Software:
We will take a quick look at some of the key components of the software, starting with the "Xonar D2X Audio Center" interface.
The screenshot below is of the main screen used to access all the audio settings for the D2X. It has a rather stylish appearance that is obviously fashioned after a home theater receiver. All of the controls are available here or through slide out menus, and we will look at a few of them in the subsequent images.
The below left image shows the Main screen, where the sample rate and speaker configuration settings are found. For the most part I used the Xonar D2X with 5.1 and 7.1 analog speaker setups, but did connect to a small home theater setup via the digital coaxial connection for some testing. The below right image shows the Mixer tab which applies the smooth Hi-Fi skin to the sliders found in the Windows Volume Control settings.
The below left image shows the Effect tab which features a ten band equalizer with presets, as well as a variety of environmental effects. And finally, the below right image shows the FlexBass screen which allows for the configuration of the low pass crossover point, as well as setting the general physical size of each speaker for bass response purposes.
My overall impression of the Audio Center is functional and that the layout is rather nice, but that some of the features are too small. Certain buttons, sliders, and drop downs require precision mouse work, and with some HTPC pointing devices it may be frustrating to work with. In addition, while the function of some features are rather obvious, others are not. Tool tips are available for most controls, but not all, so you have to activate them in order to see what they actually do.
