ASUS Essence One review

Soundcards and Speakers 106 Page 4 of 9 Published by

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Specifications

 

Specifications

Audio Performance

Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out) :120 dB
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out) :
0.000316 %(-110 dB)
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/192KHz input) :
10 Hz to 48 KHz
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage :
Balanced Output : 4 Vrms ( Vp-p)
Unbalanced Output : 2 Vrms ( Vp-p)
Headphone : 7 Vrms ( Vp-p)

Bus Compatibility

USB

Chipset

Audio Processor :C-Media CM6631 High-Definition Sound Processor

Sample Rate and Resolution

Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Input :
44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
ASIO 2.0 Driver Support :
Hz @ with very low latency
Upsampling capability :

I/O Ports

Analog Output Jack :
2 x 3.5mm RCA jack
1 x 6.3mm RCA jack
2 x Balanced Output (XLR)
2 x Digital S/PDIF Input : 1 x Coaxial, 1 x Toslink
1 x USB Input

 

 

Dimensions

261.33 x 230 x 60.65 mm ( L x W x H )

 

Listening Tests

We went to the reference room and picked out some gear we thought would let us here exactly what the Essence One has to offer the end user.  The systems we built for testing are outlined below.

Test Audio System:

  • Playback Gear
  • Speakers: Axiom M3 V2 Bookshelf
  • Subwoofer: Axiom EP125  8�
  • Headphones: Sennheiser HD595,HD650

 S/Pdif Sources

  • Teralink X2
  • M2tech HiFace

 Amplifiers

  • Pre: FSA Mass
  • Power: FSA BigJoe 4 Class D Mono Blocks

 Cables

  • Power: Digital AC-X
  • Speaker: Ultra Conductor 2
  • Interconnect: Ultra Conductor 2
  • USB: JPS Super Conductor Q

 Misc

  • aMg Usb Isolator
  • Chip Opamps
  • Discrete Opamps
  • Album Player in ASIO and DS/Wave output modes
  • Foobar Player in ASIO and DS/Wave output modes
  • FLAC Lossless Audio Files
  • ASUS Xonar DX S/Pdif output

ASUS Essence One

Although balanced cables are pictured in the connection pictures above, our balanced monitors did not arrive in time to be used in this review as we had originally hoped.  We tested the unit using various S/Pdif sources such as a DVD player, Xonar DX, USB, HiFace and Tera-link X2 and all worked flawlessly with the E1 during our tests.  Bit-perfect is only available using ASIO as you can still set bit perfect modes out of your system the indicator light will not show bit perfect, only the source rate and frequency.

ASUS Essence One

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