ASUS Xonar U1 USB Audio Station

Headphones used: Generic Monitoring cans
Speakers used: Binaura B102 Digital home theater System

a. Music
I listened to many types of music to try and gain an overall understanding of this card's strengths and weaknesses. This card has great separation and a very wide and deep sound stage when listening to music. I used the “music” preset and adjusted to my taste. While this card isn’t quite as good as its big brother the Xonar D2, this card definitely has a decent sound and is very “warm” and dynamic sounding. Many headphone aficionados prefer to have an external unit which helps to isolate the sensitive electronics from the EMI and RFI present inside a PC enclosure.

b. Movies
I watched a few of my testing DVD’s with both headphones and a digital speaker system connected. The Dolby features such as Dolby headphone come through very nicely when watching movies. The action is pulled out of your head and placed in virtual space where it should be. The tested movies sounded very good and the audio came through with clarity and detail and no noticeable distortion. The unit features great bass and sound stage. I could easily hear audio from many different directions while using headphones.

Tested DVD’s:
Saving Private Ryan
Star Wars EPII
Star Wars EPIII
Transformers

C. Gaming
I had somewhat of a mixed bag when gaming. XP gaming was great and I tested with some usual favorite FPS games. This card has EAX 1,2 and OpenAL and sports 64 buffers. I opted to use Dolby headphone while gaming and the technology increased my enjoyment of the game immensely. Proper directional audio was present as well as environmental effects from EAX 1 and 2.

On the other hand I had some trouble with gaming under the Vista OS. Games didn’t sound quite right, directional audio was not present and all sound seemed to be in my head in certain games.

When selecting audio output the game wouldn’t “Lock” onto EAX 1 or 2 in Vista; this means that EAX in currently unavailable. ASUS has been working to develop new gaming drivers for the Xonar series of soundcards. These new drivers will allow hardware acceleration under Vista and restore the gaming sound many have become accustomed to. At the time of this review they are not available for the U1 but they are in the works. This should be good news to gamers looking for hardware support with the Xonar line of products under the Vista OS. Unfortunately, this comes down to a case of "shoulda, coulda, woulda" considering this driver SHOULD have been ready, COULD have been a great addition and WOULD have been appreciated by consumers using Vista.

Tested Games:
COD 2
MOH:Airborne
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Splinter Cell
COD4: Demo