From the boom of an artillery shell to the stealthy footsteps of a lone gunman, a gamer listens with ears perked and attention focused. Bullets whirring all around and the hum of a mistreated headset prod at players attention, all the while a subtle drop of a nade pin occurs nearby. No one notices. ASUS recognise the importance of a good audio solution and have provided Benchmark Reviews their very latest in gaming audio cards - the ASUS Xonar Xense. Not to be outdone, the Xense comes in kit form that includes a Senhiesser PC-350 headset.

ASUS Xonar Xense Sound Card Kit Review

From the boom of an artillery shell to the stealthy footsteps of a lone gunman, a gamer listens with ears perked and attention focused. Bullets whirring all around and the hum of a mistreated headset prod at players attention, all the while a subtle drop of a nade pin occurs nearby. No one notices. It's unfortunate when inadequate audio gear gets in the way of a good game. Environmental effects such as EAX give gamers the illusion of being within the game world, producing an upper hand during the heat of a match. ASUS recognise the importance of a good audio solution and have provided Benchmark Reviews their very latest in gaming audio cards - the ASUS Xonar Xense. Not to be outdone, the Xense comes in kit form that includes a Sennheiser PC-350 headset.

A short reflection on the state of modern mainstream music

Sound has come a long way since the days of using the internal speaker of a PC for nothing more than beeps and boops. CD quality audio is commonplace, yet convenience is frequently prioritised ahead of quality. MP3 files are popular because of their size, and their suitability for storage limited devices. The downside to MP3 is that it's a lossy compression format, meaning that the audio is stripped of data to save space. In theory the data which is trashed is inaudible to humans, but in practise even the best compression methods cause some level of quality degradation.

An alternative to MP3 is FLAC. FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, is exactly that - a lossless compression codec. Vaguely similar to how zip files work, FLAC compresses audio without permanently removing data. This requires decompression during playback. Unfortunately, despite a significant growth in storage and Internet speeds, MP3 remains the dominant format for digital music.

Formats aren't the only indicator of quality. Apart from the obvious (being the quality of the recording gear/setup and instruments) there's the matter of dynamic range, or perhaps more importantly, dynamic range compression. To put it simply, the dynamic range of an instrument of piece of music is the ratio of the loudest sound to the softest. For example, the softest sound may be the subtle whisper of a backup singer, and the loudest the beat produced by drums.

Dynamic range compression is when you reduce the difference between these soft and loud notes to make everything louder. This is often used in modern mastering to make music sound louder than it should be, to compete on mediums such as radio or television. The end result is a lifeless track, stripped of its musical integrity. So why is it done? It's part of the so-called Loudness War. You can read more about this phenomenon here (including some audio examples), or at Wikipedia here.

Why does this all matter? When reviewing or leisurely listening to a sound device, subjective judgement is based on listening to music. A perfect audio card (if one should ever exist) would reproduce sound exactly as the audio file dictates. However, just like any system, if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. This is important, because a good audio device can make bad music sound worse, since it becomes easier to distinguish imperfections which are part of the audio files 'instructions'. For this reason, music will be carefully chosen during the subjective analysis of this card, in addition to a range of headphones.

Manufacturer: ASUSTek, Inc.
Product Name: Xonar Xense
Price As Tested:$279.99

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by ASUS.

ASUS Xonar Xense Features

• Triumph over your opponents in FPS games with precision acoustics
• Fight to the end with ergonomic headset design
• Powerful headphone amplifier and matched high-impedance driver secure FPS-optimized sound positioning and dynamics
• No footsteps missed in front of the 118dB SNR sound clarity brought by EMI shield and studio-standard 6.3mm audio jack
• Stylish full-stainless steel design matches the earcup cover of Sennheiser headset
• Pro gamers’ long-hour usage catered by excellent headset ergonomics
• To ensure the supreme performance of Sennheiser PC 350 Xense Edition, ASUS and Sennheiser engineers co-worked and tuned up a new Gain Level perfect for Sennheiser PC 350 Xense Edition sound performance.

ASUS Xonar Xense Specifications

Headset

Audio Card

Note: Specifications provided by Asus.

Closer Look: ASUS Xonar Xense

This is what comes with the Xonar Xense, bar the headphones. Drivers, Quick Start Guide, cables, adapters and the audio card itself. Nothing particularly fancy here.

