ASUS Xonar 7.1 D2 Review Comments

[Robscix]

This is the comment thread for the Xonar review. Please leave all suggestions and comments here. Hope you enjoy the review.

[cdn_Madrach]

I really like the idea of lighted(colour coded) jacks. This would really make hooking and unhooking speakers and headphones a lot less painfull

[sswilson]

Looks like a great piece of kit for a HTPC.

It's interesting how far computer audio has come in the last few years.

It's not that long ago that any true audiophile would turn his/her nose up at computer generated audio... now it seems like it's not only mainstream, but also getting to the point of cutting edge.

[Robscix]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Looks like a great piece of kit for a HTPC.

It's interesting how far computer audio has come in the last few years.

It's not that long ago that any true audiophile would turn his/her nose up at computer generated audio... now it seems like it's not only mainstream, but also getting to the point of cutting edge.

Very true. Even "Audiophiles" (I hate that word) can't deny the sound quality produced by this card and other modern sound cards. Within the last year there have been many high definition sound cards released that are just awesome when compared with previous cards. It is great for people who are into PC based audio.

[Robscix]

Originally Posted by cdn_Madrach

I really like the idea of lighted(colour coded) jacks. This would really make hooking and unhooking speakers and headphones a lot less painfull

The LED's match the color coding of the jacks. So it is a "bling thing" but it has some functional aspects also.

[yoyolai]

Very detailed and very thorough review.
I like your seriousness and your ways of laying out the wordings. I really enjoyed the time reading this review and did learned a lot from you.
Thanks and good job.

[Robscix]

Thank You, that means alot to me. There will be more reviews to come.

[borrowedg]

I just ordered a D2 the other day! I'll let you guys know how it works out.

[chewie]

Hi Robscix

Great review of the Xonar 7.1 D2, properly the most indeep review I hare read on the web. I'm about to build a HTPC and I have 2 soundcards to choose from the Xonar and the prelude, I'm going to use the card 90% for movie and 10" for music, I'm not a gamer. What card would you choose and have anyone had a cgance to modify the xonar.

Best Regards

Chewie

[Robscix]

You have great taste in soundcards. Either of these card are kickin' audio products but they are meant for very different tasks. The Auzentech Prelude is more of a gamer card and supports gaming features such as high levels of EAX and openAL. The Xonar is meant more as a HTPC card and lacks the gaming features. The weak part of the Xonar is the 45XX series opamps on every channel except the fronts which sport a LM4562 amp. This card doesn't lend well to being modded the opamps are hard wired to the board.
You could swap out the 45XX series for better opamps such as LM4562's -if you go with the Xonar that is... Either card sound amazing without any modding needed. COnsidering both are worth $200, make sure your handy with a soldering iron as $200 is a bit much to pay for a paperweight.
If you have any mopre questions, feel free to ask. Good Luck with your purchase.