I recently got a Gigabyte FI32U and am pleased with it for the price point.
Gigabyte advertises "ESS SABRE DAC" for the audio chip inside the monitor. However, I am trying to get as much information on the monitor's audio capabilities as possible, so I can decide if I should augment it with another audio-out solution or work with what it comes with. Does anyone know this information?
What I have found so far is:
There are three 3.5mm jacks on the back of the monitor. Two are accessible by USB only (output = green, microphone input = pink), while the third one (black) is accessible by HDMI/DisplayPort audio only. The black one has a shiny red light coming out of it which means that it supports TOSLINK optical audio as well as analog!
The USB one has an output that appears as "ESS SABRE HiFi USB Audio Device" with options ranging up to 32-bit, 384kHz in Windows Sound settings. It has the following device information:
USB\VID_0414&PID_A00C&REV_003&MI_00
USB Audio 2.0
The USB one also has an input that appears as "Realtek USB2.0 Audio" for the microphone input. The only option for input resolution is 16-bit, 44.1kHz. The device information is:
USB\VID_0414&PID_A008&REV_0005&MI_00
ks.inf
wdmaudio.inf
wdma_usb.inf:USB\Class_01,USBAudio
Finally, the HDMI/DisplayPort connection appears as follows, when connected to an AMD Radeon 6700 XT running the latest AMD Adrenalin software on Windows 11:
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Advanced Micro Devices
Supported Formats
Max Number of Channels: 2
HDCP: Supported
Bit Depths: 16-bit, 20-bit, 24-bit
Sample Rates: 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48.0 kHz
I have been able to output 24-bit, 48.0kHz to the black (line out/HDMI/DisplayPort) headphone jack, both in stereo analog, and in TOSLINK optical to compatible speakers with optical input.
At this point, I cannot tell if the black line out supports greater than 24-bit, 48.0 kHz and if it is an AMD driver issue or a limitation of the display. It would also be nice to find out what DACs and amps are being used on the line out. I have not tried doing any bitstream (dolby digital/dts) output to it yet. When I originally set up the monitor, I connected over HDMI and could hear audio fine. However, when I connected over DisplayPort using Windows' default drivers, DisplayPort audio out did not cause any sound to be heard (although the monitor was listed as being an audio output). Once I added AMD Adrenalin software and drivers, DisplayPort audio out behaves exactly like HDMI audio out.
I have attached the green out (ESS SABRE one) to the EPOS/Sennheiser PC38X headset, and it sounds great.
Hope this helps and hope we can dig deeper into what this monitor is capable of.
Gigabyte advertises "ESS SABRE DAC" for the audio chip inside the monitor. However, I am trying to get as much information on the monitor's audio capabilities as possible, so I can decide if I should augment it with another audio-out solution or work with what it comes with. Does anyone know this information?
What I have found so far is:
There are three 3.5mm jacks on the back of the monitor. Two are accessible by USB only (output = green, microphone input = pink), while the third one (black) is accessible by HDMI/DisplayPort audio only. The black one has a shiny red light coming out of it which means that it supports TOSLINK optical audio as well as analog!
The USB one has an output that appears as "ESS SABRE HiFi USB Audio Device" with options ranging up to 32-bit, 384kHz in Windows Sound settings. It has the following device information:
USB\VID_0414&PID_A00C&REV_003&MI_00
USB Audio 2.0
The USB one also has an input that appears as "Realtek USB2.0 Audio" for the microphone input. The only option for input resolution is 16-bit, 44.1kHz. The device information is:
USB\VID_0414&PID_A008&REV_0005&MI_00
ks.inf
wdmaudio.inf
wdma_usb.inf:USB\Class_01,USBAudio
Finally, the HDMI/DisplayPort connection appears as follows, when connected to an AMD Radeon 6700 XT running the latest AMD Adrenalin software on Windows 11:
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Advanced Micro Devices
Supported Formats
Max Number of Channels: 2
HDCP: Supported
Bit Depths: 16-bit, 20-bit, 24-bit
Sample Rates: 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48.0 kHz
I have been able to output 24-bit, 48.0kHz to the black (line out/HDMI/DisplayPort) headphone jack, both in stereo analog, and in TOSLINK optical to compatible speakers with optical input.
At this point, I cannot tell if the black line out supports greater than 24-bit, 48.0 kHz and if it is an AMD driver issue or a limitation of the display. It would also be nice to find out what DACs and amps are being used on the line out. I have not tried doing any bitstream (dolby digital/dts) output to it yet. When I originally set up the monitor, I connected over HDMI and could hear audio fine. However, when I connected over DisplayPort using Windows' default drivers, DisplayPort audio out did not cause any sound to be heard (although the monitor was listed as being an audio output). Once I added AMD Adrenalin software and drivers, DisplayPort audio out behaves exactly like HDMI audio out.
I have attached the green out (ESS SABRE one) to the EPOS/Sennheiser PC38X headset, and it sounds great.
Hope this helps and hope we can dig deeper into what this monitor is capable of.