ASUS XONAR U5 SI Sound Card User Manual PDF

Xonar U5 SI 5.1-Channel Audio Card

User Guide

Copyright 2015 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.

E11114 Revised Edition v2 November 2015

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Contents 1. Introduction ..................................................................................... 4

1.1 Package contents ............................................................. 4 1.2 System requirements ......................................................... 4 1.3 General Specification ......................................................... 5

2. Hardware .......................................................................................... 7

2.1 Xonar U5 SI Audio Card .................................................... 7 2.2 Installing Xonar U5 SI Audio Card ..................................... 9

3. Driver Installation .......................................................................... 10

3.1 Installing the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver ............................. 10 3.2 Uninstalling or Reinstalling the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver . 10

4. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals ....................................... 11

4.1 Input connection .............................................................. 11 4.2 Output connection ............................................................ 13

5. Software Utilities ........................................................................... 18

6. Troubleshooting ............................................................................ 19

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1. Introduction

1.1 Package contents Check your ASUS Xonar U5 SI audio card package for the following items:

ASUS XonarTM U5 SI 5.1-Channel Audio Card x1 USB Cable x1

1.2 System requirements To ensure a successful installation of the Xonar U5 SI audio card, make sure that your computer meets the following requirements:

32/64bit Microsoft Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 (32/64bit) Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz, AMD Athlon 1400 CPU, or faster CPU 256MB system memory 60MB available storage space for driver installation CD-ROM drive (or DVD-ROM drive) for software installation High-quality headphones, powered analog speakers, or a Dolby Digital

decoder

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1.3 General Specification

Items Description

Audio Performance

Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted)

Up to 104dB

Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted)

Up to 94dB

Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted)

Up to 0.005% (-86dB)

Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted)

Up to 0.005% (-86dB)

Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input)

< 10Hz to 44kHz

Output / Input Full-Scale Voltage 1 Vrms (2.828 Vp-p) for rear output (Speaker)

1.3 Vrms (3.677 Vp-p) for headphone out

1 Vrms (3.677 Vp-p) for line in

Bus Compatibility

USB audio class USB audio class 2.0 for all functions

Main Chipset

Audio Processor Cmedia 6631A High-Performance Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz / 24bit)

D-A Converter of Digital Sources Cmedia CM9882A x1 (108dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit)

A-D Converter for Analog Inputs Cmedia CM9882A x1 (104dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit)

Sample Rate and Resolution

Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution

44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz @ 16/24bit

Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution

44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz @ 16/24bit

S/PDIF Digital Output 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz @ 16/24bit

ASIO 2.0 Driver Support 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz @ 16/24bit

(continued on the next page)

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Items Description

I/O Ports

Analog Output Jack 3.50mm mini jack x3 for 5.1 speaker (Front/Center-Subwoofer/Rear-out)

3.50mm mini jack x1 (Headphone out)

Analog Input Jack 3.50mm mini jack x1 (Shared by Line-In / Mic-In)

Digital S/PDIF Output High-bandwidth coaxial / optical port supports 192kHz/24bit

Driver Features

As SW specifications Version 1.01

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h Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

2. Hardware

2.1 Xonar U5 SI Audio Card

3

2

1

Side view

Rear view

4

5

6

73

2

1

4

5

6

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No Item Description

1

Microphone In port Connect your external PC microphone to this 3.5mm port for voice input.

Line In port Connect analog devices like Mp3 players, CD players, music synthesizers, and other line-level sound sources to this 3.5mm port for audio recording or processing.

2 Headphone Out port

Connect your headphone to this port.

3 Front Out port For 2/4.1/5.1 channel speaker systems, connects to the front input on the powered speakers.

4 Center/Subwoofer Out port

Connects to the center/subwoofer input on 5.1 powered analog speakers.

5 Rear Out port Connects to the rear/subwoofer input on 5.1 powered analog speakers.

6 S/PDIF Out port

Coaxial (Optical combo) digital output port. Connects to an external digital decoder or digital speaker systems, Home Theater systems, AV receivers for outputting digital audio including PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA- Pro, etc. Connects to the surround channel input on 4.1/5.1 powered analog speakers.

7 USB Port Connects to the USB port of your motherboard using the bundled USB cable.

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2.2 Installing Xonar U5 SI Audio Card

Before you proceed with the following installation steps, its recommended that you disable your onboard audio device in your BIOS settings, or uninstall any other audio cards on your PC. (For BIOS setting or uninstallation of other sound cards, refer to the user manuals of your motherboard and audio card.)

Installing the Xonar U5 SI Audio card

1. Power OFF the computer, the monitor, and all other peripheral devices connected to your computer.

2. Unplug the computer power cord from your computer and power outlet.

3. Touch the metal back or side panel of the computer to avoid static electricity.

4. Remove the chassis cover. 5. Remove the metal bracket from an available PCIe slot for the Xonar U5 SI

audio card. 6. Carefully insert the audio card into the PCIe slot. Ensure the audio card sits

properly in place. 7. Connect the USB port of Xonar U5 SI to the internal USB port of your

motherboard with the bundled USB cable. 8. Secure the audio card with screws and the metal bracket. 9. Put back the chassis cover. 10. Reconnect all cables. 11. Plug the power cord to the computer and to a power outlet. 12. Power ON the computer.

Note: the PCIe is for placement support only with the goal to have the audio card sit properly in place.

