Asus STRIX SOAR and Razer Tiamat 7.1 odd issue

[Terriss99]

Hello audio gurus.

So I've got a rather....interesting problem.

I have long owned a Razer Tiamat 7.1 v1 (the analog plug headphone), but not necessarily the PC and Soundcard to appropriately use it. I daisy-chained it onto an old gaming laptop via an external soundcard (one of these: https/www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/945107-REG/startech_icusbaudio7d_7_1_usb_audio.html?ap=y&gclid=CjwKCAjwpKveBRAwEiwAo4Pqm91FCxI3Vmr2LmuRPAxmFNE2TEr5UmxE1l5RfKsHuFLEF_DrEqGAHhoCE7AQAvD_BwE&smp=y ) and with minimal tinkering got it to work how I wanted.

I recently upgraded to a full on gaming rig with Windows 10 64-bit, NVIDIA GTX 1080 and an ASUS STRIX SOAR soundcard. For the first few seconds after I installed the drivers and turned on the Strix Sound studio, everything sounded wonderful. All channels were firing and the bass was booming and lovely. The very moment I changed my sampling frequency away from the default number of Hz, the Sub output just....went away. I tried returning to the default level and altering the bit depth, resetting to default settings and every possible combination of everything with the audio studio and I JUST couldn't get it back.

At the time I was listening to music from my Steam library and for laughs, I decided to boot up Diablo 3 to see how it sounded. After changing the in-game audio settings to 7.1 via the soundcard, it sounds AMAZING....only on Diablo 3. Reverting back to any Steam game I own, the sub channel just won't fire. Same thing with listening to music, watching youtube videos, etc. etc. It seems like the only way to get bass is to play Diablo 3 (or by switching from 7.1 to 2.0 via the headphone control button).

I've rooted around google for a little while and have seen somewhat similar issues for other people. I've tried going into the control panel sound settings and configuring the soundcard for 7.1 (it does appropriately and if I click on the test icon for the Subwoofer, the Sub channel will fire and sound quite nice), but won't fire if I start up any game from my steam library. I've seen others recommend "Equalizer APO," and I attempted to use that, but for whatever reason I can't get the damn thing to work (nothing that I touch alters the sound output whatsoever).

Any suggestions out there? The card clearly can output Sub, just only with a game that I can explicitly control the sound with. My steam games don't give me that option for that level of audio control (Firewatch, Don't Starve, Don't Starve Together, Enter the Gungeon, Crypt of the Necrodancer).

 

[gamerk316]

Question: The Sub fires for stereo output correct? Just want to rule out the audio in question not having a sub channel. It's also possible that some games don't have a native 7.1 track, and are doing some post-processing that is killing the sub channel (doubt it, but it's possible).

Aside from that, you may have to play with the LFE cutoff setting a bit (I'm assuming one exists; I have an older ASUS card); it's possible it's set incorrectly for your sub (though that wouldn't explain why it *sometimes* works).

 

[Terriss99]

The sub DOES fire in stereo output. Both when I set the card to stereo output as well as hit the 7.1 button on the headphones.

The ASUS Strix SOAR actually does NOT have an LFE setting like the older ASUS cards do.

 

[gamerk316]

Hmm...really not sure what's going on then. At the very least, make sure no post-processing it getting enabled when you switch to 7.1; that could potentially kill the signal.