Asus Xonar DX PCI-Express x1 7.1 Channel Sound Card,One PCI Express 1.0 (or higher) compatible slot for the audio card , One available 4-pin power cable from PC s power supply unit , Microsoft Windows Vista(32 or 64bit) or XP(32 or 64bit) or MCE2005 , Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz or AMD Athlon 1400 CPU or faster CPU,CS4362A for other 6 channels , 24-bit A-D Converter for Analog Inputs , 1x Cirrus-Logic CS5361 (114dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit) .
$ 80.98
[wpramareviews asin=”B0017DJXG6″]
Great Music & Movies in Windows 7 64-bit,
My computer hasn’t been upgraded much since I built it a few years ago. When I built it, I decided to go with integrated network adapters and audio. My aBit motherboard’s onboard audio was a reasonably good Realtek HD audio chip so I was content to stick with it rather than buying a discrete audio card, like I’d done in all of my previous builds. I decided the convenience of having integrated components was worth the small sacrifice in quality.
About a year ago, I started using headphones heavily on my PC and became dissatisfied with the noisy onboard audio. I thought the best way to resolve this was to get an external USB DAC/headphone amp. While I got amazing sound, it wasn’t quite as convenient as I expected it to be and decided a discrete audio card was probably my best choice. I settled on the Asus Xonar DX PCI Express card.
PROS:
– Stellar 116 dB SNR for front audio ports (112 dB for rear)
– Front panel header
– Dolby Pro Logic IIx and Dolby Headphone support
– Low profile bracket included in addition to regular height
– Great sound quality via a pair of Cirrus Logic DAC’s
CONS:
– Requires floppy-style Molex 4-pin connector for power
– Does not autodetect headphone insertion
– Software-based EAX 5.0 support
I badly wanted to get an ASUS Xonar Essence STX Card, or comparable card with a built-in headphone amp and very high quality DAC. Unfortunately, I found it hard to justify parting with $200. I then narrowed my choices down to the more affordable options of the Asus Xonar DX and the Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium cards. When I found out that the X-Fi Titanium didn’t include support for front-panel headers, it was an easy choice. Besides, the Xonar DX had a better rated SNR (116dB front/112dB rear vs. 109dB).
INSTALLATION
Installation took me about 10 minutes. It would’ve been even quicker if I didn’t have to move one of my other cards out of the way to install it. My PCI-E x1 slot was taken up by my USB 3.0 expansion card so I inserted it into my other PCI-E slot. Also, unlike other sound cards I’ve used in the past, the Xonar DX required it’s own power so I had to use the included Molex adapter and plug it into my power supply. I disabled my onboard audio in the BIOS, installed the latest Windows 7 64-bit drivers, rebooted and was in business.
SOUND QUALITY
I began my audio testing by playing my FLAC audio files on my puny built-in speakers on my Samsung monitor. All of the sudden, the sound quality was actually bearable coming from my monitor. The clarity of the audio improved by a factor of two or three. I then moved onto my headphones– my primary reason for upgrading. I plugged my Sennheiser HD 555’s into my front panel headphone jack but got no sound. Oops, did I install the header pins backwards? I opened my case back up and double checked but all looked well. I then realized that the driver installation also installed the Xonar DX Audio Center application and I had to manually switch the analog out to the front panel headphone jack. Eww. The Realtek onboard audio chip automatically detected when I inserted headphones in and swapped the audio over to them without my intervention. This would have been a hassle not worth dealing with had the sound quality pumping through my headphones not been amazing.
My music sounded wonderful! The bass was immensely improved on my bass-challenged HD 555’s and every other measure of sound quality was noticeably improved over the onboard audio I’d been used to listening to for three years. Next up were movies. I played high action scenes from the last Star Trek movie and Avatar and was, B-L-O-W-N away. I fiddled with the Dolby Headphone settings and realized for the first time that they weren’t gimmicks at all. I truly felt surrounded by the motion picture. I love action adventure and science fiction films and I now had a proper setup for optimum enjoyment! Also, the noisy audio from my PC was virtually eliminated. With the onboard audio, I heard all the EMF interference but with the Asus Xonar DX, it was barely audible.
GAMES
I was a big-time gamer back when Half-Life, Unreal Tournament and WarCraft III were out. These days, fatherhood has had a serious impact on my ability to find time for games so aside from the occasional game of Bejeweled, I only find myself playing Age of Empires III. I thought the sound was terrific but I can’t judge just how great it works with more modern games. I do know that due to the software-based support of EAX 5.0, games that use EAX aren’t quite as good as having hardware support of EAX…
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|Creative has been SLAPED!,
The gauntlet has been thrown down! The Xonar DX literately kicks the snot out of Creative and the X-Fi chip. I bought this card as an Upgrade from my X-Fi Extreme Audio <exactly the same as the fatality but minus the on board ram, which is why i think they discontinued it> For my HTPC after reading the sound room reviews on several websites. I paired these up with my Gigaworks S750’s and the heavens opened!!!! I could not believe the dynamic range difference and the depth and clarity of the audio! First up was Era, The Mass <a DTS album> and i heard nuances in the music i had never heard before and the sound was pure as gold. To be fair i tossed in a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas cd <standard audio> and again, dynamic crystal clear sound digitally reprocessed by the on board Dolby pro logic II. Now I have been Playing all of my Nightwish DTS albums and The Metallica Black DVD-A album rediscovering my whole library. I tossed in my old card again just for an on the spot comparison and it sounded flat and stale. Hands down i would say that Asus is the new ruler in PC audio and Creative is going to have to get off its fat butt and try to keep up. If you can afford it i would go with the Xonar D2X it has the DDA and well as the DTS on the fly encoding for piping out to your Home Theater Speakers if you so desire, as well as a higher quality DAC, a bunch of extra cabling and an EM shield over the card. I hope to buy a D2X in the next year and put this Bad boy in my gaming PC, forever retiring Creative. Hail to the New King, Baby!!
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|Yup, its works on Windows 7,
Works great,very easy to install. I have Windows 7 (64 bit), so I needed to install the Vista 64 divers (The driver/utility disc that came with the card). Please read the manual before installing, because it has the words “need to connect the power for card to work” on the second page…of course I didn’t read the manual when I made my first attempt to install the card…so I learn about that later after reading the manual.
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