ASUS Xonar and Ultrasone PRO 750's Under Linux

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news: Two weeks ago, I posted about (http://techgage.com/news/asus_xonar_under_linux_-_does_it_work/) using CMI8788-based sound cards under Linux, with a status report of my personal experiences. Not much has changed since then, although the developer, Clemens Ladisch (http://alsa-project.org/main/index.php/User:ClemensLadisch) has released a few subsequent beta drivers, the most current being from Jan 30. Though still considered a beta, it's noted that the driver is "almost 100%".

In the last post, I mentioned that I didn't have an abundance of mixers available, as I've seen others have, but I believe it's due to the fact I am using the PCI-e version of the card. I could be wrong, but I am out of other ideas.

That said, I've since picked up a pair of Ultrasone PRO 750s (http://ultrasone.com/index_en.php?level=1&CatID=13.37&inhalt_id=45&shop_level=2&shop_CatID=1&shop_inhalt_id=0&do=showDetails&artikel_typ=allgemein&artikel_id=17), the company's recent upgrade to the PROline 750. I'm no audiophile, but I can already recommend picking up a good pair of headphones for use with the Xonar under Linux... the quality is truly incredible. These headphones haven't gone through a proper break-in period, so I will be able to comment more next week.

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Regardless of that though, the headphones sound incredible, and the Xonar works well, despite the lack of overall mixers. I performed quick tests between Windows and Linux, and neither had an obvious advantage. What will lack is the inability to use special Dolby effects like the Windows drivers include, but I personally found a more enjoyable sound without any sort of software manipulation.

Even with only a few weeks worth of experience, I can already recommend picking up an CMI8788-based card to anyone running Linux and who are looking for a richer audio experience. Hit up the link below to read Rory's review of the card from September.

Source: ASUS Xonar D2 Review (http://techgage.com/article/asus_xonar_d2_sound_card/)

[DarkSynergy]

Great to hear. While my days of dabbling with Linux are behind me (not that they were ever really there to begin with), there are plenty of users out there who will welcome this news. Good follow up.

[linnerd40]

It is good to know that there is Linux support available. I have been wanting to get this card for quite some time, and I think I may just get it now. Just a few questions:

I am running Ubuntu (isn't everybody these days? :( ) 7.04 as my primary OS, will the drivers install ok? How about Gentoo? SUSE? And maybe more importantly, Windows Pro 64bit?

How is this card for classical music? I am an addict to classical music, mainly late romantic (Rachmaninoff, etc), but I also need the card to perform excellent in ALL genres.

I have a pair of rather cheap, but not all too bad Logitech Z-230 2.1 speakers. Will the sound card be completely masked by these rather non-high end speakers?

Finally, I am looking at getting a nice pair of headphones. Those Ultrasone's look incredibly amazing... sadly, I am a rather non-wealthy teen who can sadly not drop $400 on a pair of headphones. Any suggestions in the sub $100 range? Gaming is not an issue, but great sounding classical music is!

Thanks for anyone that can provide me any assistance!

-linnerd40

Oh! One more thing :D What is the difference between the D2 and the D2X?

Many thanks once again!

[Rob Williams]

First and foremost, you need to post here more often :-)

It shouldn't matter what distro you are using to get the card to work, but as of right now, manual installation would be required. As far as I am aware, ALSA 1.0.16 is the first official release to support the Xonar, and it just came out a few weeks ago, so distros haven't caught hold of it yet.

You might want to check the repository in Ubuntu and see if that version of ALSA is available. Chances are good that the next Ubuntu release will have it, though. To install manually, you would have to see what ALSA-specific packages Ubuntu has installed (alsa-driver, alsa-lib, alsa-utils and alsa-tools is all you need to worry about), then uninstall them.

If nothing is found that way, then ALSA was compiled into the kernel itself, which would require a recompile. You'd first need to download the Linux source code and headers (through the software repository) and manually recompile it - at the same time removing ALSA from it entirely.

Then you'd need to install alsa-driver, alsa-lib, alsa-utils and alsa-tools from the official website, which couldn't be more simple. It's a matter of extracting the packages and doing a "./configure ; make ; make install" for the most part. The most complicated one is alsa-driver, since you'd need to specify the cards you want supported:

./configure --with-cards=hda-intel, virtuoso

Then a simple ./snddevices might be required to set up the proper links. After a quick reboot, the card should work no problem. If it doesn't, then chances are the modules are not probed, so you might have to edit your /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 file to include them. "virtuoso" is the actual module for that card, so the resulting module would be snd-virtuoso. Regardless, if you do end up running into installation problems, just post here and I can help you with it.

