Reviews by our members

• 5

  filikozisl

  2024-08-08

  Verified purchase

  For the 40 euros I paid, it is excellent and with a good pair of speakers, you will hear a noticeable difference compared to the onboard card. But, I say again, for 40 euros. Don't expect miracles.

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  4

  32 out of 32 members found this review helpful

  kvlantis

  2020-12-25Expert user

  Verified purchase

  This is a relatively new (2017) implementation by Asus that is fully compatible and functional with Win10, especially after the latest software version (5/2019) that you can find on the company's website. The card is plug'n'play, as Windows recognizes it immediately, but if you want to further configure it, you will need to download the latest software, as mentioned above, from the Asus website.
  Now, regarding the sound, the card is definitely a serious upgrade compared to the onboard sound of the motherboard. It uses the C-Media 6620A Sound Processor, which is capable of handling 5.1-Ch sound with a sampling rate of up to 24bit/192kHz and also has support for Asio drivers 2.0. The DAC it uses is the ALC1220X from Realtek. It may not be Cirrus Logic or ESS used by more expensive cards, but it does a good job in combination with the C-Media processor. The SNR at 116db is the icing on the cake and a feature you won't find in any other card in this price range.
  Since I have purchased two other implementations from Asus, the older Xonar DG/DGX and the more expensive Xonar D1/DX, the SE is somewhere in between in terms of performance and features, and FINALLY the front panel detection works perfectly when connecting headphones. Those of you who have the older cards will understand completely.
  Its software is very comprehensive and you can make separate settings for each input and output of the card. For example, you can adjust the equalizer separately for the rear output to the speakers and separately for the front panel to the headphones.
  And all these settings are saved normally without any problems or loss of settings on each reboot.
  Finally, I should note that the card also includes a headphone amplifier with three levels of gain (low, medium, high) which does an excellent job with difficult-to-drive headphones and contributes greatly to the sound quality. Okay, if you have planar or 600Ω headphones, it will struggle a bit, but we're talking about a card that costs around €40 and let's be honest, if someone had such headphones, they would never look at a card of this caliber. I should mention that the high gain is only available on the rear output for headphones and not on the front panel, where only low and medium are available.
  In conclusion, I have no words for this Asus implementation and they deserve a lot of praise for releasing such a card at this price. Its sound is really good and crystal clear with almost zero crosstalk, interference, etc., thanks to the very good PCB coating, and whoever decides to buy it will definitely not regret it. I have it on an Intel platform and it hasn't given me the slightest problem. I can't say if there will be compatibility issues with AMD platforms because I read in reviews from abroad that some users have had some issues.
  In conclusion, I have no words for this Asus implementation and they deserve a lot of praise for releasing such a card at this price.

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  • Sound quality
  • User-friendly software
  • Volume
  • Value for money
  • Number of connections

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• 5

  Panagiotis_Voudouris9101

  2024-09-07

  Verified purchase

  • Sound quality
  • User-friendly software
  • Volume
  • Value for money
  • Number of connections
• 5

  sal.art

  2024-07-12

  Verified purchase

• 5

  extensivedamage

  2022-02-04

  • Sound quality
  • User-friendly software
  • Volume
  • Value for money
  • Number of connections
• 5

  johndompros

  2021-03-13

  • Sound quality
  • User-friendly software
  • Volume
  • Value for money
  • Number of connections
• 4

  georgiosgoussetis

  2020-12-27

  Verified purchase

  • Sound quality
  • User-friendly software
  • Volume
  • Value for money
  • Number of connections