New Xonar Essence "One"

[Callsign_Vega]

This thing looks awesome. It does bit-perfect 192Khz. This is so my next DAC. I would project around $300 on release.

Here are some early working specs..
1. Hardware

Front IO:
Headphone out (1/4)
Headphone amp gain knob
Line out volume (independent to headphone volume)
LED indicators showing current playback sample rate
LED showing bit perfect (lights up when you’re kernel streaming)
Source select (USB/SPDIF)
Mute – it fades out instead of cut out the sound immediately, whichwill protect your gear, the same rules apply when you un-mute.
Power
Upsampling on/off
There is an estimated a 3% boost to SNR/THD when upsampling.

Back I/O:
Line out: RCA & XLR, unlike ST/STX, line out doesn’t share thesame DAC with headphone out. (XLR is balanced I/O and RCA is unbalanced)
S/PDIF in (both types)
USB in
AC in – a linear power adapter built inside to get the best power available

2. Software

A “invisible” driver, without it’s own UI and DSP settings. It gives you 192K and bit-perfect ASIO support it needs driver installation to work.

Circuit Details:
Input: USB2.0, S/Pdif
MAIN DAC: TI PCM1795
HeadAmp: NS LME49600TS -support up to 600ohm headphones.
Upsampling to 352.8Khz(44.1/88.2/176.4Khz) or 384Khz (48/96/192Khz), 32bit
Outputs: 1/4" headphone output
Unbalanced RCA line out
Balanced XLR Line out

[Darakian]

I love the look, but what's the price?

[Loque]

is the amp worth it for the HD595 Sennheiser headphones ?

[Callsign_Vega]

I love the look, but what's the price?

Price isn't released. Most speculate $250-$300.

is the amp worth it for the HD595 Sennheiser headphones ?

A quality headphone amp is always a good thing for higher-end headphones with more resistance.

[zanzabar]

looks nice i might finally update my sba2 plat pro

[tiro_uspsss]

looks nice i might finally update my sba2 plat pro

how much?

[kadozer]

Great post. The integrated amp + features + sleek look is going to put this on my do want list. There isn't anything like this on the market. Gotta love Asus for pushing new products like this.

[zanzabar]

how much?

i dont think that i could sell it, its the oldest part i have that i use and its been with me since my athlon xp.

Great post. The integrated amp + features + sleek look is going to put this on my do want list. There isn't anything like this on the market. Gotta love Asus for pushing new products like this.

u can get semi pro audio stuff, like the m-audio box every dj wantabe be has on their macbook. those have rca and balanced mic jacks and high powered 1/4" jacks this new asus one has SPDIF in so it should be alot better than thngs going usb for computer use.

[Johnny87au]

looks insanely nice, but whats the price range and we need to see a review of the pcb!!

[MrToad]

What we really need is a in depth review of how the driver behaves in both x86 and x64 OSs

Too many audio products have great specifications on paper, get stellar reviews and then at the time of actually using them one finds out that they're plagued with software issues (SCP, ridiculous latency, stuttering/aberrations using DDLive/DTS Connect, I could go on forever really...) that never get sorted out (the average driver release rate for dedicated sound cards is what? a driver revision every 6 months?)

Apologies if I sound bitter, but I had mixed experiences with sound cards under XP and very bad experiences since I moved to Win7 x64.

EDIT: And yeah, the last two cards to give me headaches were ASUS sound cards. Of course in the end it boiled down to a third party with no relationship with C-Media or ASUS to release a hacked driver to make the cards functonal.

[tiro_uspsss]

What we really need is a in depth review of how the driver behaves in both x86 and x64 OSs

Too many audio products have great specifications on paper, get stellar reviews and then at the time of actually using them one finds out that they're plagued with software issues (SCP, ridiculous latency, stuttering/aberrations using DDLive/DTS Connect, I could go on forever really...) that never get sorted out (the average driver release rate for dedicated sound cards is what? a driver revision every 6 months?)

Apologies if I sound bitter, but I had mixed experiences with sound cards under XP and very bad experiences since I moved to Win7 x64.

which card(s)?

I've only ever had *one BSOD with a bad driver *install in XP64 with my X-Fi XM.. still have the card.. still working flawlessly, have done so in: XP32, XP64, Server03, W7 32 & 64 bit & WS08R2

edit: oh, I see ur edit never had an Asus s.card, so cant comment there

[ABXG]

which card(s)?

I've only ever had *one BSOD with a bad driver *install in XP64 with my X-Fi XM.. still have the card.. still working flawlessly, have done so in: XP32, XP64, Server03, W7 32 & 64 bit & WS08R2

edit: oh, I see ur edit never had an Asus s.card, so cant comment there

I've had 2 separate Creative cards die and take my OS with them.

My Xonar D2X has never once caused me a single issue. Ever.

[tiro_uspsss]

I've had 2 separate Creative cards die and take my OS with them.

My Xonar D2X has never once caused me a single issue. Ever.

it took the OS with them?!? how the heck does that happen?!? ....I'm just trying to think if I've ever had *any driver for *any hardware take an OS.....mmmmm......

[MrToad]

which card(s)?

I've only ever had *one BSOD with a bad driver *install in XP64 with my X-Fi XM.. still have the card.. still working flawlessly, have done so in: XP32, XP64, Server03, W7 32 & 64 bit & WS08R2

Auzentech prelude:

It was OK in WinXP x64, when I moved to Win7 x64 DDLive started misbehaving. It would reset at random intervals (making a loud "tearing fabric" noise, followed by a prolonged silence)
Besides this SCP made it's appearance. That's without any hardware changes, just changing the OS.