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3. Driver Installation

3.1 Installing the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver After installing the Xonar U5 SI audio card to your computer, you need to install the device driver that enables the Xonar U5 SI audio card to work with Windows operating system.

The version and contents of the support CD are subject to change without notice.

To install the device driver: 1. Insert the ASUS Xonar U5 SI support CD into your optical drive or download

the driver from the ASUS support site. If Autorun is enabled, the ASUS Xonar Card Driver screen appears automatically. Go to step 4. If Autorun is not enabled in your computer, perform step 2.

2. Click Computer on your desktop and double-click the optical drive icon. 3. Double-click setup.exe located on the optical drive. 4. Click Driver to start the installation. 5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. Read,

understand, and accept the END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT before continuing the installation.

6. When the installation finishes, you may be prompted to restart your computer. You can choose to restart the computer at a later time.

3.2 Uninstalling or Reinstalling the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver

3.2.1 Uninstalling the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver To uninstall the Xonar U5 SI card driver:

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features. 2. Right-click the driver you want to remove, and then click Uninstall. 3. In the InstallShield Wizard dialog box, select Remove. 4. Restart your computer when prompted.

3.2.2 Reinstalling the Xonar U5 SI Card Driver To reinstall the Xonar U5 SI card driver:

1. Uninstall the existing software or driver. 2. Follow the installation process to reinstall the driver.

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

S/PDIF

AVR

4. Connecting Speakers and Peripherals

4.1 Input connection

4.1.1 Connecting digital audio systems

1

No Item Description

1 S/PDIF Out port Connect an AVR (Audio/Video Receiver) to this S/PDIF output port.

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

OR

4.1.2 Connecting microphone / Line-In

1

No Item Description

1 Microphone In / Line In port

Connect the microphones 3.5mm plug into this Mic-In port for voice communication, recording, or karaoke.

Connect the 3.5mm plug of the CD/MP3 Player or any other Line level analog audio sources into this Line-In port for sound recording.

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

4.2 Output connection

4.2.1 Connecting Stereo Headphones

1

No Item Description

1 Headphone Out Port

The Headphone Out port has a built-in high-quality amplifier to drive headphones. Connect your stereo headphones directly to this port.

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

No Item Description

1 Front Out port Connect the Front-channel 3.5mm plug of your 5.1 channel headphone into this jack.

2 Center/Subwoofer Out port

Connect the Center/Bass-channel 3.5mm plug of your 5.1 channel headphone into this jack.

3 Rear Surround Out port

Connect the Rear-Channel 3.5mm plug of your 5.1 channel headphone into this jack.

4.2.2 Connecting 5.1 channel headphones

1

2

3

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

4.2.3 Connecting analog speaker systems Connecting 2 channel speakers

No Item Description

1 Front Out port Connects to the front input port of 2 channel speakers.

1

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Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

Amplifier

OR

Connecting 4.1 channel speakers / power amplifier

No Item Description

1 Front Out port Connects to the front input port of 4.1 channel speakers

2 Rear Surround Out port

Connects to the rear surround input port of 4.1 channel speakers.

1

2

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Connecting 5.1 channel speakers

No Item Description

1 Front Out port Connects to the front input port of 5.1 channel speakers

2 Center/Subwoofer Out port

Connects to the Center and Subwoofer input ports of 5.1 channel speakers.

3 Rear Surround Out port

Connects to the rear surround input port of 5.1 channel speakers.

Mic/Line-in

Headphone

Front

Rear

Center

S/PDIF

1

2

3

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5. Software Utilities

For more details about using Sonic Studio, refer to the Sonic Studio manual.

Sonic Studio overview Sonic Studio comes with advanced sound algorithms and virtual surround effects to enhance your gaming and entertainment experience.

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6. Troubleshooting 1. I cannot install the audio card driver in my PC.

(1). Make sure that you have connected your audio card to the internal USB port of your motherboard.

(2). Ensure that you have the latest driver version. (3). Check that the Windows hardware Device Manager has detected the device. (4). Restart your computer. (5). Remove the card, insert it into another PCIe slot and try again.

2. I cannot find the Sonic Studio application.

Make sure you have installed the driver. Find the Sonic Studio icon in the system tray on the lower right hand

corner of the screen. Double click the icon to launch the Sonic Studio utility.

If you cannot find the icon in the system tray, go to the Windows Control Panel and double click the Sonic Studio icon to make it visible in the system tray again.

After driver installation is complete, its recommended that you reboot your computer to complete setup. If the icon still doesnt appear, please try reinstalling the driver package.

3. I cant hear any sound from my analog speakers

(1). Ensure that you have connected speakers properly and have powered on your speakers.

(2). Ensure that the device master volume or the software player has NOT been muted in the Xonar U5 SI Audio Center.

(3). Please go to the sound and audio device of Windows Control Panel to check whether the playback default device is set to Xonar U5 SI Audio Device, instead of other onboard AC97 or HDA codec device. If its not, please set it to Xonar U5 SI Audio Device and restart your applications.

(4). Restart your computer.

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4. I cant hear any sound from the S/PDIF output

(1). Ensure that you have enabled S/PDIF output in the main settings of Sonic Studio.

(2). Ensure that you have connected the correct S/PDIF output jack in the card to the decoders (AV receiver) S/PDIF input jack.

(3). You may need to select the correct input and mode of your decoder or