ASUS Xonar Essence One Review

[siopao1984]

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Aesthetics and ConnectivityThe Xonar Essence One has a brushed metal faceplate with blue LED indicators, silver push buttons (power, upsampling, input selection and mute) and large rheostats/knobs (headphone and speaker volume) at the front. There is also a 1/4" headphone out jack which when plugged can still be driven simultaneously with the speakers.

At the back, we see a variety of input and output options. Besides the usual RCA L/R outputs to connect to 2.0/2.1 speakers, the box also includes balanced XLR connectors which allows for extended cabling distances. In additional to the computer USB input, there is the capability to handle Coxial S/PDIF and TOSLINK digital links. A 115/230v voltage selection switch (why no auto switching?) is also present and the Xonar One takes a ubiquitous C14 power inlet.

Four small rubber feets at the bottom to keep the box grounded during a user-induced earthquake..

On top of the Essense One, we see the iconic gold "Chime of Tiger" totem which also appears on the other Xonar family of sound cards.

Blue LEDs when switched on. Note that it does take up a considerable amount of space on most desks (261.33 x 230 x 60.65 mm).

Accessories and documentation included with the DAC (USB cable not in picture). Being positioned as an audiophile class product, ASUS could have bundled a thicker power cord with a better AWG rating as audio purists will testify the effects of resistance on the "energy" of the sound output.

Read more: ASUS Xonar Essence One Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Internals and Specifications

In this section we will take a look at the some of the components used in the Xonar Essence One.



To prevent unnecessary electrical interference and crosstalk, ASUS engineers have designed the PCB layout such that there is an ordered signal path from the inputs to the outputs. This is typical of high end audio equipment designs.



Primary DSP to handle the 32-bit symmetrical upsampling - Analog Devices ADSP-21261, featuring a 150MHz (6.67 ns) SIMD SHARC Core, capable of 900MFLOPS peak performance.



Twelve socketed opamps are used: A combination of TI NE5532, LM4562, LME 49600 and LME49720NA. These can be changed to modify the tonal signature to the user's liking. The audiophile favourite WIMA FKP2 film capacitors are also scattered around the board.







A dedicated internal power supply (instead of drawing power from USB), which eliminates any unwanted nose or interference from other PC components.

[siopao1984]

Software

Being a modern USB device we had expected the software installation process to be plug and play, but it still needed drivers, which can be obtained from the included driver CD or downloaded from the Internets. The programmable DSP on board can also be flashed to the latest firmware for bugfixes and increased functionality.





We had no problems with ASIO 2.2 functionality, which is ideal for jitter free bitperfect music playback ("true" sonic reproduction without resampling, which is bad mmkay)





Equipment used and Burn-in procedure for testing:



Speakers (Acoustic Energy Aego M):



While not strictly a many-thousand dollar audiophille class product, the Aego M is one of the timeless 2.1 classics which can be purchased on a shoestring and offers decent quality in a relatively small space profile.



Headphones (Sennheiser HD650):



One of the best headphones in its price range, the open and dynamic sounding HD650 is immaculately built and can be worn for long hours without any discomfort.





We used "XLO & Reference Recordings Test And Burn-In CD" and looped it for over 10 hours on track 9 "System Burn In" (sine waves of varying amplitudes). The album also has other tracks to help identify problems with speaker placement and improve overall imaging.

[siopao1984]

Listening Impressions


Hans Zimmer - Mombasa (Inception OST)



We were really impressed by the speed and accuracy of the delivery and the distinct separation of the percussion instruments on this track. On lesser sound cards the drum beats are usually a distorted mess but the Xonar One reproduced every hit with gusto. The electric guitar riffs were also brightly coloured and we could make out a lot of tiny details that we didn't notice before.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black



Lennard's favourite sultry british singer (he listens to her everyday in the office) may be long dead from a fatal alcohol overdose but she sure came back to live on this track with her powerful deep contralto vocals.



Pink Floyd - Time (The Dark Side of the Moon)



1970s English rock band Pink Floyd's "Time" from their iconic "The Dark Side of the Moon" (not to be confused with the recent Transformers movie without Megan Fox) is a mandatory test track during an audio evaluation. The 2:30 minute long sequence of clock chimes and alarm bells at the introduction was originally meant as a quadrophonic test by Alan Parsons, one of the most influential audio engineers of all time. As expected, the laid-back sounding Xonar Essence One piped out the song with ease and it sounded extra special on the headphones.



David Guetta - Titanium (ft Sia)



Moving on to more mainstream music, we used the emotion filled "Titanium" from French DJ David Guetta's "Nothing but the beat" which is a mix of pop, house and urban dance. We are happy to report that the Xonar Essence One is equally adept if you want to deploy it in a club scenario, dishing out earthquake inducing beats and Australian singer Sia's excellent vocals with ease.



Gaming (Battlefield 3 and Counter-Strike):

The 3D sonic imaging of the battlefield was spot on and we could react to well defined footsteps of enemy players. More crucially, we didn't notice any input lag between the action on the screen and the sound of gunfire and explosions.



Conclusion



We re-listened to thousands of hours/gigabytes of music over two months to do this review, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.



Difference between typical onboard sound/noise and the Xonar Essence One:

Shit and Chocolate, Period.



Difference between Xonar STX and the Xonar Essence One

This is a tricky one. Unless you have golden ears and speakers/headphones which cost more than the Xonar Essence One (S$699), it is difficult to justify an upgrade. We would though...

[pinakurat]

tagpila sad ni bro? actually naa koy asus xonar and im very impressed with it.. pero i think mas nindot pani compared sa xonar..