26
6.5 Karaoke/Magic Voice ....................................................... 28
6.6 Mic Array .......................................................................... 29
6.7 Smart Volume Normalization ........................................... 30
6.8 DS3D GX (for Vista Only) and DSP Modes ..................... 32
7. Portable Music Processor™ Lite Software Guide ...................... 34
7.1 Introduction ...................................................................... 34
7.2 Converting music in “Main Setting” Page ......................... 36
7.3 Find Converted Music in “PMP Music” Page ................... 38
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Contents
8. Troubleshooting and FAQs .......................................................... 39
[Troubleshooting] ............................................................................ 39
[FAQ] ......................................................................................... 42
iv

Notices

Federal Communications Commission Statement
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
This device may not cause harmful interference, and
This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation.
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
Canadian Department of Communications Statement
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.
This class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
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Safety information

Before installing the device on a motherboard, carefully read all the manuals that came with the package.
If the device is broken, do not try to fix it by yourself. Contact a qualified service technician or your retailer.
Before using the product, make sure all cables are correctly connected. If you detect any damage, contact your dealer immediately.
To avoid short circuits, keep paper clips, screws, and staples away from connectors, sockets and circuitry.
Avoid dust, humidity, and temperature extremes. Do not place the product in any area where it may become wet.
Place the product on a stable surface.
If you encounter technical problems with the product, contact a qualified service technician or your retailer.
This symbol of the crossed out wheeled bin indicates that the product (electrical, electronic equipment and mercury-containing button cell battery ) should not be placed in municipal waste. Check local regulations for disposal of electronic products.

Trademarks

Xonar and ASUS logo are trademarks of ASUSTek Computer Inc. “Dolby” and “Dolby Digital Live”, “Dolby Pro Logic IIx”, “Dolby Virtual Speaker”, “Dolby Headphone” are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. EAX and A3D are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. Microsoft, DirectSound3D, Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. ASIO is a trademark and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

License

Dolby Master Studio driver is manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories.
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1. Introduction

1.1 Package Contents

Xonar™ U1 Audio USB dongle
Driver Support CD (including Portable Music Processor™ Lite utility)
S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adaptor *1
Array Microphone *1
Dolby Demo CD
Quick Start Guide

1.2 System Requirements

IBM compatible PC with one USB1.1 (or higher) compatible port for the USB audio device
Microsoft® Windows® Vista/XP(32/64bit)/MCE2005
Intel® Pentium®4 1.4GHz or AMD Athlon 1400 CPU or faster CPU
256 MB DRAM system memory
60 MB available HDD space for driver installation package
CD-ROM drive (or DVD-ROM drive) for software installation
High-quality headphones, powered analog speakers, or a Dolby Digital decoder, to enjoy the Ultra-High Fidelity sounds of the USB audio device
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1.3 Specications summary
Category Item
Audio Controller and Codec
Bus Interface
I/O Ports
Outlook Features
Driver Features
Audio Chipset
USB Bus
USB Audio Class USB Audio Device Class v1.0 compatible
Analog Output Jack & Digital S/PDIF Output Combo
Built-in Headphone Amplifier
Analog Input Jack:
Volume Knob
Hot Buttons
LED indicator Red light: Mute
Operation System
Dolby® Technologies
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Xear 3D™ Virtual Speaker Shifter
Magic Voice™
Karaoke Functions
Array Microphone Suppress the ambient sounds and noises into
Other Effects
3D Sound Engines/APIs
S/PDIF Digital Output PCM, Dolby Digital
Description
ASUS UA100 USB Audio Chip
USB 2.0 and 1.0 Full-speed compatible
3.50mm mini analog and digital combo jack *1 (Headphone/Speakers/SPDIF output)
To drive best listening quality with common stereo headphones (recommended 8~150 ohms @ >10mWx2)
THD+N< 0.005% @ 47mW x2/ 32ohms
THD+N< 0.006% @ 88mW x2/16ohms
96dB SNR
>1.1Vrms full-scale output voltage for >8 ohms load
Frequency Response (-3dB/48KHz): 20~20KHz for 32ohms
3.50mm mini shared jack *1 (Line-In/Mic-In)
Metal and consumer typed rotary volume knob
Mute (short push) and Hi-Fi mode (long push) switch by pushing volume knob
Blue light: HiFi mode Flashing blue light: User mode
Windows® Vista/XP(32/64bit)
Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Virtual Speaker, Dolby® Pro-Logic IIx, Dolby® Digital Live
Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level
Virtual 7.1 speaker positioning
Modifies the sound of your voice, for VOIP and online chat applications (Windows XP)
Music Key-Shifting and Microphone Echo effects (Windows XP)
the microphones for up-to-15dB and delivers only your front-side (+-60dB degree) clean voice for better online communication/gaming experience. It can also enhance the accuracy of voice recognition applications.
10-band Equalier/27 Environment Effects
EAX® 2.0&1.0, A3D® 1.0, DirectSound® HW & SW, OpenAL generic modes
(Continued on the next page)
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ASUS Xonar U1
Software Utility
Audio Performance
Accessories
Portable Music Processor Lite Converts digital music content or CD audio into
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (silence, A-Weighted):
Output Dynamic Range (-60dB, A-Weighted):
Cross-talk (10Kohms, 1KHz) -104dB
Frequency Response (-1dB, 48KHz):
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage
-S/PDIF optical adaptor *1
-2-channel vertical Array Microphone
*Specications are subject to change without notice.
regular MP3/WMA files with Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker (w/ Pro-Logic II), and Smart Volume Normalization processing (Windows Media Player 10 or above is required)
100dB
96dB
< 20Hz to 20KHz
1.2 Vrms / 1.1 Vrms
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2. About Hardware

