Asus soundcard launches, gets a name - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 8th Jun 2007, 01:41

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/06...omputex_2007/1

COMPUTEX 2007: The Asus Xonar D2 now features a few more lights, and a lot more product details. We grabbed some pics of the final product, its box and the low down of what goes on inside.

Ghys · 8th Jun 2007, 01:49

"The Xonar D2 should be sampling within weeks, and you can be sure that bit-tech is down on the list for one of the first off the production line to let you all know what the real deal is."

It's about time someone serious gets into the sound card market, Creative , as much as I like their products, has been alone for way too long now

Tim S · 8th Jun 2007, 02:01

thx, I think the 21 hour days are starting to catch up with me and Rich - we can all have a good long sleep after today though

./^\.Ace./^\. · 8th Jun 2007, 02:13

Gimme, Gimme

I want one, I really want one

That would be such a cool sound card

Dizman · 8th Jun 2007, 02:25

99 percent of the time, throwing LEDs on this stuff is just pointless and stupid. But this is brilliant. I can't tell you how many times i've been plugging stuff in behind my desk, in the dark.

iwantiwantiwantiwant

The_Beast · 8th Jun 2007, 02:27

Sweet, sounds cool (bad pun sorry)

samkiller42 · 8th Jun 2007, 02:31

Does this thing have a fan on it? It looks like it does from the picture

Sam

Zurechial · 8th Jun 2007, 03:16

Just noticed another typo, Tim/Rich, sorry

I think it should be "Ableton Live" rather than "Alberton Live" in the list of included software packages.

--

I've got to wonder how much all the extra software packages add to the price..

The die-hard music-production/audio enthusiasts will probably stick to their dedicated systems like the external M-Audio Firewire cards and Digidesign MBox, while those added extras are mostly useless for the typical gamer who wants the Asus card for game-audio, aside from some "LOL listen! I made myself sound like a chipmunk!!" dabbling.

Not so sure about the LEDs, myself, either - Their choice of orange might help them stand out, but it'd also clash badly with a lot of existing schemes for owners with a discerning eye.

The inclusion of the EMI shield is definitely appealing, as it gives one of the major advantages of an external card without taking up the extra space on your desk, but does the average gamer or HTPC entusiast even notice the noise from EMI?

If there are details here that I've missed, please let me know, but I can't really figure out who this card is really aimed at. It seems to me to be a jack of all trades, but I suppose the 'master' bit can't be tested until it's in the review labs.

If it functions as an entry-level 'pro' soundcard for recording, and includes the named software packages, then it might offer a good bundle for someone who wants to get into that area, but I'd still recommend people to get a 'real' recording card and just choose a single software package to start out with unless the Asus bundle offers an extremely competitive price..

Bluephoenix · 8th Jun 2007, 03:31

I'm definitely picking one up, regardless of price. I do a little bit of DJing (mostly uni parties) using my comp, and I hope the ASIO support on this is a little less finicky on this than on the creative X-Fi.

besides, with what I do, the more ASIO channels the better

the LEDs will help when it comes to setup, and in answer to the EMI interference, when you have a few powerful speakers hooked up pumping out dance music and it suddenly crackles from EMI, its quite noticeable.

given what happened a couple weeks ago, this will be my primary output card as soon as I can get one.

Ghys · 8th Jun 2007, 03:49

are you going to use it in your media server ? You better check if the linux drivers (if there are any) are good

Bluephoenix · 8th Jun 2007, 04:53

no, I use the beast for the DJ work (also gets comp modding some attention when people ask about it)

Bindibadgi · 8th Jun 2007, 06:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by samkiller42

Does this thing have a fan on it? It looks like it does from the picture

Sam

Nope, it's just the design of the EMI shielding.

A combination of long days and being sick as a dog yesterday makes Bindi easily confused

I've seen so many products and so many names now my heads about to pop.

Tim S · 8th Jun 2007, 06:43

It's a good job you didn't see the bunnies last night... something else might have popped

Bindibadgi · 8th Jun 2007, 06:55

roffles. I can only assume you mean my blood pressure.

Ghys · 8th Jun 2007, 07:06

ahhh it's 10 am in tapei , right ? That's why you guys are posting. Im usually all alone at this time of the night

(joke all you want about the double meaning of the last sentence)

Spaceraver · 8th Jun 2007, 08:20

As long as they invade Creative's turf, I'm game

[USRF]Obiwan · 8th Jun 2007, 09:58

I think the 'non-professional multi i/o' soundcards (onboard or outboard) have really no need for improvement. All have 5.1 tor 7.1 outputs and dedicated digital out in coax or optical way. Soundwise there is also no need to improve on. Especialy if you use the optical/coaxial out running to a good dedicated suround amplifier with some good speakers.

