ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard review - Specifications

by Steven ROBSCIX Wall on: 02/12/2009 03:00 PM [ ] 0 comment(s)

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Review

So that certainly is very nice and we will discuss all the electronics in detail further on in the article (oh we are going in-depth today's alright). In the PCI shield picture we see the entire signal I/O this card has to offer. From the left of the picture, RCA stereo outputs, ¼ TRS Mic-in/Line-in, amplified headphone out and the S/PDIF output.

Other connectors

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Review The Essence STX has external connectors for Aux input and front panel Audio pin headers connectors for microphone and headphones which connect to the cable header available on many new cases.

There is also a S/PDIF output pin header available at the rear edge of the PCB and this output could be used to connect to digital output header or could be used to connect to a modern graphics card which has S/Pdif audio input for the graphics card HDMI audio/video out.

Specifications

Processor/ Interface / Dimensions

Audio Processor: ASUS AV100 (Max. 24bit/192Khz)
24bit DAC : TI Burr-Brown PCM1792A (127SNR)
Bus Compatibility: PCI Express X1
Card Dimensions: Approx. 168*107mm (W*L, PCB Board)

Audio Performance

Signal to Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 124dB for Front out, 117 for 600ohm HP out, 118 for Input
THD+N at 1Khz: Front-Out: 0.0003% (-110dB), Headphone-out: 0.001%(100dB), Line-in: 0.0002% (-113dB)
Frequency Response: <10Hz to 90-Khz (-3.5dB)
Analog Playback/Recording Resolution: 24bit/192Khz
S/PDIF Digital Output: 24/bit/192khz
Headphone Impedance: Optimized for 32~600Ω

I/O Ports

Analog Output Jack: RCA Jack: *2 (Front R/ Front L), 6.30mm Jack*1 (Headphone out), 6.30mm Jack*1 (Mic/Line-In)
Digital S/PDIF Output: Coaxial/ Toslink Combo
Aux In: Aux-in 4 Pin Header
Front Panel: HD audio and AC97 Compatible

Features

Dolby Tech: Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Pro-Logic II
DS3D GX 2.5: Direct sound 3D Hardware for Windows Vista and XP
VocalFX for online Gaming and chatting, Smart Volume, Acoustic Echo Cancelation, Karaoke Functions
And Flex Bass.
ASIO 2.0: 44.1K,48K/96K/192KHz@16/24 bit

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