ASUS Xonar Essence ST DeLuxe review

Soundcards and Speakers 106 Page 4 of 15 Published by

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The H6 DAC Expansion Card

The H6 DAC Expansion Card

The H6 DAC expansion card was originally built as an expansion board for the HDAV 1.3 Card but the designers at ASUS had the great idea to allow the ST to connect to this card also providing 7.1 surround sound options.

Packaging

ASUS Xonar Essence ST Deluxe

The Packaging for the H6 DAC Expansion Board is fairly small as the H6 is a small board.  This board was originally designed for use with the HDAV 1.3 but this card can be used with the Essence ST.  The addition of this PCB makes this card the unofficial Essence ST "Deluxe" 7.1. 

The Bundle

ASUS Xonar Essence ST Deluxe

The H6 DAC expansion board is a bare bones bundle including the H6 DAC expansion card, quick start guide and ribbon interface cable.  Let's see what we have in the anti-static bag:

A Closer Look

ASUS Xonar Essence ST Deluxe

The H6 card has replaceable opamps as seen on the main Essence ST but there are some differences in output design.  The interface of the card is a similar size as a PCI-E X1 but has no tracings so can be installed in any expansion slot. 

The H6 I/O Panel

ASUS Xonar Essence ST Deluxe

The outputs on the H6 card are RCA connections which are color coded matching the color coding seen on modern home theater audio/visual receivers.

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