Xonar's Packaging
The Asus Xonar has made waves ever since we saw it at Asus' booth at CeBIT, and subequently, we have been following up on its development from external sources as well as some exclusive news that we've gotten from the our sources in Asus. Right now, we take a first look at the components onboard, and at the same time we will do a brief component comparison with the Creative X-Fi Elite Pro. First, we'll start off with some of the specifications of the Xonar D2..
 

Items

Description

Audio Performance

Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted):

118 dB

Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted):

118 dB

Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz :

0.0004% (-108dB)

Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz :

0.0004% (-108dB)

Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ):

<10Hz to 46kHz

Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/192kHz input):

<10Hz to 90kHz

Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage

2 Vrms (5.65 Vp-p)

Sample Rate Conversion Quality

Almost lossless, high-fidelity floating-point filters, which has:

-140dB THD+N (typical value for 44.1K->48KHz, 24bit) 

145dB Dynamic Range (typical value for 44.1K->48KHz, 24bit)

Main Chipset

Audio Processor

ASUS AV200 High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192KHz/24bit)

24-bit D-A Converter of Digital Sources:

TI Burr-Brown PCM1796 *4 (123dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit)

24-bit A-D Converter for Analog Inputs:

Cirrus-Logic CS5381* 1 (120dB SNR, Max. 192kHz/24bit)

Sample Rate and Resolution

Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution

44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit

Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution

44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit

S/PDIF Digital Output

44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA-Pro

S/PDIF Digital Input

44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit

ASIO 2.0 Driver Support:

44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit

I/O Ports

Analog Output Jack:

3.50mm mini jack *4 (Front/Side/Center-Subwoofer/Back)

Analog Input Jack:

3.50mm mini jack *2 (Line-In/Mic-In)

Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner):

CD-In, Aux-In (4-pin header on the card)

Digital S/PDIF Output

Coaxial and High-bandwidth Optical Combo Connector Supports 192KHz/24bit

Digital S/PDIF Input

Coaxial and High-bandwidth Optical Combo Connector Supports 192KHz/24bit

MIDI Ports

Additional MPU-401 MIDI I/O bracket and converter cable

Interesting specifications, 4x Burr Brown PCM1796 DAC... Let's take a look at more interesting stuff that will be unveiled in the following pages...