I/O connectivity on the Xense is quite good. Two 6.3mm TRS connectors facilitate the connection of headphones and line-in (microphone) devices, while the serial port enables up to 7.1 channels of analogue audio to be output via the provided 3.5mm TRS adapter.

On the classy black PCB are analogue S/PDIF and AUX (auxiliary) connectors.

The headphone input of the Xense is amplified. This requires a molex power connection as pictured.

TOSLINK and 6.3mm to 3.5mm TRS adapters are provided for your convenience. The latter appears to be gold plated to prevent potential oxidisation issues.

Last but not least, we have the Sennheiser PC-350 headset looking slick in black and grey. The connectors are 6.3mm TRS connectors, one for line-in and one for line-out.

On the whole, the kit certainly looks impressive aesthetically. Let's take a look under the hood.

ASUS Xonar Xense Detailed Features

ASUSs AV100 audio processing unit (a re-branded C-Media CMI8788)gives the Xense enough grunt to perform audio encoding such as Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

The high quality Texas Instruments headphone amplifier, capable of driving headphones with impedance up to 600Ohms.

New Japan Radio op-amps drive the line-in/microphone input.

Another pair of replaceable New Japan Radio op-amps drive the analogue line-out.

That's the hardware side complete, now for the software which brings it all together.

ASUS Xonar Audio Center Software

ASUS bundled their Xonar Audio Center software with the card. This software is similar across all the Xonar products, with small changes specific to particular models. In this screenshot we have the main screen showing the currently enabled modes, master volume, and frequency bands. There's also the option to change the number of audio channels, sample rate, and the analogue output (i.e. 'Headphone', '2 Speakers', or either via the front panel).

Along the bottom of the blue status area are the available Dolby technologies. These include Digital Live, Headphone, Pro Logic IIx, and Virtual Speaker. Digital Live encodes audio into a 5.1 channel 16-bit/48 KHz signal in real-time over S/PDIF. 'Headphone' allows stereo headphones to emulate the positional audio effects of a discrete 5.1 surround sound set up. Pro Logic IIx up-converts stereo or 5.1 channel audio into a 6.1 or 7.1 channel signal. 'Virtual Speaker' is similar to 'Headphone', but is suited to any set of stereo speakers.

The mixer allows the adjustment of the left and right channels. Hitting the 'Record' button gives us further options for MIC, line-in, aux, Mix and Wave volumes.

Environmental effects simulate different sound stages, whilst the equaliser gives us control over the frequency response of the output. The latter is great for compensating for deficiencies you may identify in your audio equipment.

FlexBass gives you control over the LFE (Low-frequency effect) crossover frequency. Basically, this moves low-frequency (bass) signals from satellite speakers to your subwoofer. This can improve bass quality.

Evidently, ASUS have produced a respectable software solution for their Xonar range of cards. The aesthetically pleasing style and functionality make it a valuable asset. It does have some quirks, such as the volume dial which is counter-productive for interaction via a cursor, but that's being a tad pedantic. On the other hand, the five small preset buttons to the right make it super easy to quickly swap between modes such as Hi-Fi and gaming. If only they had associated keyboard shortcuts!

The most notable omissions compared to the Xonar Essence STX are the Karoke and VocalFX features. For majority of people, these won't be missed.

Testing Methodology

To test the ASUS Xonar Xense we have used RightMark Audio Analyser 6.2.3. This produces graphs which display the following aspects of an audio card:

• Frequency response
  The optimal frequency response of an audio card is a flat line at 0dB. That is, for a given input signal, the response should be consistently 0dB across all frequencies. If the line deviates from 0dB, then there is undesired attenuation or emphasis in the resultant signal.
• Noise level
  Noise is unwanted sound. The noise floor is the sum of all noise sources. The lower the noise floor is the better, since any signals below this become difficult (if not impossible) to distinguish. Noise is measured in dB (decibels).
• Dynamic range
  Dynamic range in terms of an audio source differs slightly to that of a piece of music or instrument. It represents the ratio between the highest undistorted sine wave amplitude and the root mean square of the noise floor amplitude. It is measured in dB, and the larger the value the better.
• Total harmonic distortion (THD)
  Put simply, THD is the measurement of harmonic distortion introduced by components of an audio system, represented as a percentage. The lower this value the better. According to Wikipedia, a value of under 1% is inaudible, however without citation we'll take this with a grain of salt.
• Intermodulation distortion
  Another measure of distortion, this time caused by non-linear signal processing which causes the unwanted amplitude modulation (AM) of two or more signals. Measured as a percentage, this value is best when very small.
• Stereo crosstalk
  Stereo crosstalk is the is leakage of sound from one channel into another. This is measured in dB. Lower values are desired.

Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
• System Memory: 2GB DDR400
• Processor: AMD Athlon X2 4400+
• Audio: ASUS Xonar Xense, ASUS Xonar Essence STX, AC'97 Realtek ALC850
• Video: AMD HD4670
• PSU: CoolerMaster eXtreme 380W
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit

Results: Listening Test

Using the provided Sennheiser PC-350 headphones, music was detailed but felt flat with a very narrow soundstage. Regardless of track, the PC-350 headphones were lacklustre, from treble to bass, we were left wanting more - especially from a premium set of cans.

Being a gaming headset, we went on to play Unreal Tournament 3 with 'game' and 'GX' modes enabled. The narrow soundstage did little to facilitate EAX, and explosions were muffled by the closed cans. DiRT 2 didn't fair much better, with everything sounding like it were emitting from within a small enclosure rather than a large environment. The headset could be summarised in a single word - 'dull'. And not a natural accurate dull either, it's just plain terrible. Movies were much the same.

The PC-350s saving grace is its in-built microphone, which is suitably clear and adjustable. They're also reasonably comfortable, and sit around the user ears instead of pressing against them.

On a more positive note, the Xonar Xense card itself performs stunningly. As far as our untrained ears could discern, the Xense is very similar to the Essence STX in terms of output quality, using the Alessandro MS-1i headphones. The EAX emulation and gaming modes perform surprisingly well (provided you use a decent pair of headphones) and manages to provide convincingly binaural sound when Dolby Headphone is enabled.

Music wise, it's hard to fault the Xense. Similar to the Essence STX, Pink Floyd's various tracks come across highly detailed with no discernible noise. Dynamic range is spectacular, with excellent lows and highs. Put simply, everything sounds great, no doubt due to the flat frequency response and high quality DACs.

Movies such as iRobot were similarly great, thanks to the wonders of Dolby Headphone. When set to 6 channels, the stereo MS1-i headphones sound convincingly surround, which is no simple feat considering their narrow soundstage.

When compared to the onboard solution, the Xense outpaces it in every way. Gaming and movies are lifeless when using the onboard solution, and music is good but not excellent. Using Dolby Headphone, games on the Xense jump to life. When connected to the surround Logitech X-530 5.1 system, the feeling of true presence is quite surreal, even despite the fact that these speakers are far from hi-fi level.

RightMark Audio Analyser Results

After judging the Xonar Xense via listening tests, we put the gaming audio card through some analytical tests using RightMark Audio Analyser. Our results are as follows.

RightMark Audio Analyser

Summary of Results (RCA out)

Note: The Realtek solution wasn't tested at 192KHz due to its lack of support for sample rates above 48KHz.

Frequency Response (RCA out, 24bit 192KHz)

Amazingly the Xonar Xense performs slightly better than the Essence STX, ASUS's flagship audiophile card, within the human hearing range of 20 - 22,000Hz. There's a slight amount of emphasis above 10kHz, but this is insignificant.

Frequency Response (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

As you'd expect, the on-board solution is unable to match the frequency response of either of the dedicated ASUS cards. Frequencies above 5kHz attenuate at what looks like an exponential rate.

Noise Level (RCA out, 24bit 192KHz)

The Xonar Xense's RCA output is rated at -118dB, and line-in at -110dB. Since we're using a loopback cable (that is, we're connecting the RCA out straight into line-in), the noise level is affected by the capabilities of the latter. We're also subject to noise introduced by the loopback cable itself, and any noise produced by the PCI-e and molex power connection. Although not quite as good as the Essence STX, the noise levels of this card are very good.

Noise Level (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

Realtek's solution isn't even in the same league as the dedicated ASUS cards. There's about 30dB between them.

Dynamic Range (RCA out, 24bit 192KHz)

Considering the ultra-low noise levels, it's not surprising that the dynamic range of this card is also spectacular.

Dynamic Range (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

Again, there's a 30dB difference between the Xense and the Realtek solution. The Xense has a slightly higher noise floor than the Essence STX, but it's still highly commendable.

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) (RCA out, 24bit 192KHz)

The THD here is well below 1%, although it is edged out by the Essence STX by a small margin. A great result nonetheless.

