Introduction:
Asus, a name once synonymous with quality, high-performance mainboards, now seems to be a name that can be attached to just about anything electronic.Asus seems to make just about everything now. From monitors to laptops to toasters… Ok so maybe they do not make toasters (yet) but if you are looking for high quality gear for your PC or technology fix; for most things you won’t need to look much farther than Asus.
One of Asus’ recent forays has been into discrete sound cards we were fortunate enough to test the Xonar D2 and found it to be every bit the equal to the creative offerings and in many cases (such as sound quality) the clear winner between the two.Now we have another Asus sound device up on the grill; the Xonar U1 the USB cousin to the PCI based Xonar D2. Let’s see if the U1 can live up to its big brother’s name.
Product: Asus Xonar U1
Author: Sean Kalinich
Category: Mainstream Audio
Reviewed on: March 16th 2008
Product cost: $89.99
Manufacturer: Asus
Spelling and Grammatical editor: John Aubrey, Jason Hambly
{mospagebreak title=Packaging and Accessories}
Packaging and Accessories:
As with the D2 the U1 has an unassuming blue and white box with the same “hide-and-seek” flap on the front covering up the goods. The difference here is that Asus has put the words “Audio Station” in large friendly letters on the front along with a picture of the U1. Although, even with the picture you still might not get what it does as the U1 is one of the most peculiar looking external sound cards I have ever seen ( I will talk about the aesthetics of the U1 a little later on). Once you have removed the outer cover, and open the plain black box beneath you will see all of the goodies that Asus has packed into the U1’s box.
Here is a list of the toys that you get when you purchase the U1.
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Bundled Software Utility |
Portable Music Processor Lite |
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Accessories |
1 x Optical S/PDIF adaptor cable |
Drivers for the Xonar work with both X86 and X64 systems making it an almost “turn-key” item.
{mospagebreak title=Features}
Features:
The Xonar U1 as with its bigger brother the D2 has a ton of audio features bundled into it.
Just a few software based features listed on Asus’ website are:
Operation System
Windows Vista (32-bit)
Windows Vista (64-bit)
Windows XP (32-bit)
Windows XP (64-bit)
Dolby® Technologies
Dolby® Headphone
Dolby® Virtual Speaker
Dolby® Pro-Logic IIx
Dolby® Digital Live
DirectSound3D Game Extensions 1.0/DirectX
DS3D GX 1.0 supports EAX gaming sound effects and DirectSound 3D hardware enhanced functions on Windows Vista. (DirectX/DirectSound 3D compatible)
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level and also enhances your 3D sound listening range and advantages in gaming
Magic Voice™
Modifies the sound of your voice, for VOIP and online chat applications
Karaoke Functions
Music Key-Shifting and Microphone Echo effects
Xear 3DTM Virtual Speaker Shifter
Virtual 7.1 speaker positioning
Array Microphone
Reducing environmental background sounds and noises; keeping your front side voice input as clean as possible
Other Effects
10-band Equalizer/27 Environment Effects
EAX 2.0 support
Now I am sure you noticed that I listed these as software features, what this means is that the U1 relies on the CPU to process the audio information in real-time. I know this sounds like it would have a huge impact on performance but in reality the amount of processing power in most modern CPUs is large enough that the audio overhead has almost no impact (see performance section below).
All of these items are controlled by the Xonar software which is very user friendly.
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As you can see from the screen shots above Asus has included a very nice Equalizer, this comes in hand when using non-powered speakers. With this tuning the Xoanr U1 is capable of making even "base-challenged" speakers sound good.
For volume control Asus has come up with a rather clever idea, the whole top of the U1 is the volume knob. This means that to turn up (or down) the volume all you have to do is twist the top.
to mute everything you simply have to push down on the top. While muted the light on the top turns red.
{mospagebreak title=Aesthetics}
Aesthetics:
The Xonar U1 looks like two cones stacked one on top of the other and with the top cone having its point cut off. When I first showed it to friends they had no clue as to what it was although the guesses were pretty entertaining including “it’s an air purifier?” Once we got past all of the questions and I ensured everyone that the Xonar U1 was indeed an external sound card the comments on its appearance were much more complimentary.
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Since appearance is a very subjective item I (as I have in the past) included opinions other than my own to make sure I give you a good idea of the visual impact of the U1.
The questions asked were:
On a scale of one to five how would you rate the Xonar U1 for appearance? (one being horrible and five being great)
On a scale of one to five how would you rate the Xonar U1 for “coolness”? (one being laughable and five being Very Cool)
I was surprised at the results:
Looks:
| 3.4 | |
| 4 | |
| 4.2 | |
| 4.4 | |
| 4.7 | |
| 3 | |
| 4.6 | |
| 4.7 | |
| Total | 4.125 |
"Coolness":
| 4 | |
| 4.2 | |
| 3.8 | |
| 4.3 | |
| 4.8 | |
| 4 | |
| 3.1 | |
| 4.4 | |
| Total | 4.075 |
{mospagebreak title=Performance}
Performance:
For anything audio related you have to include another subjective test, that is sound quality. It is a simple truth that not everyone likes the same sounds. What I might find pleasant or high quality the next person might think is akin to fingernails on a blackboard.
Again my circle of “volunteers” comes to the rescue of another evaluation.
As with the D2 I had the guinea pigs… um I mean volunteers listen to a few different types of sound (using both 2.1 speakers and SPDiF out) and rate each on a scale of one to five. I also asked for a single word to describe the sound.
The second part of sound performance is its actual impact on system performance, if you plug the U1 is it going to slow your gaming or movie watching down?
For this test I used a desktop system with fairly high-end parts to represent an average gaming rig. I used FRAPs to track actual “in-game” performance using the onboard sound CODEC and the U1.
I used the following games for my testing.