As for headphones, I am not the person to ask for that, so I've shot Rory a link to this thread. Since picking up these Ultrasone's, if there is one thing I can say, it's that spending money for good headphones is well worth it if you value your music. You don't have to pick up something too expensive, but I believe that the ~$150 price range is what separates the big boys from the runts. There are numerous good headphones for around that price range.

I could be wrong though, and anything from Sennheiser for under $100 are probably going to be pretty good. I am not sure who else makes good headphones for that price range though, so hopefully Rory will drop in soon and give you some advice.

Xonar D2 = PCI version
Xonar D2X = PCI-E version
Xonar DX = PCI-E Budget version

We'll be reviewing the DX version in the month to come.

[linnerd40]

Thanks, Rob, for the wonderful guide! Installation doesn't look too bad... get to flex my Linux muscles a bit again, haven't had much time as of late :D
Looks like the ASUS Xonar is the way to go for me, probably just the D2 version, non PCI-E.
As for headphones, I've been looking at the Ultrasones PRO550 which are still quite expensive for me, but could be worth it. If not those, then the HFI-550s. But I'll wait to see what Rory has to say.

Thanks again for the help!

[Rob Williams]

I believe Rory is swamped with a few things, so he's a little slow to get in here. I'm sure he can offer some great recommendations, though.

As for Ultrasone, they are a company I've never heard of until Rory did a review, but I am a firm believer in their products. I've done a lot of reading around and they seem to be highly regarded - especially when being compared to competition in similar price-ranges. I have a feeling the HFI-550s would be ideal for you. The PRO series, as far as I know, would be most beneficial with better bass. They also use higher-quality components, but I've never had the opportunity to compare more than one, so I am not sure of the potential real-world differences.

As for the Xonar, both the PCI-E and PCI are the same price and have the same performance, so whatever you can find will be good (assuming you have a spare slot for either).

[Rory Buszka]

Greetings, Linnerd40.

Regarding Ultrasone's headphones: Even though Ultrasone is a relatively new company, they are definitely making waves in the industry with their designs, and winning over a lot of skeptics in the process. You can actually see this in action over at Head-Fi.org's forums. The HFI-550 look like a great value-oriented alternative, but Ultrasone has recently refreshed the product line, and the new HFI-580 features revamped cosmetics and a few small design improvements. If you can find them (Sweetwater.com has them), then I'd go for the HFI-580 over the HFI-550.

[linnerd40]

Hey!
Thanks for the reply! Those headphones look really nice! I think the price is OK too, my dad is definitely interested in investing in some good headphones too, so maybe we can split the price :D
Any other recommendations? Maybe something just a tad lower in price?
This hunt is more difficult than I thought! There are so many brands out there, and a million things to consider! :confused:

I'll save up a bit more (maybe see if I can win that birthday contest :cool: ) and I'll probably be purchasing at the beginning/ middle of April.

Thanks for the help Rob and Rory, you are definitely making this a lot easier! :)

-linnerd40

[Merlin]

I'm pretty satisfied with the Triton AX360
http://www.teckmagazine.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/tritton-ax360-headphones-review.html

Merlin :techgage:

[linnerd40]

Well, I've posted around at the Head-Fi forums, and I am now throughly confused :confused: There was too much talk about amps and headphones that you can hardly buy anymore... lol. Too much for me! :p

I think I'll confine my search to this forum. I'll trust you guys :D

Also, sorry to have hi-jacked this thread sort of! :eek: Didn't want to take it over with my questions, sorry about that!

[Rob Williams]

Haha. Yeah, because the thread was SO active before you came along ;-)

I agree with Rory... the HFI-580 is a good choice because it's an upgrade to the HFI-550. However, if you could find the HFI-550 for a good price, it might not be a bad idea, either.

I'm of the mindset that if you are planning to purchase a sound card for almost $200, then cheap headphones are only going to hold you back. If you are planning to use speakers most of the time, then you may as well focus more on the speakers.

Are you planning to use headphones more than speakers? Maybe another option is to talk with your dad and see if he would go halfers, and go from there. I really can't recommend good headphones for less than $150 if you are serious about audio. If you don't care THAT much, anything by Sennheiser around your preferred price range should do well.

Before moving to these Ultrasone's, I used a $100 pair of Turtle Beach, and there is no comparison. I am sure there are other great headphones that would be better than those for the same price range, but I'm no audiophile and haven't done enough homework to know :-/

[linnerd40]

Once I get these headphones I will DEFINITELY be using mainly headphones. I'm pretty certain now that I'll go with HD 580s, which really seem just about perfect for my needs. I found them at an amazing price at DjDeals.com. (http://www.djdeals.com/ultrasoneHFI580.htm) Does anyone know anything about that retailer? The price is a full $30 cheaper than Amazon and it is a certified Ultrasone retailer... So, can I trust them? :D

Thanks for the help! I can't wait to purchase these! As usual, Techgage rocks!