All the ratio cliams and goldplates outputs are needless (crap really) if and when connected to some cheap plastic pc suround sets. And i think ALL are crap. (but that is personal)

I could go on about comparing a 20 gram soundcart to a 25kilo dedicated amplifier and 20gram plastic speakers agains 45kilo speakers. But i wont...

DXR_13KE · 8th Jun 2007, 17:49

there must be competition in the sound card market against Creative and the opponent has arrived...... ASUS!!!!!!

./^\.Ace./^\. · 8th Jun 2007, 18:24

I want to see a company build a super sound card that could handlebetween 9.1 to 15.1 surround sound

you know closer to an actual theater

vegettoxp · 8th Jun 2007, 22:56

Anyone has any info on what is gona be the price of the two cards and when they are gona put it out in the market. I am building a new system right now and I don't want to put another Creative Sound Card in there. There Drivers are horrible when it comes to VISTA.

8th Jun 2007, 01:41	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Asus soundcard launches, gets a name http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/06...omputex_2007/1 COMPUTEX 2007: The Asus Xonar D2 now features a few more lights, and a lot more product details. We grabbed some pics of the final product, its box and the low down of what goes on inside. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

8th Jun 2007, 02:01	#3
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	thx, I think the 21 hour days are starting to catch up with me and Rich - we can all have a good long sleep after today though __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

8th Jun 2007, 02:13	#4
./^\.Ace./^\. Multimodder $./^\.Ace./^\.'s Avatar$ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 150 $./^\.Ace./^\. is on a distinguished road$	Gimme, Gimme I want one, I really want one That would be such a cool sound card __________________ CPU: Intel i7 920 \| RAM: 6GB OCZ Reaper DDR3 1866MHz \| Mother Board: Asus P6T \| Graphics: Dual BFG GeForce GTX295 rev.B Quad SLI \| PSU: Antec TPQ-1000 \| CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 \| Hard Drives: 500GB Seagate Barracuda, 500GB WD Caviar Black, 1TB WD Carviar Green \| Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-216D \| Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 \| Monitor: LG W2343T 23" \| OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit \|
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8th Jun 2007, 02:27	#6
The_Beast I am The Stig Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 3,212	Sweet, sounds cool (bad pun sorry) __________________ Rendering Machine - Gigabyte DS3L P35 - C2Q Q6600 - Antec New Solution Series NSK4480B - Corsair XMS2 2Gb - Sapphire 2600 XT 256mb - Seagate 'Cuda 320 GB - Antec Earthwatt 430 watt - Windows XP Pro -

8th Jun 2007, 02:31	#7
samkiller42 KEEP IT CLEAN! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Havant, Hampshire, England Posts: 3,183	Does this thing have a fan on it? It looks like it does from the picture Sam __________________ The Rig: i7 920 D0, Gigabyte EX58-UD5, 12GB DDR3 1600mhz, BFG GTX295, Samsung 64gb SSD, WD 640gb Black, Samsung F2 Eco 1TB, Dell 3007WFP, Windows 7 RC. The Netbook: Samsung NC10 Black, Intel Atom, 2gb DDR2 Xbox Live: samkiller42¦PSN: samkiller42¦Bungie: samkiller42

8th Jun 2007, 01:49	#2
Ghys DUHHHH Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 2,589	"The Xonar D2 should be sampling within weeks, and you can be sure that bit-tech is down on the list for one of the first off the production line to let you all know what the real deal is." It's about time someone serious gets into the sound card market, Creative , as much as I like their products, has been alone for way too long now

8th Jun 2007, 02:25	#5
Dizman Multimodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Vermont Posts: 218	99 percent of the time, throwing LEDs on this stuff is just pointless and stupid. But this is brilliant. I can't tell you how many times i've been plugging stuff in behind my desk, in the dark. iwantiwantiwantiwant

8th Jun 2007, 03:16	#8
Zurechial Elitist Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 878	Just noticed another typo, Tim/Rich, sorry I think it should be "Ableton Live" rather than "Alberton Live" in the list of included software packages. -- I've got to wonder how much all the extra software packages add to the price.. The die-hard music-production/audio enthusiasts will probably stick to their dedicated systems like the external M-Audio Firewire cards and Digidesign MBox, while those added extras are mostly useless for the typical gamer who wants the Asus card for game-audio, aside from some "LOL listen! I made myself sound like a chipmunk!!" dabbling. Not so sure about the LEDs, myself, either - Their choice of orange might help them stand out, but it'd also clash badly with a lot of existing schemes for owners with a discerning eye. The inclusion of the EMI shield is definitely appealing, as it gives one of the major advantages of an external card without taking up the extra space on your desk, but does the average gamer or HTPC entusiast even notice the noise from EMI? If there are details here that I've missed, please let me know, but I can't really figure out who this card is really aimed at. It seems to me to be a jack of all trades, but I suppose the 'master' bit can't be tested until it's in the review labs. If it functions as an entry-level 'pro' soundcard for recording, and includes the named software packages, then it might offer a good bundle for someone who wants to get into that area, but I'd still recommend people to get a 'real' recording card and just choose a single software package to start out with unless the Asus bundle offers an extremely competitive price.. __________________ www.valyr.net Core i7 920 @ 4GHz <-> 8800GTS 512 @ 785/1946/1990 <-> GA-EX58-UD5 <-> 3GB Dominator 1600 <-> Xonar D1 Last edited by Zurechial; 8th Jun 2007 at 04:12.

