News Asus soundcard launches, gets a name

I'm really looking forward to seeing the first reviews of these cards. The name is hardly better than X-Fi, so I should dislike this one as well, but then again it isn't Fatal1ty-megapwnagenator.

As soon as the PCI-e model hits the markets things will get even more exciting.

 

The card is going to be around $500 US. and I think it should be out by next summer at the latest. if they're smart, then hopefuly Christmas.

 

Creative must be working on a PCIe card right now, they would be dumb to not look at the processing power that could be put to use in a PCIe sound card.

 

$500 Is a BIG Price Tag for a sound card. That might be a mistake for Asus, if the card is gona cost that much. I am hoping between $200-300 (Hopefully)

 

Linkage please. No price has been given to me even yet. They're still in production, and Asus aren't stupid enough to price themselves out the market. They plan to hit it hard in cooperation with the big hitters of Dolby and DTS.

 

I'm still waiting for my SoundStorm 2, but this could be good. Asus aren't my favourite company, but if they can pull this off well... And that includes writing some decent Linux drivers (I don't envision them opening the specs to the FOSS world, but that'd be nicer) so that we can all enjoy it... I might just have one.

 

Soundstorm 2 is Duke Nukem Forever: Dont wait up.

You've got to make some noise for linux drivers, but they'll always be behind WinXP, Vista 32, then 64

 

I had a friend tell me, I don't know where he found the info. he has never lied to me before so I would beleave it. he told be about the GeForce 8800 over a year before it came out and he was right at that time. The price was his guess though, so that might not be right.

 

He may not be lying to you, but that doesn't mean he's right, either.

$500 sounds way off for a Sound card, so either it includes some magical feature we haven't been informed of yet, ASUS are making a huge mistake, or your friend is making baseless guesses.

 

I agree Zurechial. I think it will be a big mistake if they put this sound card at a really high price. I do't think anyone is gona pay that much for a sound card. Since it is there first sound card, they should go easy and I think $200 or below will be a really good starting price.

 

I know but he is often right. so lets just see what happens. I think around $150 - $200 sounds closer but what ever we will only know when Asus tells us the pice them selves

 

500$ is suicide.

 

I don't think this card will be ideal for playing audio from cd's as it will have the be re sampled as the DAC in question is only able to operate in 48khz 96khz and 192khz. If the re sampling is anything like the audigy2 it will sound pretty dire. Then again the tech may have improved since then.

 

You couldn't make yourself look more stupid.

 

Actually, while I may not agree with him, you are the one that looks stupid.

Everybody has their opinion. Chill out man.

I think $200-250 is gonna be the minimum, with a chopped down version coming out later for the $100-150 price range, maybe even a bargain bin version later on in the $75 and under bracket.

 

ASUS PMP Recording Volume

I've been using this card and it sounds amazing. To fix the ASUS PMP low volume issue:
( http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/09/03/asus_xonar_d2/6 )

1. set your ALT, itunes and other volume faders on FULL.
2. DISCONNECT your headphones, speakers, etc. from the card
3. convert as normal.

This way, the ALT loopback should get 100% signal.

 

CustomPC reviewed this this month, and it appears to just be a rebadged oxygen hd, as bit-tech speculated

not that this is a bad thing, as Auzentech X-Meridians have been getting hard to find since they started making X-Fi's, and the Razer Barracuda is a bit pricey