ASUS Xonar U1 USB Audio Station

Technology Overview


Dolby Headphone
The Dolby headphone technology can virtualize 5.1 audio over any standard 2.0 headphones. This technology can model a properly set-up 5.1 surround system over three user selectable sized rooms. If you have never heard this technology before, it is actually very impressive especially for surround sound encoded movies and game soundtracks. This technology is normally associated with high priced home theater receivers.

Dolby Virtual Speaker
This technology is the mate to Dolby headphone and it can provide accurate detailed surround sound over normal 2 channel stereo speakers. The imaging places the speaker well behind the listener and can be a bit startling at first. Presets for 2 channel expand and full virtual surround are present to help tailor the sound to the users taste.

Using advanced room-modeling technology the user can enjoy full surround sound with stereo speakers.

Dolby Prologic IIX
The IIX technology provides the user a professional solution to upmix any existing audio to full surround sound modeling. There is a full range of controls to custom tailor the sound field to the listener’s tastes.
Available controls are Dolby Center Width to adjust vocal presence, Dolby Panorama to create a wrap-around effect and Dolby Dimension which can fade the image forward or to the rear

Dolby Digital Live
The DDL technology provides the user with a Real-Time encoding algorithm which will encode their existing audio streams such as a game soundtrack to the full Dolby Digital specification. This data can then be transported over fiber optic or SPDIF cable to a Dolby ready receiver or speaker system. Currently this technology is one of the leading technologies for digital transport between devices.

Speaker Shifter
This technology allows the user to correct any imperfections in their room and/or speaker setup. By moving the virtual speakers the user can adjust the system for the imperfections of their speaker set-up. Such as rear channels that aren’t quit where they should be. There are also settings for rotate and zoom and volume controls to further dial in your sound perfectly.

Array Microphone
The included array microphone is equipped with multiple units. The technology has the ability to accept the listener’s voice and reject noise, leaving clear, noise-free voice for any application or voice technology. Using this technology the Asus array microphone can suppress the noise level up to 20db.

This microphone is a great addition for those who use VOIP applications or who communicate while gamin online.

Karaoke
This pane gives the user features and utilities found on many Karaoke machines. There are controls for Vocal echo,
Pitch shifting and voice cancellation giving the budding singer some toys. Using these features you can sing along with your favorite tracks from your MP3 collection or CD collection.

Electronics Overview

DSP – ASUS U100


There is not much information about this DSP chip. There is information out there that it may actually be a re-branded Nitrogen D2 processor from C-Media with custom features added or other features removed. C-Media has been making very high end chips lately and they have found their way into many modern sounds. This info is just opinion and may be far from fact.
DSP SPEC Sheet


Opamp–LM358