X-Fi Ti Fatal1ty:

DDLive showed similar behaviour to the Prelude with DDLive, but in a completely different rig (the Prelude was in a Socket 775 rig, the X-Fi in a socket 1366 rig) which had no hardware in common.

After a a day or two the sound would start stuttering (mainly while playing games, but happened while just doing desktop use a couple of times too), then the rig would, within a couple of minutes, slow down to a crawl then freeze. No BSOD, no obvious clues in the logs.

Removed the X-Fi, problem went away.

Asus Xonar Essence STX and ST:

Horendous latency using DDLive. About 2-3 seconds.
After a completely uneventful session, switch off computer. Switch on again, sound card drivers can't load (complains the device manager).
Remove drivers and device from device manager, clean drivers, try to reinstall, although the card is detected and is in the device manager with the yellow question mark (and PNP ID is detected correctly), driver installer doesn't "see" the card, and refuses to install the driver.
So you keep rebooting and trying until it does. Or you reinstall Win7 and start all over again. Until the problem presents itself again.

These problems are not unique to myself a my hardware configuration. Of course if you google it you will find only posts by people experiencing the problem, not posts by happy customers with fully functional products.

But still, there's one too many of us.

Indeed all these cards had really positive reviews that not once mentioned driver issues at all.

EDIT:

My bottom line is:

a) If you want DDLive or DTSConnect, brace yourself. It might actually be worth to forget about it and buy a different receiver and use the analog outputs (and take advantage or the decent OpAmps some of these cards have).

b) Windows Vista/7 FUBARd the sound subsystem of the OS. Since the upgrade I've experience no benefits and a whole lot of irritation in this particular matter.

[SubZero.it]

if costs less than baresford I'm done with it

[ABXG]

it took the OS with them?!? how the heck does that happen?!? ....I'm just trying to think if I've ever had *any driver for *any hardware take an OS.....mmmmm......

When the cards screwed up I purged them from my system by purging my system.

I like being overly hyperbolic when it comes to my hatred for Creative products.

[Bobsama]

IF this thing is worthwhile will depend on quite a few indie reviews. It's cheap so it should accrue plenty of reviews. It's comparably priced to DAC-Amps like a Little Dot DAC_II or Audio-GD FUN. I have a feeling though that this will be a Zero DAC equivalent...

[mattkosem]

Eeh, I'm not a big fan of non-discrete dac/amp combos. Any details on the USB interface? Is it using internal clocks or the USB clock? Does it support sample rates higher than 44.1K on the USB input? $300 sounds like a bit much for a product like this from Asus, since you can get an Audio-GD Fun for less than that. It better be really good if they even want to sell any in the low $200s.

--Matt

[generics_user]

looks pretty interesting

now they finally need to fill the gap between 50€ external sound cards and this 300€ stuff; while my X-Fi titanium HD is better than the X-fi xtreme music i had before it is no match for the Xonar STX in the Media rig...

[crash5s]

Eeh, I'm not a big fan of non-discrete dac/amp combos. Any details on the USB interface? Is it using internal clocks or the USB clock? Does it support sample rates higher than 44.1K on the USB input? $300 sounds like a bit much for a product like this from Asus, since you can get an Audio-GD Fun for less than that. It better be really good if they even want to sell any in the low $200s.

--Matt

This!

I'm not seing the point of this, most people going for a DAC/AMP are going to be looking at something like what is sold here http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/

I'll wait for a review though.

[Callsign_Vega]

Most of the DACs you guys mentioned don't do native 192Khz like this one does eh?

I've been nothing but pleased with my Asus Xonar Essence STX. I hope this product delivers.

[STEvil]

Most of the DACs you guys mentioned don't do native 192Khz like this one does eh?

I've been nothing but pleased with my Asus Xonar Essence STX. I hope this product delivers.

whats the point in 192khz if it doesnt do anything else well either?

[mattkosem]

Most of the DACs you guys mentioned don't do native 192Khz like this one does eh?

I've been nothing but pleased with my Asus Xonar Essence STX. I hope this product delivers.

Not sure who this was directed at, but the FUN does on SPDIF. The USB interface only goes up to 96khz but, tbh, I've never come across any music in stereo that was available above 96khz anyways. I know there is some of it out there but, if 192khz is that big of a prioirity to you you'll be getting at least a few pieces and spending a couple/few grand to get the benefits.

Is there anything stating that 192Khz is supported on USB? Looking at the specs in the pic, which don't make the distinction, I'd assume its on spdif.

--Matt

[JAG87]

Most of the DACs you guys mentioned don't do native 192Khz like this one does eh?

I've been nothing but pleased with my Asus Xonar Essence STX. I hope this product delivers.

Yes but you realize that 99% of content is still at 44.1K and 48K right? Upsampling to 192K doesn't do anything except tamper with the source.

[Callsign_Vega]

Not sure who this was directed at, but the FUN does on SPDIF. The USB interface only goes up to 96khz but, tbh, I've never come across any music in stereo that was available above 96khz anyways. I know there is some of it out there but, if 192khz is that big of a prioirity to you you'll be getting at least a few pieces and spending a couple/few grand to get the benefits.

Is there anything stating that 192Khz is supported on USB? Looking at the specs in the pic, which don't make the distinction, I'd assume its on spdif.

--Matt

From what I've read, the default USB drivers only do up to 96Khz. If you make custom drivers, you can have USB do higher Khz.

Yes but you realize that 99% of content is still at 44.1K and 48K right? Upsampling to 192K doesn't do anything except tamper with the source.

I'm not talking about just CD quality music. But also SACD and games that can output higher than 44.1/96Khz.