ASUS Prepares PCIe x1 Sound Card

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Last week at CeBIT, ASUS demonstrated its upcoming Xonar-series sound cards, available in two variants: the D2 and D2K in PCI and PCIe x1 interfaces. Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect multi-channel audio encoding technologies are available for digital multi-channel audio while 7.1-channel analog outputs are available for those that prefer analog to digital. Unconfirmed reports claim the ASUS Xonar-series feature an Analog Devices audio DSP. ASUS also touts Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Virtual Speaker and Dolby Virtual Headphone technologies for multi-channel upconverting and surround sound. ASUS rates the Xonar-series with an 118dB playback and 115dB recording signal-to-noise ratios. The upcoming Xonar-series sound cards support 24-bit/192 KHz playback and recording resolutions as well as ASIO 2.0. ASUS internal testing reveals the Xonar-series is capable of low total harmonic distortion rates: 0.000006% THD on all eight analog outputs and the single line input, between the frequencies of 20Hz to 20 kHz. ASUS also equips the Xonar-series with an EMI shield and touts it provides “stable audio quality.”

View: Xonar EMI shield concept

News source: DailyTech

#1 qkslvr221 on 23 Mar 2007 - 18:33

Any pricing info? I could use something in my PCIE X1 and X4 slots, as they are collecting dust ATM.

#2 ahhell on 23 Mar 2007 - 18:36

I still have problems trying to justify buying a sound card now that everything comes with pretty decent onboard sound (most have optical connections too).

#3 hotdog963al on 23 Mar 2007 - 18:39

Hahaha, awesome! Finally something to fill them with.

#4 Praeses on 23 Mar 2007 - 18:56

i want one! i want to remove any load i possibly can from the CPU and have better sound quality than any onboard sound card can offer...and something to shove into my PCIx1 slot

(3 replies) #5 v0ltage789 on 23 Mar 2007 - 19:41

Finally someone to show creative that they can't just do whatever they want in the soundcard market?

#5.1 GP007 on 23 Mar 2007 - 23:21

Quote - (v0ltage789 said @ #5)

I agree, finally some competition. Maybe this will get creative off their butts and working on drivers that actually work.

#5.2 theyarecomingforyou on 23 Mar 2007 - 23:40

I really hope that this is the competition the soundcard market needs. Creative has had dominance for too long and their customer/driver support is completely unacceptable. A true rival is something I look forward to, though I (unfortunately) doubt that this is it.

#5.3 Kadafi on 24 Mar 2007 - 12:15

Creative have not had a monopoly in the soundcard market. Not even close to it. There has always existed many 'professional' soundcards that provide far superior sound quality at less cost than Creative's offerings, including from Creative's professional division 'E-MU'.

Heavy marketing that targets the card towards gamers is the only reason Creative have sustained a healthy advantage in the consumer sector, not lack of competition, and certainly not on the basis of quality.

(1 reply) #6 majortom1981 on 23 Mar 2007 - 19:48

asus also stated it will have FULL vista support out of the box.

From What I have seen I think it either has optical or coaxial outputs and imputs on it too.

I cant wait for this card so I can finally dump creative.

#6.1 GP007 on 23 Mar 2007 - 23:22

If Asus can pull out Full vista support frm the start (for a/v and also games), then this will be one big wakeup call to creative.

#7 bucko on 23 Mar 2007 - 19:57

Nice, this owns Creatives current solutions, in a vista sense.

(3 replies) #8 jago_lfn on 23 Mar 2007 - 20:14

Will be awesome IF they can pull off full EAX support and not have it half@$$ed like realtek and others have tried to do. Untill then i stick with creative.

#8.1 riku0116 on 24 Mar 2007 - 00:11

seconded

#8.2 SIE on 24 Mar 2007 - 12:17

As far as Vista is concerned EAX is dead, you won't find many, if any future games supporting EAX, they will all be OpenAL which is an open standard.

#8.3 jstillion on 21 May 2007 - 18:58

I supports EAX 2.0 via hardware but unless they can do a third party "bridge" to re-route EAX calls to OpenAL... EAX (which creative uses "alchemy" for) no EAX on vista.

With Vista it makes sense to go Dolby / OpenAl for all 3d audio needs vs using EAX, which requires modded files put in to the game directory so it can emulate / translate to OpenAL calls.

Or Creative could re-write EAX so it does not rely on DirectSound.... which I don't see happening.

#9 Typhon on 23 Mar 2007 - 20:24

Nice. I love Asus and always recommended them to ppl. Thank god they are finally entering the sound card market.

#10 Mike Frett on 23 Mar 2007 - 20:32

Damn. You all act like other alternatives to Creative don't even exist. However, I'm perfectly happy with my M-Audio Revolution 7.1. But I will be looking at this offer with great interest.

#11 iCeFuSiOn on 23 Mar 2007 - 21:07

Looks like Creative might have some more competition

(1 reply) #12 ir0nw0lf on 23 Mar 2007 - 21:10

I presume this will support OpenAL or whatever it is called under Vista?

#12.1 majortom1981 on 23 Mar 2007 - 21:23

I I guess so since asus stated full vista comaptibility on launch

#13 lfLASHl on 23 Mar 2007 - 22:56

man i cant wait to get one of these, not a big creative fan,

#14 kickenchicken360 on 23 Mar 2007 - 23:28

wow creative better get there buts to work, the name alone sounds threatening.,
XONAR vs X-FI

#15 Osprey on 24 Mar 2007 - 00:44

It's D2X, not D2K. Get it? X for PCI-eXpress.

#16 kickenchicken360 on 24 Mar 2007 - 02:08

wait found this,
"136dB SNR Processing Quality"
on Creative's Sound Blaster Site..

(1 reply) #17 Shannon on 24 Mar 2007 - 10:33

Hmm, I'm still a bit doubtful seeing as ASUS are only newcomers to the soundcard market and its the first PCIe (that I've heard of) card. I guess I'll wait and see how it pans out.

#17.1 jstillion on 21 May 2007 - 18:51

They got ADI to make a new audio chip and Asus is the elusive to this new chip so you won't see anyone else bringing an audio card based on this chip to market.

#18 Aero Ultimate on 24 Mar 2007 - 13:03

It's about time that we finally get soundcards for pci-e, and also that Creative finally gets some good competition.

#19 Croquant on 24 Mar 2007 - 18:44

Great news. I hope they replace their AMR cards with these.

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