• Asus Xonar D2X

    Asus Xonar D2X

    Jayesh Limaye, Jun 23, 2008 1253 hrs IST

    Will the Xonar D2X help you achieve aural nirvana? Read on to find out.

    Superb sound quality, Dolby and DTS encoding, sumptuous bundle.

    No hardware processing, does not support higher than EAX 2.0, needs floppy power connector, hard to install on some motherboards.

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Gone are the days when a discrete sound card was necessary for PC audio. Motherboards these days come with onboard sound chips that are capable of delivering HD audio. But if you are an audiophile, you know that these are simply incapable of justly driving your Hi-Fi headphones. If you are a hardcore gamer, you know that these certainly do not measure up to the discrete sound cards, as they are capable of delivering a precise 3D positional audio experience.



As far as PC audio is concerned, Creative has been at the forefront after engineering the takeover (read demise) of Aureal. It has practically gone unchallenged for all these years and enjoyed a monopoly of sorts. But last year, things seemed to be changing for the better ever since Asus announced the promising Xonar at CeBit 2007 and later demo-ed it at Computex 2007. The Xonar has a catch though, it lacks the hardware processing capabilities of the Creative X-Fi chip, but boasts of advanced Dolby and DTS features, making it an attractive proposition for audiophiles, home theatre aficionados and gamers. We've got the Xonar in our Test Labs, and we shall try to test, analyze and find out whether the Xonar lives up to the hype.

Bundle



Four 3.5 mm to stereo RCA cable for 7.1-channel output
S/PDIF TOSLINK optical cable and two adapters
MIDI daughterboard with adapter cable
Quick start guide
Driver CD
PowerDVD 7 (5.1 channel version)
Cakewalk Production Plus Pack containing Sonar LE, Dimension LE and Project5 LE
Ableton Live
Right Mark Audio Analyser (RMAA)
Dolby Virtual Speaker and Dolby Headphone demo DVD

Over the years, we have observed that Asus has always been generous when it comes to the bundle and this time is no exception. All the necessary cables are provided, though people with a keen ear may want to get themselves "oxygen-free copper" cables with gold contacts, which is not provided here. The bundled optical cable is adequate, though. Also, since the card requires a floppy power connector, it would've been a good idea to bundle along such an adapter cable, which could connect to the more easily available Molex connector.

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Asus Xonar D2X sound card review Dolby DTS encoding



Discussion Board
(11) Comments
adi mehta
,pune, on Jan 29, 2009 07:21 PM
It is hightime asustech, must introduce this card in india xonar d2 pci. card in india. checked with them, they have only the pci-e type cards, what if your m.o.b does nt have a pcie slot. then what does one do, go for a compititive,brand . please suggest.
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Bheemaiah B
,Bangalore, on Jan 15, 2009 02:27 PM
I own the card. The output is exceptional. There are many differences between the software of this card and other card. The card is available with Rashi perpherals Mumbai for INR 9100. and is available only on order. If you want to acquire the card from any other location in India. Please contact the local office of Rashi and press the person in charge to find out the details from his other offices. Makes normal MP3s sound great both on analog and digital connections. Distortion is extremely low. On my previous onboard card music sounded like noise this like 10 times better than the onboard realtek ad1988b chipset.
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ADI MEHTA
,PUNE, on Jun 24, 2008 07:21 PM
iam searching, sin last one year, for this card, in India, and is not available, i have checked with delhi, pune,mumbai, and even chennai, RASHI , AND (DIGICOM OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT NOT VERY SHURE OF THE MANE) BOTH ASUS DISTRIBUTORS HAVE cleary mentioned it is not defined for INDIA, finally i got from dubai, that is xonard2 PCI CARD, know i need more cards for my friends, can any body suggest where these cards are availabe in india. check with ASUS and see what there sales person,reply.eighter not available, or we have not heard of this card,it is also available in Shrilanka
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delna
,pune, on Jul 02, 2008 06:49 PM
hi dad am also searching.. hheeehheee am so happy to see ur name here
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neville jamshed
,mumbai, on Jul 07, 2008 08:23 PM
R u his daughter?
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Raghav
,Mumbai, on Jun 23, 2008 07:51 PM
hey guys... you did not mention in your conclusion whether to go for X-fi or Xonar? Which is the similar card in X-fi series to be technically similar to Xonar and does it beat it or not.?
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ADI MEHTA
,PUNE, on Jun 24, 2008 07:30 PM
x-fi is 22k, and xonar is 7000k, we have used this in austriala, and is very good performance,
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aenie
,surat, on Jun 26, 2008 06:33 PM
raghav,go for creative x-fi exterme gamer card.which can u buy in 6500 from rediff online store .actual price is 8500. this card has all feature like THX enable. x-fi virtual headphone surround.and most eax 5.0 gaming experience.do not buy asus xnor
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ADI MEHTA
,pune, on Jun 24, 2008 07:52 PM
It is hightime asustech, must introduce this card in india xonar d2 pci. card in india
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ADI MEHTA
,PUNE, on Jun 24, 2008 07:27 PM
it is x-fi high end around 22000 nri
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Rene Sommerstei
,Dublinia, on Jun 24, 2008 05:14 PM
if you read the review carefully (i.e. not just the introduction and the conclusions) it is obvious that Xonar is not worth it. It packs some nice components but how many people bother to go from 115 to 116 dB signal to Noise Ratio when your speakers might achieve maybe half of that only? Keep in mind it is very likely not to fit on your motherboard because it is mainly designed to look cool. No hardware acceleration and EAX up to version 2 only in software only. And finally it requires extra power from a damn floppy cable, but hey, great news it does not require a floppy drive to install. Or, maybe? Btw. ALT technology is marketing BS of the year. And the review says it, just nicely, go, have a read.
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