Installing aftermarker sound card on Aurora R7

If you can't Disable from BIOS, you can disable from Windows Device Manager.

Or, you might just be able to leave it Enabled, and just not use it.

Also, know that USB Gaming headsets come with their own "sound card" built-in to themselves. Also, usually their own " drivers and audio control-panel".

It's best to disable the on-board audio from the BIOS, but Creative Labs told me to use Device Manager as an alternative. 

I suppose I could also use the on-board Realtek card and uninstall the Alienware Audio, and download and install the Realtek audio software found on my Dell XPS 13. That has the option to adjust the volume balance on headphones.

Are these analog headphones (that you are obsessed with) expensive or something?

This has already been covered:

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/R7-on-board-vs-dedicated-sound-card/m-p/5891519#M1877

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https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/R7-audio-output-3-5mm-vs-optical/m-p/5867318#M1658

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https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Does-the-Aurora-R7-come-with-Maxx-Audio-Pro-like-some-of-the/m-p/5790176#M730

Actually, I have a set of headphones that cost more than my Aurora R7: Focal Utopias which cost $4,000! But I use those with my 300B tube amp setup, as you need a good DAC (as well as a good amp and good tubes in them) to fully appreciate those headphones. On my desktop and laptop computers, I just use Bose or ATH noise cancellation headphones which cost around $200-300, and which I use for airline flights.

The capability to adjust the headphone volume balance between the Left and Right headphones is found in any vanilla audio setup in any laptop you buy (usually using the Realtek audio chipset). That is why it is shocking that this basic feature is absent in the Aurora R7.

Also the R7 does not have an onboard DAC like Asus motherboards. So the Creative Labs sound cards will add either a Burr Brown or Sabre 9016 DAC for optimal sound quality when using high end headphones. The latest Asus boards actually incorporate the latest Sabre 9023 DACs on their onboard audio which are found on pretty good, dedicated SACD players.

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@Clevorwrote:

1. Actually, I have a set of headphones that cost more than my Aurora R7: Focal Utopias which cost $4,000! But I use those with my 300B tube amp setup, as you need a good DAC (as well as a good amp and good tubes in them) to fully appreciate those headphones.

2. On my desktop and laptop computers, I just use Bose or ATH noise cancellation headphones which cost around $200-300, and which I use for airline flights.

3. The capability to adjust the headphone volume balance between the Left and Right headphones is found in any vanilla audio setup in any laptop you buy (usually using the Realtek audio chipset). That is why it is shocking that this basic feature is absent in the Aurora R7.

4. Also the R7 does not have an onboard DAC like Asus motherboards. So the Creative Labs sound cards will add either a Burr Brown or Sabre 9016 DAC for optimal sound quality when using high end headphones. The latest Asus boards actually incorporate the latest Sabre 9023 DACs on their onboard audio which are found on pretty good, dedicated SACD players.

 

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1. Nice. My best pair of analog headphones are just Audio-Technica.

2. I thought that might be the case. I can't think of many other reasons to use analog sound-card these days. 

In the office, my audio-setup is fairly normal. However, in the Home Theater (has HTPC/Kodi) I'm more into using actual speakers and Subs ... powered by AVR-Amps.

3. "Balance" control is part of Windows. Go to (classic) Control-Panel / Sound and examine properties of Speakers.

4. Yes, those are nice ... but for most users, the included audio is fine:

As I said in the other thread ... Using HDMI (from video-card) Is another "high-end" way to go , you get (digital) Multi-Channel PCM from HDMI cable directly into your AVR or Amplifer (which usually contain nice DACs ). 

You are right - I found the headphone balance setup buried within Windows where you said it was. I guess this is a feature of Windows 10. Normally you can configure it from the Realtek audio app by right clicking it at the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. So it was puzzling it was missing from the Alienware Audio software. So all is fine.

I literally installed a soundblaster Z in  my R7 last night.

You should disable the Realtek audio device in device manager and, uninstall the Realtek audio driver and components in the app list.

Then install your sound card.

What I found out though is that once you unplug the front panel audio connector and hook it up to the new sound card you get a nice support assist error saying the front panel connector is damaged. So.. there's that. 

Dell isn't using any OTS dac in the R7 which is shocking. It's some kind of variant of the ALC861 which is the oldest (and cheapest) DAC Realtek still makes. It's over 10 years old.

It's not shocking that their audio interface is terrible. It's been that way since the aurora came out. What is shocking is that they're using a $.25 proprietary dac in a $2500 computer. 

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@blmlozzwrote:

1. I literally installed a soundblaster Z in  my R7 last night.

You should disable the Realtek audio device in device manager and, uninstall the Realtek audio driver and components in the app list.

Then install your sound card.

 

2. What I found out though is that once you unplug the front panel audio connector and hook it up to the new sound card you get a nice support assist error saying the front panel connector is damaged. So.. there's that. 

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1. Thanks for the report.

2. That points to a hardware incompatibility or pinout mis-wire. Likely proprietary or there is extra circuitry in top-panel PCB. I personally would disconnect it.

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@blmlozzwrote:

1. Dell isn't using any OTS dac in the R7 which is shocking. It's some kind of variant of the ALC861 which is the oldest (and cheapest) DAC Realtek still makes. It's over 10 years old.

 

2. It's not shocking that their audio interface is terrible. It's been that way since the aurora came out. What is shocking is that they're using a $.25 proprietary dac in a $2500 computer. 

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1. If you say so ... but it's good enough for analog PC audio. Sounds fine to me (when we rarely use analog speakers and not USB-Headset). If you follow the above links ... there are so many better ways to get high-quality audio. Why settle for analog when you can get digital PCM and Bit-Streamed DD5.1/DTS.

2. So, that means it's likely similar in all Dells and HPs. Lucky for Creative, or they would be out-of-business by now. Again, analog-audio (created and transmitted from inside a computer with inherent EMF/EMI) is pretty-much on-its-last-leg or at least Legacy at this point. 

Both front jacks work just fine. It's got to be that they have some kind of PCB on the front panel and there's self-check for a signal coming from it in some way.

I thought I posted a discussion about it but it's not showing up ? How best can I report the problem and hope for an engineering resolution? 

The comparable Omen systems (like the 880-160SE) actually use another non-listed realteck dac which they call an ALC3863 . I suspect it's the same DAC as the 3861 but with official DTS and headphone DTX:X support (since it's openly advertised)

In any kind of audio situation you're either limited by the quality of the speakers you use or the distortion coming from your amplifier.

PCM and bistreamed signals don't mean anything if you're listening to them through a cheap set of cans or speakers. I have a pair of A40s with the DAC base and, they're pretty muddy even compared to my DT990 600ohms running off the built-in DAC which obviously doesn't have a headphone amplifier. 

I happen to have a pair of AE5+'s desktop speakers. I agree that, this DAC is surprisingly clear but it's cold, tinny at higher levels, does not decode DTS or Dobly for movie playback and, has fewer embedded controls from factory than what Realtek provides in their own drivers. 

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@blmlozzwrote:

Both front jacks work just fine. It's got to be that they have some kind of PCB on the front panel and there's self-check for a signal coming from it in some way.

I thought I posted a discussion about it but it's not showing up ? How best can I report the problem and hope for an engineering resolution? 

 

 

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Like I said, it's a proprietary connector. Since the Aurora-R7 doesn't ship with any factory sound-cards, it wasn't validated to be compatible with any. If not here, it musta come-up in XPS area.