When I selected “Digital Output device” as the default audio playback device on Windows® Vista, the sound effects and UI controls do not work.

For Xonar sound cards on Windows® Vista, there are usually two audio devices: Speakers and Digital Out Device such as S/PDIF.

Speakers is the default device. Use this device to fully control the sound effects on the Xonar Audio Center, the driver’s GUI.

Digital Out Device is designed as a pass-through audio path to play stereo Hi- Fidelity audio contents or encoded audio formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround bit-stream from DVD or Blu-ray disc titles. The driver does not process all the audio data that passes through this digital device.

In most software DVD players’ audio settings, you could choose “Use S/PDIF output” or “HDMI” for HDMI output, such as on HDAV1.3. The player then passes the audio through the “Digital Output Device” automatically. Some devices require onboard audio to be disabled first. In this case, you do not even need to change the system default audio device. In most scenarios, we suggest that you keep the settings in “Speakers” to enjoy the complete features of the Xonar sound card. You could actually still get LPCM audio data monitoring from S/PDIF-Outport as analog Front channel output in this situation.

ASUS Xonar Essence ST

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