©ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

proppsie · ‎05-09-2014

Hey everyone!

two months ago i purchased a Maximus Vi Impact board which i sold since and went for a Maximus Vi Formula.

I own a pair of the Beyerdynamic DT880 Edition (250Ohms) headphones and im using a Logitech Z623 speaker system.

With the Impact at first, i did not manage to drive neither of them, then i saw this topic right here on this forum:
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?36824-disappointed-with-MAXIMUS-VI-IMPACT-sound-card.../pag...

There on page 8 people said this driver is better, than that one works even better... (7111,7161,7121 etc.)
Since i could not find the 7161 for Windows7 64 bit, i ended up installing the latest one from station-drivers.com.
I believe it was this one here: http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/downloads/Drivers/Realtek/Audio/Drivers/Realtek-High-Defini...

Now this was working flawlessly with the Impact, the Headphones sounded really loud and clear the same time, same with my speakers.

I have the Maximus Vi Formula now... and first i directly downloaded the same, latest driver (see above 7213) and i was happy that the option for the amplify level was right there after i set the "Connector Settings" to AC97 Front Panel, like on this picture: http://rog.asus.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=31052&d=1386915923.

Unfortunately changing the apllify level did not do a thing, my headphones were so quiet on max it was ridiculous, and the same with my speakers.
Since this was not working, i tried other drivers from station-drivers.com. And at some point the option for "Connector Settings" to "AC97 Front Panel" vanished. I removed all dirvers and installed the 7213 one again, and "what the hell?" the option is gone... completely. There is one option which is weird "disable front panel jack detection" if i tick the box there, the amplify level appears again, but it does nothing at all.

So my question is, how do i get the amp on this mobo to work, so i can listen to some decent music?
How can the option just simply vanish by re-installing the same version (7213) that had it before?! Are there some leftovers from the previous versions i have tried in the meantime? I looked everywhere and uninstalled the realtek drivers, even deleted the realtek folders under program files - is there a proper driver sweeper for this or somerhing?
Why is there no Win7 version of the 7161 driver from the other thread that people seem to like? (i have tried installing it on my system, and it did, but the amplify level doesn't do anything either)
Im really disappointed at the moment in this audio solution. the Impact worked in the end, but with the Formula i have spent a whole day trying to figure this out.

Please if you know how to solve this, do tell!
Thanks in advance

dingo99 · ‎05-09-2014

Have you tried the ASUS-provided drivers? Generic drivers probably don't have the necessary code to configure the M6F's headphone amp.

M6F front-panel audio is designed very differently than the Imapct and most other motherboards. The Formula has an independent DAC connected to the Realtek's I2S digital output, then the analog output from the DAC is fed to the heaphone amp which drives the FP audio connector.

On most other boards, FP audio is driven by an analog output of the Realtek, maybe with some amplification. So, if you use generic drivers, the controls might only affect that analog output (which is not connected to anything on the M6F).

proppsie · ‎05-09-2014

dingo99 wrote:
Have you tried the ASUS-provided drivers? Generic drivers probably don't have the necessary code to configure the M6F's headphone amp.

M6F front-panel audio is designed very differently than the Imapct and most other motherboards. The Formula has an independent DAC connected to the Realtek's I2S digital output, then the analog output from the DAC is fed to the heaphone amp which drives the FP audio connector.

On most other boards, FP audio is driven by an analog output of the Realtek, maybe with some amplification. So, if you use generic drivers, the controls might only affect that analog output (which is not connected to anything on the M6F).

I see, that makes sense of course. But what do you suggest? Get the 7023 version from the website? Or switch to Win 8.1 since theres a new updated version for that os.? (7161)

Also you are talking about the front panel audio. Its not even wired in my system since i never use front panel jacks. I was told i should always the connections on the back i/o for audio because the cable going to the front panel can pick a lot of noise/interference.

dingo99 · ‎05-10-2014

Not sure about the drivers. I'm still using the old 6971 version without any problems, so I haven't felt a need to update. You could try downloading 7161 and try installing on Win7 anyway... it might work.

IMO, front-panel jack is the only way to go with the Formula. That nice CS4398 DAC and TPA6120 headphone amp are wired only to the FP audio connector. The rear-panel speaker jack is driven by the Realtek's built-in DACs plus a NE5532 op-amp. On my Formula, the rear-panel jack is audibly inferior, whether driving amped speakers or headphones. It might be that I have a faulty board, or the Realtek DACs are just lousy. I don't know, as I have no other Realtek-equipped boards to compare with.

Interference is a valid concern with FP audio. On my case (Antec P182), I needed to float a ground connection at the front panel to eliminate interference from my video card. It might take some experimentation to get it right, but the sound quality improvement is worth it. Or, you might get lucky and just not have an interference problem.

proppsie · ‎05-10-2014

I will definitely try the front panel then. How could i be so stupid. I did not know the amp and the dac only work on the FP. Now i understand, since the Impact has its lttle soundcard and thats directly connected to the back i/o so its different there.

proppsie · ‎05-10-2014

yup, front panel work flawlessly. thanks for the help man! 😄 much appreciated.

How do i use the audio of my M. VI Formula???