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2.1 Xonar U1 Audio Station

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No Item Description
1 Microphone jack
Line Input jack
2 Headphone/Front
Output jack
S/PDIF Output jack
3 Volume knob
Hot button
4 LED indicator
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Connect your external PC microphone to this 3.5mm jack for voice input. Built-in high-quality Microphone pre-amplifier.
Connect analog devices like MP3 players, CD players, music synthesizers and other line-level sound sources to this
3.5mm jack for audio recording or processing.
Connect your headphones or 2/2.1 channel speakers to this jack. For multi-channel speaker systems, connects to the front left/right input on the powered speakers.
Optical S/PDIF output jack. Connects to an external digital decoder or digital speaker systems, Home Theater systems, AV receivers for outputting digital audio including PCM, Dolby Digital, WMA-Pro, etc.
Rotate this knob to adjust the volume.
Short push this knob to mute the music, and long push to turn to the Hi-Fi mode.
Red light --> Mute blue light --> Hi-Fi mode Flashing blue light --> User mode
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ASUS Xonar U1

3. Installing the Xonar Hardware

3.1 Installing Xonar U1

Connect the USB connector to any USB 2.0 port on your notebook or PC as the following drawing shows.
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4. Installing Software

4.1 Installing the Audio Station Driver

1. After you have installed your audio station, turn on your computer. Windows automatically detects your audio station and searches for device drivers. When prompted for the audio drivers, click the “Cancel” button.
2. Insert the driver installation CD into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. If Windows AutoPlay mode is enabled for your CD-ROM drive, the CD starts running automatically. If it doesn’t start the installation, double-click the setup. exe icon located on the CD-ROM.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation. Please read the “END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT” in the process and make sure you understand and accept it before you continue the installation. When the installation finishes, you may be prompted to restart your computer. You can choose to restart the computer later if desired.
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ASUS Xonar U1

4.2 Installing the PMP Lite software (Portable Music Processor™ Lite)

1. From the installation CD menu, select the option to install the PMP Lite software.
2. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation. After the installation is complete, click Finish.

4.3 Uninstalling or Reinstalling Software

4.3.1 Uninstalling Software
1. Select the corresponding uninstallation program, under the “All Programs” section of the Start menu. Otherwise, you’ll need to use the Windows control panel for uninstallation as follows.
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2. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel.
3. Double-click the “Add/Remove Programs” icon.
4. Click the “Change or Remove Programs” button.
5. Select each program you would like to remove, and then click the “Add/ Remove (or Change/Remove)” button.
6. In the InstallShield Wizard dialog box, select the “Remove” option.
7. Restart your computer when prompted.
4.3.2 Reinstalling Software
1. Before you reinstall any software, it’s recommended to uninstall the existing software first.
2. After you finish the uninstallation of the software, please follow the installation process again to reinstall the same or updated software.
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ASUS Xonar U1

5. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals

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5.1 Connecting Digital Speaker Systems (Home Theater)

The Xonar U1 supports Dolby Digital Live technologies, which transcode any audio, including games and music, into industry-standard Dolby Digital surround bit-streams. This makes playback through your home theater system possible, creating an immersive and impressive cinema surround sound experience. A single digital cable connection can carry high-quality Dolby Digital audio from any of your PC audio sources to any digital speakers or AV Receivers with Dolby Digital decoding capabilities.
1
No Item Description
1 Optical adaptor
Plug the optical TOSLINK adaptor into the S/PDIF-Out combo connector
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