ASUS Essence One review - Introduction

Introduction

The Xonar sound machine has been steadily moving forward and pushing the bar ever higher with each successive Xonar product offering.  ASUS jumped into the PC soundcard game with both feet but until now have avoided the external DAC market that traditionally has been reserved for boutique manufacturers.  This market segment is not easily approached as their fan base is usually comprised of the most demanding and discerning customers in the audio community.

ASUS announced their entry into the external DAC arena and were met with skepticism by many in the audiophile community.  As many companies can make an external audio component but making one that sounds good is not so easy and generally takes experience in external designs.  Another major question is could they produce a great sounding external DAC unit and still be within a reasonable budget for their intended market?

The ASUS Essence 1 is easily one of the most anticipated products to come along in the PC audio community in quite some time as many seen it as ASUS moving out of the general audio market and taking a shot at entry into the true high end audio marketplace.

Can this new product offer excellent sound quality, features demanded by the external audio market and all for a reasonable price?

Since we have a brand new ASUS Essence one in the Guru3D Audio Lab, We think it is time to put this unit through it�s paces and find out if ASUS managed the enter the external DAC market with a solid offering or if they should go back to the drawing board.

So, lets get to the good stuff and fire this baby up!