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ASUS’ New Xonar Essence ST Audio Card Incorporates Clock Tuning |
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Written by Dragana Dimitrijevic
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Monday, 18 May 2009 |
ASUS has released its newest soundcard on the market, the Xonar Essence ST. This PCI card is the world’s first audio card to incorporate precision clock tuning to minimize audio jitter. The Xonar Essence ST card can also be upgraded to 7.1 channel output with the use of the Xonar H6 multi-channel extension board, which will be sold separately in the near future.
Xonar Essence ST is the first soundcard in the world to focus on precise audio clock tuning. PC users can now experience 31% less audio jitter interference and enjoy ultimate sound quality that frees the audio signal from unsynchronized input streams and results in extensive music details and lively sound image for the ultimate listening experience. The improvement is most significant during general audio CD playback where the sample rate is 44.1kHz.
Utilizing only the finest components and design, ASUS has delivered a soundcard that is able to reproduce truly pure sounds at 124dB SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). This is 64 times clearer the most onboard audio solutions (85–88 SNR). It also features the ASUS exclusive Hyper-grounding circuitry design that utilizes a PCB design to separate signal and noise - ensuring that only the cleanest signals are passed on to ultra-sensitive components for decoding.
With a top-of-the-line Burr-Brown PCM 1792A Digital-to-Analog Convertor (DAC) to convert audio signals at 127dB SNR, users will be able to enjoy minimum loss from the process of converting digital signals to analog sound. Additionally, Nichicon “Fine Gold” capacitors deliver rich bass and crystal-clear high frequencies (like the sounds from a piano or violin), allowing the Xonar Essence ST to achieve <10 Hz–90 kHz frequency response and 124dB dynamic range. Furthermore, The Xonar Essence ST’s EMI shield protects all analog outputs from any exterior electronic magnetic interference.
Most quality headphones usually require additional driving power. Without it, the sound quality becomes bland. The Xonar Essence ST is equipped with a built-in headphone amplifier capable of driving every available headphone with up to 600ohms of impedance to their full extent and less than 0.001% of distortion - all without additional amplification. This ensures that only the highest density sounds can be heard from these headphones without the need to purchase an extra amplifier. Furthermore, the Xonar Essence ST also comes with swappable OPamp sockets to help tune up unique sounds effortlessly, complete with Dolby Home Theater technologies and the latest DS3D GX2.5 3D gaming engine technology.
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