1 Topic by johnnysh (edited by johnnysh 2020-05-13 01:34:44)

  • From: London
  • Registered: 2015-11-07
  • Posts: 40

Topic: UCX Lack Of Stereo Imaging

Hi Guys

so had an issue ever since I have owned my UCX where by the stereo is virtually none existent ?? everything played back on the RME almost sounds mono ... no depth or width

what I mean by this, there is no stereo width in the music when played back on the UCX, I have suffered for so long thinking most of my CD lossless rips were badly mastered CDs.

But there not!, I used EAC on a HP Z640 workstation to RIP in some of my CDs in lossless wav format, played the RIPS back on the HP z640 onboard Cheap Realtek Sound Card and the results were amazing, I was hearing width, depth in the music, stereo effects from left to right in the speakers, a sound quality that the RME UCX has never reproduced for me!

I could not believe how good the CD Rips sounded playing back on a cheap realtek onboard sound card.

This realtek cheap card has no special effects or eq set, it just plain windows drivers / normal sound settings, nothing enabled as FX

My main machine which has the RME UCX is what I do all my music processing on, so I have always used this as the reference machine having the best sound card.

But i'm not sure MY RME is the best, when I play the same HQ lossless rip back that sounded really good on the realtek sound card .... great stereo imaging etc.

On the RME you can hardly tell there is any stereo, I have lived with this issue for so long, Reset all the TOTAL mixer / updated drivers etc. But it is just lacking stereo imaging, to the point that CD RIPs on the RME machine, I have nearly thrown CDs away thinking they were so BADLY mastered, but there not!!

It's the RME that makes them sound like MONO recording, lifeless and lacking imaging, I have had this issue ever since owning my RME UCX, possibly it's faulty from the moment I purchased it?


What makes it even worse when I press the mono button on the output fader in total mix , there is virtually no difference in the imaging / sound quality

Now that's not right

Any help or advice always appreciated, but possibly going to be looking for a different sound card as using my work station on a cheap onboard sound card has really showed up the UCX

could not believe the difference in sound quality imaging in the recording


Regards

Never Give Up In Striving For Perfection

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 24,837

Re: UCX Lack Of Stereo Imaging

So if TotalMix Reset doesn't fix it - how did you connect your monitors/amp to the UCX? And did you ever try a headphone?

You did not have the idea to route a mono signal to left or right outputs only to check what's going on in detail?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • mjfe87
  • mjfe87
  • S/Mux specialist
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  • Registered: 2011-06-21
  • Posts: 288

Re: UCX Lack Of Stereo Imaging

Like all RME interfaces our UCX sounds v good. The issue you're describing sounds like a digital routing problem either in Windows or Totalmix.

If there is some difference when you press 'mono' then either the width of the playback channel in Totalmix has been decreased, or the audio has somehow been duplicated and you're listening to a summed stereo and mono signal. 

Or you need to plug your headphones further in!

Eastwood Records
www.eastwoodrecords.co.uk

mjfe87's Website