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Behind the scenes at Kitguru we are dedicated audiophiles, so whenever we get the chance to look at some of the latest and greatest PC audio hardware, we jump at the chance. Asus have a reputation as one of the finest quality enthusiast companies on the market with a wide portfolio of products.
Today we are going to look at the Asus Xonar Xense bundle which consists of Asus’ Xonar One soundcard and Sennheiser’s PC 350 gaming headset. The bundle has been specifically optimised for FPS gaming although we shall be looking at other areas too in our tests.
List of Specifications:
| Audio Performance |
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted):118 dB Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 118 dB Output THD+N at 1kHz: 0.00039% (-108dB) for Front channel of Line-out Input THD+N at 1kHz: 0.0003% (-110dB) for Line-in Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input): <10Hz to 46KHz Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage 2 Vrms (5.65 Vp-p) |
| Bus Compatibility |
PCI Express:
PCI Express Rev.1.0a specification compatible. Maximum full 2.5Gbps bandwidth per direction and optimized latency for Compatible with X1, X4, X8, X1 6 PCI Express slots. |
| Main Chipset |
Audio Processor:ASUS AV100 High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz/24bit)) 24-bit D-A Converter of Digital Sources: Texas Instruments PCM1796*1 for Front-Out (123dB SNR, Max. 24-bit A-D Converter for Analog Inputs: Cirrus-Logic CS5381 x 1 (120dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit) High Fidelity Headphone Amplifier: Texas Instruments 6120A2*1 (120dB SNR, -117dB THD+N @ Vcc+-12V, |
| Sample Rate and Resolution |
Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution: 44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution: 44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit S/PDIF Digital Output: 44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit, Dolby Digital ASIO 2.0 Driver Support: 44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @16/24bit with very low latency |
| I/O Ports |
Analog Output Jack:6.30mm jack*1 (Headphone out); 7.1ch analog output (via bundled audio splitter cable) Analog Input Jack: 6.30mm jack *1 (Shared by Line-In/Mic-In) Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner): Aux-In (4-pin header on the card) Digital S/PDIF Output: High-bandwidth Coaxial/TOS-Link combo port supports 192KHz/24bit Front-Panel Header: Shared by Headphone out / 2 channels out / Microphone in |
| Driver Features |
Operating System:Windows 7/Vista/XP/MCE2005
Dolby® Technologies: Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Smart Volume Normalizer™: Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level and Xear 3D™ Virtual Speaker Shifter: Virtual 7.1 speaker positioning FlexBass™: Professional Bass Management/Enhancement system Other Effects: 10-band Equalizer/27 Environment Effects 3D Sound Engines/APIs: DirectSound3D® GX 2.0 & 1.0, DS3D GX2.5: GX 2.5 supports EAX gaming sound effects and Di rectSound 3D hardware |
| Accessories | 1 x S/PDIF optical adaptors1 x 6.3mm to 3.5mm stereo adapter
1 x 7.1 channel audio splitter cable 1 x Driver CD 1 x Quick Start Guide |
| Size | 111.15mm x 178.06mm |
Expensive, but a quality product. Henry, how does it compare to say a realtek onboard sound card? Id love to know the discernable differences.
IT isnt really that expensive, considering the bundle. sure its not an impulse buy, but most people buying one of these will already know what they want. Asus have stiff competition against turtle and other dedicated companies, but ive heard quite a lot of good things about this sonar. cool name btw, not like some of the names.
Id need to really hear this, I find onboard sound is really good for what I need, and this would get me a new CPU. Wish more stores did live tests with these things, then we could hear for ourselves. hard to justify 200 for a product that might need higher quality partnering hardware than some of us have.
Really like this bundle, been looking for a new sound card for a while as the onboard solutions are crap. There is a big difference trust me !
excellent. its unusual for a company like asus to bundle headphones from another company without rebadging them with their own stickers etc. they will probably sell more this way however as sennheiser have a good rep.
Quality product from Asus. people who bitch about price never buy their motherboard either then, and they are missing out on the finest build quality on the net. bar none. (although MSI are close now).
How compatible is their software? I bought a creative sound card last year and christ, its bloatware city. I had to deinstall half of it. is this the same principle?