I'm posting this, because I think it may be interesting for some of you.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Asus-Goes-F...rds-79758.shtml

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36243/135/

Not only that, but a recent comparison by ExtremeTech shows the Asus solution pretty much trouncing an X-Fi (-based) card:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2268255,00.asp

Interesting how they arrived at that after saying that both cards were as good actually

"Games sounded terrific and accurate on both cards. We made sure by playing tons and tons of Sins of a Solar Empire because, well, it came out. We also tested with games that are known for excellent audio, such as Call of Duty 4, STALKER, and BioShock. Honestly, we couldn't tell the difference by ear strength alone between the two cards."

"The same goes for music, which we played both through Zune software and Windows Media Player. Both cards brought it through all five speakers, and both wielded their mojo well to enhance the headphone experience (CMSS for the Prelude; Dolby Headphone on the Xonar)."

"Finally, we watched the Blade Runner Final Cut DVD and enjoyed accurate, bright, and punchy surround sound from both cards."

"In all, subjectively, the only complaint we had with either card was the weird Windows noise effects in the Auzen card, and that may or may not be solved by future driver releases."

@ChesterB

It is a funny language you use as for hydrogenaudio. Ever thought of career writing sports headlines?
Or in a marketing department of some corporation?

I thought exactly the same...

Those articles should have started with explanation about what this device really is good for. Is it a capture card, or video adapter, and what benefits there are in processing video and audio together. How well does a computer interface live with HDCP. Just by looking at the picture I can see HDMI ports, I don't need a review for that. What I've read is a marketing talk which overuses the term "professional" in wrong place.


Anybody care to interpret that sentence?

Sound cards can't compare just by SNR or kilohertz today. Every onboard Realtek has those parameters maxed out for all practical purposes. A codec has SNR. The board as a whole may or may not have useful functions, work more or less stable.

HDMI brings nothing to audio quality. It is the same audio quality you get with SPDIF output.
In both cases the sound card's main circuitry is bypassed.

As Chester B noted this article is not about comparing audio equipment.
There is more to it. Like someone going for someone's else neck in order to provide with an "insane" sound card. Anybody care to interpret that sentence, as well ?


Confused? Me too.

@B.Fink

If you mean the title of the topic, it's the title used in Softpedia's article, it's not my own.