Help with getting right settings for my headphone with xonar STX

[gilgameshflood]

I followed many posts and installed the ASUS xonar essence STX on my PC. Compared to onboard audio I am unable to hear most sounds I could before from onboard, and the loudness of different sounds and voices in movies are a mess(muddled up). Don't know how else to put it, my friend has same card and headphone and his sounds divinely different compared to what I'm getting.

My specs: HyperX cloud pro headset
Asrock 990FX extreme9 mobo.

 

Steps I took to ensure proper audio:
Disabled onboard audio in BIOS. 
Put the headphone to the right jack.

Connected the power properly. Independent MOLEX cable.
Uninstalled Nvidia audio drivers before installation.
 

Settings:
Windows selected devices(and settings):

System manager:

Software(If I select higher I'm afraid if I might damage headphone):

Tried all channels, different SPDIF out settings. Only thing I didn't change was the "Normal Gain" thing under "HP Advance Setting" menu. Because when I did, they sounded extremely loud. 

[creatip123]

Turn off ALL effects.

[gilgameshflood]

Turn off ALL effects.

I tried that too, no noticeable difference. 

Tried with two, four, six channels too. No difference.

Even changed sample rate on both windows and this software.

[creatip123]

I tried that too, no noticeable difference. 

Tried with two, four, six channels too. No difference.

Even changed sample rate on both windows and this software.

 

Turn off smart volume too. If still bad, use 2 channels audio.

[gilgameshflood]

Turn off smart volume too. If still bad, use 2 channels audio.

Already did. Same sound. No big changes.

[JellyD]

Already did. Same sound. No big changes.

 

By ALL effects he also means dolby headphone and 7.1 virtual speaker. In my experience these end up making the sound all kinds of weird. and they are still on in the pic you posted.

[NannerBeans]

Asus' sound software is terrible. Just use your onboard and sell your sound card. 

[gilgameshflood]

By ALL effects he also means dolby headphone and 7.1 virtual speaker. In my experience these end up making the sound all kinds of weird. and they are still on in the pic you posted.

Yes, I did that too. No change at all. And with the 7.1 virtual speaker, the sounds keep switching places from left to right, right to left. For example, in a movie there is a conversation scene and the actor is speaking at the left of the screen and I can hear the voice from anywhere(left right or mid) and it keeps on moving.

So I tried all the settings and this card probably works this way with my system/headphone. Not waiting a year or something for ASUS to patch it. Going to sell this thing. Motherboard audio is better than this.

[gilgameshflood]

Asus' sound software is terrible. Just use your onboard and sell your sound card. 

Gladly. Another problem which I can't live with is that during the whole movie, the card is not concentrated on any single sound, first you're hearing the actors speak and a car goes by, the voice completely switches to the car engine sound and reduces the voice sound then some bird flies by and same thing. Last time I checked, I didn't have ADHD. 

[Krishtrinity]

I use xonar U7,what i found to be the best is to turn off everything for music,and use the movie mode when watching movies,if you are using surround 5.1 setup turn the movie mode off and use it as regular 5.1.Only use 7.1 virtualizer in games but only if you really really want to...