8th Jun 2007, 03:31	#9
Bluephoenix Spoon? What spoon? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Daytona Beach, FL Posts: 936	I'm definitely picking one up, regardless of price. I do a little bit of DJing (mostly uni parties) using my comp, and I hope the ASIO support on this is a little less finicky on this than on the creative X-Fi. besides, with what I do, the more ASIO channels the better the LEDs will help when it comes to setup, and in answer to the EMI interference, when you have a few powerful speakers hooked up pumping out dance music and it suddenly crackles from EMI, its quite noticeable. given what happened a couple weeks ago, this will be my primary output card as soon as I can get one.

8th Jun 2007, 03:49	#10
Ghys DUHHHH Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 2,589	are you going to use it in your media server ? You better check if the linux drivers (if there are any) are good

8th Jun 2007, 04:53	#11
Bluephoenix Spoon? What spoon? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Daytona Beach, FL Posts: 936	no, I use the beast for the DJ work (also gets comp modding some attention when people ask about it)

8th Jun 2007, 06:43	#13
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	It's a good job you didn't see the bunnies last night... something else might have popped __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

8th Jun 2007, 06:55	#14
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,228	roffles. I can only assume you mean my blood pressure. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

8th Jun 2007, 07:06	#15
Ghys DUHHHH Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 2,589	ahhh it's 10 am in tapei , right ? That's why you guys are posting. Im usually all alone at this time of the night (joke all you want about the double meaning of the last sentence) __________________ Phenom X3 720 Black Edition @ 3.4Ghz - Asus M3N72-D SLI - 4GB PC6400 - MSI GTX260 216 - RAID0 37gb Raptors - 2x 500GB - Corsair TX850 - Samsung 2233RZ 120hz cheesecake - Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bits Kids ! The Samsung 2233RZ is the solution to all your problems in life ! That is, of course, if your biggest concern is not sucking at FPS games

8th Jun 2007, 08:20	#16
Spaceraver Weekend Junkie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kolding, Denmark Posts: 1,305	As long as they invade Creative's turf, I'm game __________________ "Faith: not wanting to know what is true." - Friedrich Nietzsche. "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca Last thing I remember, I was drinking this glowing green sht out of a test tube and dancing like a bstard.

8th Jun 2007, 09:58	#17
[USRF]Obiwan Ultramodder Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,218	I think the 'non-professional multi i/o' soundcards (onboard or outboard) have really no need for improvement. All have 5.1 tor 7.1 outputs and dedicated digital out in coax or optical way. Soundwise there is also no need to improve on. Especialy if you use the optical/coaxial out running to a good dedicated suround amplifier with some good speakers. All the ratio cliams and goldplates outputs are needless (crap really) if and when connected to some cheap plastic pc suround sets. And i think ALL are crap. (but that is personal) I could go on about comparing a 20 gram soundcart to a 25kilo dedicated amplifier and 20gram plastic speakers agains 45kilo speakers. But i wont... __________________ Mascleta: "The most accurate simulation of thunder, humans can simulate..." The answer is 42, so... whats the question again? If you know what 'Peek' and 'Poke' represents, then you are probably as old as me.

8th Jun 2007, 17:49	#18
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,464	there must be competition in the sound card market against Creative and the opponent has arrived...... ASUS!!!!!! __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

8th Jun 2007, 18:24	#19
./^\.Ace./^\. Multimodder $./^\.Ace./^\.'s Avatar$ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 150 $./^\.Ace./^\. is on a distinguished road$	I want to see a company build a super sound card that could handlebetween 9.1 to 15.1 surround sound you know closer to an actual theater __________________ CPU: Intel i7 920 \| RAM: 6GB OCZ Reaper DDR3 1866MHz \| Mother Board: Asus P6T \| Graphics: Dual BFG GeForce GTX295 rev.B Quad SLI \| PSU: Antec TPQ-1000 \| CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 \| Hard Drives: 500GB Seagate Barracuda, 500GB WD Caviar Black, 1TB WD Carviar Green \| Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-216D \| Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 \| Monitor: LG W2343T 23" \| OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit \|
$./^\.Ace./^\. is offline$

8th Jun 2007, 22:56	#20
vegettoxp Multimodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 197	Anyone has any info on what is gona be the price of the two cards and when they are gona put it out in the market. I am building a new system right now and I don't want to put another Creative Sound Card in there. There Drivers are horrible when it comes to VISTA.