[SOLVED] Audio issue with headphones

[VermilionNeko]

Hi

I seem to be having an issue with my audio whilst using my headphones. Prior to reformatting, I had no problems, but now I have an issue I can't seem to solve. :-\ I'm using an ASUS Xonar DGX and previously I had to switch audio devices whenever I wanted to use my headphones. I use optical audio when using my speakers, which uses the S/PDIF Pass-through Device. In the Audio Centre, the S/PDIF Output tickbox is checked, and it has an option simply called PCM.
I can't get my headphones to work with this device. Before, I had to set the audio device to Speakers whenever I wanted to use them. The S/PDIF box had to be unticked though as the audio would be loud, garbled and distorted. Now, however, whenever I set it up for the headphones and play music, the music itself sounds mostly fine, but speech/vocals are really quiet, swirly sounding and distorted. The only way to alleviate it a bit is to go to the Mixer option and reduce either the left or right channel. I never had to do this before. It isn't ideal either as the audio quality just doesn't sound as loud or clear as it used to be. I've tried messing with numerous options under audio devices, but nothing seems to fix it. I'm totally stuck as to what to do. I even tried completely uninstalling the audio drivers and re-installing them, but that hasn't worked either.

Can someone help me?

Thanks

 

[gamerk316]

I take it the headphones are connected to the normal analog output? In that case, the most likely problem is the output gain is set wrong for whatever headphones you are using. The DGX has an amp on its output (for headphones that need the extra juice), and if not set up right this WILL cause audio distortion.

The simplest thing to do is set the following settings:

Audio Channel: 2 Channel
Sample Rate: Whatever (can drop to 48 Khz for testing; likely won't break anything anyways)
Analog Out: Headphone (One of the buttons next to this option allows you to set the output gain; if in doubt, set the lowest value and see if that resolves the problem).


As for Optical Passthrough, I'm pretty sure passthrough supports Dolby/DTS, so you shouldn't need to have the PCM option checked. It should literally just send whatever the audio stream is to the speakers untouched. [I might be wrong though; it's been a while since I've dealt with optical].


In all cases, always make sure the "Speakers" device is selected in the Windows Control Panel's sound settings menu, even when using Optical. Using the "Optical Output" one forces stereo PCM output, making it impossible to send Dolby/DTS over Optical.

 

[VermilionNeko]

Thank you for the response. I usually plug my headphones into the headphone jack at the top/front of my tower. There is a Headphone option, but I don't get any audio. It only seems to work with FP Headphone, which makes sense if it's plugged into the front panel. I don't believe there's any option to adjust output gain for Analog Out. I'll have another look though.

EDIT: Yeah, no output gain, only Speaker Test and HP Advance Setting. Also, when doing an audio test with my headphones, the audio never comes out of the left channel and then the right. It's always both together.

 

[VermilionNeko]

Okay, I'm starting to have my suspicions that the front panel jack is faulty. I plugged my headphones into the speaker jack at the back of the sound card, and they work perfectly. Audio is VERY loud, but they work and they're clear.