[Rob Williams]

Pre-grats! You will be extremely pleased with those headphones, especially if you pair it up with a card like the Xonar. I have no idea how they can charge less than everyone else, but they are legit. Their ratings prove it:

http://www.bizrate.com/ratings_guide/cust_reviews__mid--32581.html

[Rob Williams]

linnerd40, did you ever end up picking up the sound card and/or headphones?

[linnerd40]

Is techgage going to be doing a review of the DX? I have been holding off on buying the D2, because the DX might serve my purposes just as well.

I will be ordering the headphones and sound card at the same time... so, whenever I see a review of the DX, I'll make the final choice. I just don't want to go around spending that much money before getting a good feel of the alternatives.

[Rob Williams]

Yessir, Rory has this card and has been experimenting with it. I'm unsure of his thoughts so far though. He's working on a Creative EAX versus article at the moment, so his thoughts might be in there.

[linnerd40]

Awesome! I can always count on Techgage :D

[Rory Buszka]

Hi, Rory here.

I'll actually be testing three cards side-by-side in the "ASUS vs. Creative: EAX Technology" article, which you can expect early this week. These cards are the ASUS Xonar D2 (which I've already reviewed), the ASUS Xonar DX (the low-profile, lower-priced, value-oriented model, with some tradeoffs already apparent in the quality of the onboard DAC and output components), and the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty XtremeGamer representing the Creative Labs side of things.

I'm dealing with some setbacks at the moment (dealing with my internet connection, not any of the hardware itself), but I expect to finish this review on-schedule. Check back by mid-week.

[Merlin]

Hi, Rory here.

I'll actually be testing three cards side-by-side in the "ASUS vs. Creative: EAX Technology" article, which you can expect early this week.

Sounds like a good review coming up.
I've been using the mobo sound ports, which aren't that bad.... with opticle out to amp system.

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[Kougar]

Yeah, I wish Frys had a try before you buy thing with sound cards... y'all have me wondering if I would notice a difference between my onboard HD Azalia audio vs a Xonar... speakers are Logitech Z-5300's iirc, no digital inputs at all.

I very easily noticed the difference between the Realtek HD Azalia and the Realtek AC 97 of my Abit IS7 though... but most of my music is already compressed to some extent, I've not bought a physical CD in years.

[Rob Williams]

Once again, I am not in a position to be throwing off suggestions or fact, but I believe if you are using subpar speakers with compressed audio, upgrading to a better sound card will do little good. I believe the Logitech Z-5300 are rather powerful (if I recall), so you might.

I am somewhat of an audiophile wannabe. I have a Xonar, higher-end headphones and listen to everything in FLAC lossless. I did notice a substantial difference between the on-board sound and the Xonar in listening tests, though I didn't really expect to.

There are a few songs in particular where I really notice the difference, especially with regards to instruments and voices. Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" is one example where even older recorded music sounds so much better. He opens with "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", and despite being so damn old, it sounds so damn good.

Two other examples are Barenaked Ladies "This Old Apartment"... with the Xonar and good headphones, the song is pure aural bliss. Then there is Social Distortions "Another State of Mind" which opens up with tapping of cymbals... and it also sounds truly robust and realistic.

I am no authority to compare speakers, however. My Logitech X-240's aren't that great for the sake of comparisons.

[Kougar]

I'm not to sure about the sub, it's completely enclosed except for an air port. Model was fully analog offering only audio jacks, likely why it was discontinued and in the discount bin. Was too good a markdown (Box was gouged ontop of everything), so I ended up with them.

Thanks for the info Rob, I appreciate it! Decisions, decisions... :)

[Rory Buszka]

Hi, Kougar; Rory here.

Just about any speakers over $100* can benefit from a better sound card. I was amazed at how much better my modest $150 Cambridge Soundworks MicroWorks II sounded when connected to the Xonar D2. If you ended up with the Z-5300, get the Xonar card. It'll help you get the best from your Z-5300 speakers' analog inputs, and it'll be a competent sound card for driving a nice set of headphones as well. That's my recommendation.

*On second thought, let's restrict this qualification to 2.0/2.1-channel speaker systems, and just for giggles, let's also say that they're from a reputable manufacturer like Logitech or Altec Lansing.

[Kougar]

I'd better clarify myself, I got the Z-5300's about a year ago.

I think y'all have me sold on the DX... read a few more reviews. Now if I can just start selling the misc junk I have instead of buying anything else... *coughs*

[Rob Williams]

Now if I can just start selling the misc junk I have instead of buying anything else... *coughs*

Haha, good luck with that! Luckily, the DX is a great price, so again, it's going to be hard to purchase it and then regret it even a little bit. I think for the price, it's a wise investment.