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

Consistent with previous results, the Realtek lags behind with a distortion level 92.5x that of the Xense. The Xense has 1.33x the distortion of the Essence STX, which is respectable.

Intermodulation distortion (RCA out, 24bit 192KHz)

Again, the distortion level is extremely low. Another awe inspiring result.

Intermodulation distortion (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

The batted on-board solution is outdone again with 65x the distortion of the Essence STX, and 30.5x the Xense.

Stereo crosstalk (RCA out, 24bit 48KHz)

Low levels of leakage between left and right channels is a good thing, as shown in the above graph. The onboard solution didn't fair as well, with significantly higher leakage across all frequencies.

Headphone Out Tests

The above tests were repeated using the headphone (TRS) out instead. Here's a summary of the results:

Overall, the Xonar Xense does a splendid job.

7.1 Audio Card Final Thoughts

Looking back at the results and general usage of the Xense kit, it's obvious that ASUS were trying hard to produce an all-in-one solution for gamers. A high end sound card solution bundled with an expensive set of headphones is enough to make any gamers mouth water with excitement. Alas, the headphones bundled with the Xonar aren't particularly good. Sure, they're from a well known brand and they're certainly not the worst set from their product line, but they're absolutely terrible for gaming. It's almost as if ASUS chose them solely because the brand is a household name.

The Xense card itself is absolutely excellent. It blitzed both listening and analytical tests, closely rivalling the Xonar Essence STX which is arguably the best consumer audio card on the market. Audio processing such as Dolby Headphone really complete the package, allowing gamers to use headphones rather than surround sound speakers during intense gaming. It's a great product for both audiophiles and gamers alike.

ASUS Xonar Xense Conclusion

In terms of performance, the Xonar Xense nails it. Flat frequency response, indiscernible noise levels, and superior dynamic range place this card leagues ahead of typical onboard solutions. Replaceable op-amps, high quality capacitors, EAX emulation, and a great headphone amp seal the deal. Put simply, the Xonar Xense is difficult to ignore if you're looking at purchasing a dedicated audio solution.

The PC-350 Sennheiser headphone performance, as stated in our listening tests, is not so hot. They're adequate cans, but are far from capable of taking advantage of the clarity and quality of the sound card it's paired with. Muffled highs and uninspiring lows matched with a narrow soundstage make for a disappointing addition to an otherwise commendable audio card.

Appearance wise, the Xonar Xense is showy with its chrome EMI shield. It looks great if you have a window on the side of your PC. As for the headphones, their black/grey facade makes for an aesthetically pleasing professional looking device.

Build quality of the Xense is excellent. High quality componentry and the secure EMI shield is as good as you can expect from an expansion card. The headphones look and feel solid, with no evidence of fragility or point of possible failure. The adjustable microphone stays firmly in place.

With regards to functionality, the Xense is has everything a gamer could want. An array of Dolby technologies including Dolby Headphone allow for an enhanced audio experience, whether it be emulating 7.1 sound, or using stereo headphones for a surround sound experience. Digital out and the provided TOSLINK connector allow external DACs to be used, and the gold plated TRS/RCA in/out facilitate clean noise-free audio.

Last but not least, we come to value. Given the expensive of the headphones if purchased individually, one could conclude that this bundle is very good value. However, factoring in the suitability of the headphones for gaming, it may be best to purchase a better pair separately. For $279.99 at NewEgg, you're getting a great card which will last several builds and a Sennheiser PC 350 Xense Edition headset.

All in all, if you're in the market for a high quality sound card with 7.1 surround sound support, then you'd be crazy to look past the ASUS Xonar Xense. Just don't buy them for the Sennheiser PC-350 headphones.

Pros:

+ Near flat frequency response
+ Inbuilt headphone amp
+ Insignificantly low noise levels
+ User replaceable op-amps
+ Drivers work flawlessly on Windows Vista and 7
+ Dolby technologies including Headphone and Pro Logic
+ Top of the range componentry

Cons:

- Included headphones are mediocre at best
- No hotkeys to quickly alter settings in Xonar Audio Center
- EAX emulation not quite as good as a native hardware solution

Ratings:

• Performance: 9.00
• Appearance: 9.25
• Construction: 9.50
• Functionality: 9.00
• Value: 8.25

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10.

Excellence Achievement: Benchmark Reviews Golden Tachometer Award.

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