Hardware Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 Slim Review

Well, with all due respect, what's the point in us writing articles explaining answers to questions we anticipate?

Wow that's harsh without any sort of constructive point to back it up

 

lol I dont know how sad your life is but I dont wait in front of my computer for someone to reply to a post, I go out side, socialize, do other things and then when I get home and check my email if there is a post reply and see the preview email if it has anything Im interested in like a reply to my post I check it out. So no I would have wasted more time reading that article then I would have asking the question.

As for ASUS and crap products well to each their own, I have been happy with their Mobo and Graphics cards so far.

Okay I will just say it, I didnt want to say it because I didnt want to be rude thus why I asked the question but anyhow every time I have actually read a review completely it was either full of mistakes like the last AMD CPU review and/or it was bloated with drawn out filler. This is why its hard for me to come around to reading a review, especially on a product that Im not even completely interested in to begin with. Again sorry I was not trying to be rude but since a few continued to pursue it I guess I was forced into explaining why I didnt want to read the review.

Anyhow came across a good review on this card that was a lot more detailed over at AVSForums which makes sense when it comes to this kinda of stuff in particular might as well go straight over to the experts for answers. So no worries got my question answered and then some, so thanks anyways.

 

Yeah and ofcourse it's always nicer to just ask if you're interested, so others can do the googling! Awesome. Motivates them poor writers...

 

Could easily grow in length over height...

 

I don't get the point of this card either... I men obviously I get what they have done from a technical point but the market must be such a small share they can't expect to actually sell many of these. Blu-Ray is still a minor share within the entertainment market and most of those will be PS3 consoles. Secondly, what is HD audio actually recorded at? Digital audio on CDs is recorded at around 41KHz... any raise of this would not increase quality from original source.

There is also the point that most people who listen to music through their PCs are listening to MP3s anyway and usually at 128bps....

 

P.S. Anyone know why there isn't a dedicated Audio/Soundcard section within Hardware???

 

As you've said before, the market is small.

 

Because we do a review once in a blue moon?

 

I would love something like this just to combine my graphics and audio into a single HDMI output but £110 is a bit pricey... I suppose the next best option would just be a graphics card that could take the sound imput, yes?

Edit - dear god, a christmas avatar still? I haven't been round in a while...

 

Radeon HD cards with a HDMI port can output sound over the HDMI, but it's only capable of AC3 - so 5.1 Dolby or DTS, but not TrueHD or DTS-HD.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by this "review". It wasn't really a review as such, just a 2-page articled detailing the features and benefits of the card.

I'd have liked to see some kind of real-world testing - for example, does it play nicely with the standard player applications (do they even use the card out of the box, or is there some trickery involved? Is it only TMT that works with the card - let's face it, it isn't a standard piece of software, and TMT2 is already outdated since the release of TMT3), what are the benefits of using this card (what's the reduction in CPU load like?).

I'd have expected a little more meat on the bones of this article, really - otherwise, we might just as well read the press release from Asus.

 

It's a fair point about the software and duly noted but soundcards are incredibly difficult to give an absolute value to in terms of sound quality and CPU load is hardly something people really care for in a modern multicore world. It's why Creative XFi is now software driven to do the same thing.

We decided we'd like to do something for a soundcard review because it's a part of a PC like any other peripheral card. However we kept it light and just informative because between the hardcore (almost fascist) "pure audiophiles" that will hate you no matter what "tests" you do and the only choices are simply Asus or Creative. The latter of which has such a reputation that any review will automatically be jumped on by people going "****ing Creative soundcards!!!"

 

My Palit nVidia 9600GT Sonic also has a HDMI output along with an opitcal input, but I'm not sure if there is a loss from the transition but I don't think so.

 

For me...

Regular ALC output----> actual reciever...

 

Apparently not many of you hang out on AVSForums. The market for this thing is more than enough to justify it's existence. The fact is, no standalone Bluray player currently has the speed that an HTPC with Bluray has. I don't much care for 2 minute load times and neither do many others. PC is the way to go, and the Asus HDAV is the ONLY way to get true 100% lossless bluray audio to your reciever.

I also thought WTF when I saw the PCI, but then remembered all the others are just PCI with a PCI-E converter. So really it's no difference so long as your mobo has a PCI. My tuner is already PCI-E, so my PCI slot is actually just sitting there.

I plan to get this since I don't need analog anymore (I can just pass LPCM over the HDMI for anything that's not bitstreamed)