Customer Reviews

ASUS PCI-Express x1 7.1 Channel Sound Card XONAR_DX/XD/A/90-YAA060-1UAN00Z

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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 5.0, like the X-Fi Titanium.

CONCLUSION
I am over the moon with the Asus Xonar DX. Music and movies have never sounded so good on my PC. If you have EAX 5.0 games, you might be better off with the X-Fi Titanium, but I really needed support for front-panel headers. Maybe some day I will be able to justify the audiophile quality audio cards, but until then, I will be enjoying the Xonar DX without regret. I can't recommend this card highly enough.

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!!

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.

I am using WinXp Service Pack 3, with my Xonar Dx Channel Pcie sound card. The Sound Card produces extraordinary sound that is both robust and very clear. There is no distortion or clicking sounds coming from the speakers. I have a 5.1 speaker system in my 10'X12' foot PC gaming room, and the surround sound adds great immersion to all my Flight Simulation games. When I use Fraps to record my gaming action, I no longer hear breaks in the sound as I did with my Creative Sound Blaster card. I am very satisfied with this card. The only negative is with the documentation. I could not get my center speaker, rear speakers and sub-woofer to work properly by following the instructions. After switching the plugs around and using the speaker test program, which is part of the Sound Card software, I was able to get the speakers to work properly. I highly recommend this card.

I never heard such clear audio in my life. When listening to intricate techno each layer of sound is so vivid. I've never FELT music like this. Each sound is imbued with bass in a way that lets you feel the music, not just hear it. I always disliked bass, and I think it's because every sound system I've ever heard always had mindless, WASHED OUT bass. There's just some thumping to go along with the general beat. That's what I had with my onboard audio. But after installing this ASUS DX card, it was like hearing bass for the first time.

At first, my wife was rather unhappy when I purchased this, because she thought it was a waste of money. After installing it though, she was blown away. My speakers are a pair of X-230s, which is a great, but cheap, 2.1 system. I suspect that with a higher end 5.1 or 7.1 system this card would be even more amazing. I haven't noticed a difference with movies or games though, but that's not as intricate as music.

PROS: Freaking incredible bass; Amazingly clear and vivid sound
CONS: Maybe price (depending on your budget), otherwise none

As an Audio nerd I must say this card sounds great, the DSP on board is high quality, the software is easy to use, and you can't shake a stick at the feature set. The only downside is having to get an old 4 pin mini molex connector over to the PCI buss. While many audiophiles will complain this card isn't "perfect" it is good, really good, and at the price it is hard not to recommend.

I have been a Audiophile for about 7 years now at the time of this writing August 2010. I have used many cards in the past but none compared to this. I own Denon D2000 headphones that I bought with my account right here on Amazon, I own Sennheiser HD 555 bought through a friend who went to the US. Because I live in the Caribbean some items I pay 38% TAX when it enters my country.
I also ship with a skybox so package size is important to me. A huge thank you goes out to Amazon for also accepting international credit cards, something the New*gg website refuses to do.

Asus ships this card in a very small and neat box. I totally love the box I have it on my PC desk as a decoration yes it even opens like a book. Because the box was so small I only had to pay [...] shipping from Florida to Trinidad and Tobago. This was a major bonus in my book. When shopping online I must also be sure to buy a product that can last more than 10 years and when it comes to computers ASUS ranks high up the highest in my book. Because I don't want to pay to ship back anything faulty to the US.

Now onto the important part that matters most. The sound quality is incredible, when used with headphones costing upwards of $50 US you really notice the difference. It is indeed like magic never can I go back to onboard sound, the detail and bass you experience is phenomenal. It will power the HD 555 very very good with no AMP because of the high sensitivity neglect the impedance in ohms, the Denon D2000 is only 25 ohms but low sensitivity and hence has difficulty playing on the Xonar DX without an AMP for the Denon you would need the Xonar STX with built in headphone AMP. But for the HD555 sennheiser its 100% perfect. Anything made by the Taiwan born company ASUS is legendary there are no questions asked. How do they do it? I personally don't know but I assume ASUS hires the best Engineers from around the world and their products are well worth the money no matter who you are and where you are from you can always trust ASUS.

PS EAX is old and dying even Creative admitted it. This ASUS also emulates EAX 5.0 if you really need it. But in reality this Card does play games much better with audiophile headphones I enjoy the dolby headphone option for games much better than the creative crap. And don't forget no driver issue with this ASUS. With creative, drivers are a nightmare I will never go back.

Pros:
Very good sound!
Reasonably priced.

Cons:
Limited input connectivity (only one input, shared with mike AND SPDIF output!).

Limited software functionality. Control center not very intuitive and I feel somewhat limited (I am used to Creative Labs which usually include more utilities and other goodies).

Instructions, basic. No clear and detailed information on features and settings just the basic 'turn on, turn off' instructions (even in the downloaded manual).

Caveat! The sound card requires an external power connection (same used on floppy disks), not a big deal, just inconvenient! An adapter comes included in the package though...

Very easy to install. Sound is great (I have Creative Inspire 6.1 speakers). It is a bit expensive but several technical reviews on the internet show that is much better than the equivalent Sound Blaster for a lower price.

I've been researching surround soundcards since spring and finally landed on the Xonar DX 7.1. Being that i would never again buy another Creative Labs product, i had to do my own diligence when my pc vendor didnt supply any alternatives... man did it pay off. installation was a snap. i had the drivers/software downloaded before the item arrived. upon arrival i popped in the hardware, installed the software, connected the spdif to my receiever, and presto! glorious digital surround sound! movies sound perfect, games sound perfect... and the included 7.1 shifter makes music float from one side of the room to the other. its really cool trick and something to showoff to the buds. bottom line, i'd recommend this product to any pc gamer / htpc user / music collector.