Xonar SE Souncard Problems. Any Ideas?

[quexos]

I've found very little info about this Xonar SE card on the internet, so I'll just list the problems (and solutions) I have run into with it and hopefully I can sort at least some of it out. I am currently running it in 2 channel stereo via analog from rear output (green) to my receiver. I would prefer to use the optical (spdif) output, the entire reason I bought the card (my mainboard has no digital outputs at all), but the #1 problem below prevents it.

...all versions of Windows:

1. Using SPDIF (optical) output cuts off the first 1-2 seconds of EVERY audio stream it plays and stutters/dropouts randomly.
Short Windows sounds, for example only play the trailing end of the sound or are not even heard at all. So a "kabliiiiiiiing" sound is just "iing", and "biiing" is not even heard at all. Here is a workaround: http://veg.by/en/projects/soundkeeper but I am not willing to use it because it causes other issues like changing bit rates causes error about it being in use, not to mention running a random exe from the internet 24/7? Nah!

...so I switch to analog output Windows LTSC 2019 (1809):

2. Analog output has short dropouts/hiccups/stutters every few minutes or so...and also cuts off a bit of the start of audio.
This was bad on Win10 LTSC 2019 (1809, my preferred build), and is less severe/fixed on 1903 or 1607. No idea why but the onboard Realtek and my usb headset (probably the same/similar c-media chip in it) never do this on the exact same builds.

...so I switch to Windows LTSB 2016 (1607):

3. When using analog output to receiver (Speakers), the default device is reset to Optical, and if I disable that, 'Headphones (USB)' (with Speakers greyed out) every time the PC is shut down and restarted.
If I do a driver only (preferred method) install without the Asus Control Panel, Speakers can not be selected at all, ever. Only Optical or Headphones. Come on Asus, this is the most basic function of a sound card driver!

So to summarize, I want to use Optical output to my receiver, but cannot due to #1, on Windows LTSC 2019 (1809), but cannot due to #2, and strike 3, going back to Windows LTSB 1607 or 1903 and analog to avoid #1 and #2 causes #3. :mad:

Notes: The driver package contains a driver for the asmedia usb2 controller but it is not installed by default. Installing it before or after the sound card driver, does not fix any of the above problems. I run my PC very "lean and clean". There is no virus scanner or "start with windows" type software on it other than the Nvidia graphics driver.

[quexos]

Two years later...still no new drivers, and broken sound card. @#$% you Asus! Props to C-Media for making excellent audio chips, but seriously, #$%@ Asus for butchering their implementation and providing ZERO support for them.

[mulderfox]

quexos wrote:
Two years later...still no new drivers, and broken sound card. @#$% you Asus! Props to C-Media for making excellent audio chips, but seriously, #$%@ Asus for butchering their implementation and providing ZERO support for them.

What are your symptoms? I am only left with the default playback device reverting to "Headphones" occasionally after reboot.

[quexos]

mulderfox wrote:
What are your symptoms?

Everything in my original post. Most annoying currently is constant drop out or "audio stutter" when using analog output which I am pretty sure is caused by it being a USB audio chip on a PCIe card (my onboard Realtek audio does not do this)...and the resetting to headphones instead of speakers every fresh boot.

My DPC latency and all that is fine. Onboard Realtek audio works fine.

[quexos]

mekler22 wrote:
One more thing: I noticed with my Xonar SE as well, that it always reverts to HeadPhones (Xonar SoundCard) and to change it back to speakers, I have to go to the Xonar Audio Center utility and click on speakers. It's really tedious. If anyone got a registry trick or anything to fix that, I'll be grateful!

N2G-WarMaster wrote:
I was looking to a solution regarding my Asus Xonar SE card dropping the speaker config after sleep/hibernation and found this topic.

In case you hadn't found it by now (hopefully this will trigger a notification for you guys/gals/they/them/its): USB Audio Stutter is gone or greatly reduced with later Windows versions (20Hx+) + a different main board. 1809 was terrible. New Asus "hacked-in" fix in the same version of drivers from AUG 2021 enables remembering your chosen output source via some added script that launches and changes it back after a restart. Cheap hack, but better than nothing.

[mulderfox]

quexos wrote:
In case you hadn't found it by now (hopefully this will trigger a notification for you guys/gals/they/them/its): USB Audio Stutter is gone or greatly reduced with later Windows versions (20Hx+) + a different main board. 1809 was terrible. New Asus "hacked-in" fix in the same version of drivers from AUG 2021 enables remembering your chosen output source via some added script that launches and changes it back after a restart. Cheap hack, but better than nothing.

No worries. I've been corresponding with them and they sent me a download link as soon as they finished this workaround. Yes, it is a cheap and somewhat annoying hack, but I guess it's better than nothing - as you said.

[mulderfox]

mulderfox wrote:
No worries. I've been corresponding with them and they sent me a download link as soon as they finished this workaround. Yes, it is a cheap and somewhat annoying hack, but I guess it's better than nothing - as you said.

A quick update: now I encounter issue with the Xonar SE playback (and system) device disappearing from my windows during work. It does not happen mid-playback, but after playback. Even if I uninstall the (hidden) device from device manager, it will not be re-installed upon hardware scanning. But it will be re-detected upon reboot. What is that? any ideas?

[quexos]

Yes, it only works if you allow the Xonar software to start with Windows, which I do NOT!

[Saides]

My problems with Xonar pale before yours  but Im still feeling the loss of uising it 
- the little DX management panel cant even be found anymore  after a day of no sound output from it whatsoever something must  be toast      ://    
I imagined for a moment installing the hardware in a new pc  which might start some kind of firmware and maybe software download   ... is this a bonkers cloud cuckoo-land idea ? 
 idk Im not a sound professional as I guess you are

[iDDISON68]

I have a Zonar SE installed today on my very standard HP Prodesk 400 g6 running Windows 11 23H2.  I use the optical out to the amp and personally think it sounds great. I do get the very occasional tiny stutter for about 1/4 second and that is about it when using Spotify. I would rather not have it there at all but at least it is not a regular thing. I pretty much agree that it could be the issue will be the usb chip as mentioned earlier.