BioShock
HalfLife 2 Episode 2
Call of Duty 4
Test System:
AMD AM2 5000+ Black Edition
Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 RAM (2x2GB)
ATI/AMD Radeon HD2900 XT
Muskin 1.1KW PSU
2x Western Digital 10k RPM 74GB Raptors (Non RAID Legacy IDE)
Generic 16x DVD-ROM
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (x86 and x64 versions)
The sound CODEC on the MA79FX-DS5 is the ALC889A by Realtek. This offers some good features all on its own with DTS connect, Blu-Ray and HD full rate lossless audio, and 7.1+2 channel surround.
With 106db signal to noise ratio it will be stiff competition for the U1.
The results below are all based on individual listening. The subjects would listen to each without knowledge of what was processing the sound. I then asked for a number from one to five, with one being horrible and five being the best sound they have heard.
For gaming and Movies I used SPiDF out (I used an optical to coax converter as the speakers I was using did not allow for direct optical in) for all other sounds I used 2.1 speakers.
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| DVD |
3.2 | 3 | |
| 3 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 2.8 | ||
| 3.2 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | 3.1 | ||
| 4 | 3.1 | ||
| 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| 4 | 3.7 | ||
| Total | 3.5 | 3.15 |
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| CD | 4 | 2.6 | |
| 3 | 2.5 | ||
| 3.2 | 3 | ||
| 3.5 | 3 | ||
| 3.4 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | 3.1 | ||
| 3.2 | 3.4 | ||
| 4 | 3.2 | ||
| Total | 3.425 | 2.975 |
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| MP3s | 3 | 2.6 | |
| 3 | 2.7 | ||
| 3 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 3 | ||
| 3.25 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | 3.1 | ||
| 3.25 | 3.1 | ||
| 3.5 | 3.1 | ||
| Total | 3.1375 | 2.95 |
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| BioShock | 3.75 | 3 | |
| 3.4 | 3 | ||
| 3.5 | 2.8 | ||
| 4 | 2.9 | ||
| 3.2 | 2.9 | ||
| 3.3 | 3.1 | ||
| 3.25 | 3.25 | ||
| 3.1 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | ||
| Total | 3.46875 | 2.99375 |
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| HL2 | 3.25 | 3 | |
| 3.3 | 2.8 | ||
| 3.75 | 2.9 | ||
| 3.2 | 3 | ||
| 3.6 | 3.1 | ||
| 4 | 2.8 | ||
| 4 | 2.8 | ||
| 3.4 | 3 | ||
| Total | 3.5625 | 2.925 |
| U1 | ALC899A | ||
| COD4 | 3.4 | 3 | |
| 3.3 | 3 | ||
| 3.5 | 2.8 | ||
| 3.25 | 2.9 | ||
| 3.1 | 2.9 | ||
| 4 | 3.25 | ||
| 3.6 | 3 | ||
| 3.35 | 3.1 | ||
| Total | 3.4375 | 2.99375 |
As you can see from the results the U1 seems to be the clear winner on sound quality.
{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance}
Gaming performance:
While no External Sound adapter, that I know of, will ever replace an internal card for sheer performance the U1 did admirably well.
I was honestly expecting the U1 to run just behind the ALC889A (due to inherent latencies in the USB bus) but this was not the case. The U1 performed a little faster in all games except one. HalfLife 2 Episode 2 running in 64bit mode seemed to give the U1 some trouble where it lagged behind by a couple of frames per second but was still very playable even at 1920×1200.
The resolution and extras enabled on each game are shown below.
Call of Duty 4:
Resolution – 1920×1200
All "eye-candy" on.
| Max | Min | Ave | |||
| x86 | U1 | 78 | 31 | 51.171 | |
| ALC889A | 70 | 29 | 50.93 | ||
| x64 | U1 | 68 | 23 | 52.65 | |
| ALC889A | 69 | 29 | 51.054 |
HalfLife 2 Episode 2
Resolution – 1920×1200
All "eye-candy" on
4xAA 16xAF
| Max | Min | Ave | |||
| x86 | U1 | 98 | 29 | 56.023 | |
| ALC889A | 98 | 28 | 54.135 | ||
| x64 | U1 | 121 | 25 | 59.221 | |
| ALC889A | 120 | 24 | 60.661 |
BioShock:
Resolution – 1920×1200
All "eye-candy" on
DX10 and EAX sound on
| Max | Min | Ave | |||
| x86 | U1 | 68 | 19 | 37.064 | |
| ALC889A | 62 | 19 | 35.651 | ||
| x64 | U1 | 61 | 23 | 42.371 | |
| ALC889A | 61 | 23 | 41.79 |
{mospagebreak title=Price/Warranty}
Price/ Warranty:
The Xonar U1 will cost you roughly $90; not a bad price for the quality and performance you get and when you consider there is not another external sound card in its price range that offers optical SPDiF out (toslink) with USB 2.0 connectivity.
The warranty offered on the Xonar U1 from Asus is a little interesting; according to the Asus website all audio cards carry a three year limited warranty. They then go on to say that this applies to “most” territories and that you should contact your reseller to be certain.
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
When Asus entered the sound card market they knew they were going to be up against some serious competition. Creative Labs has dominated the market for so long that only truly great product would be able to keep pace. We saw this with the D2 and now we are seeing the same thing from the U1.
With an amazing ability to reproduce sound and stellar performance in a compact and good looking package the U1 looks like it will truly follow in its big brother’s footsteps when it comes to the external market and oust the current king.
If you are looking for an external card for your gaming and other audio needs the U1 is going to be your best bet.
For its great combination of price performance and audio excellence we are happy to give the Xonar U1 our Best on the Planet award.
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Discuss this review here
Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank Eric Chen at Asus for his help in getting this evaluation put together