Conclusion
ASUS really hit the sweet spot with the Xonar DG. There’s great quality audio, a ton of features in the Audio Center, along with extras like built in S/PDIF and a low profile bracket. Regardless what you’re doing, playing games, listening to music, or watching a movie, the Xonar DG will keep your ears quite happy. The only negative is that the S/PDIF optical output will only produce 2 channel sound, which could be a deal breaker for some people. Although at the price of $34.99 at my favorite online retailer (or $24.99 after mail-in rebate). I highly recommend the Xonar DG to anyone looking for a significant boost in sound quality without hurting their wallet. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ASUS Xonar DG Sound Card a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
- Great quality audio at an even better price
- Headphone amp provides clear and balanced sound for headphone users
- The Xonar DG Audio Center is packed with useful features
- Built in S/PDIF output
- Low profile bracket included for HTPC’s
Cons:
- S/PDIF optical out only supports 2 channel PCM
I think that it’s unfortunate that after over a year, Asus has not even addressed that the FP audio always kicks in after hibernate or a reboot even if you don’t have anything plugged in at the front. 3 pages of detailed information about the errors and issues and it has no Asus employee monitoring the forum.
Your review omits the critical issue that every time you start or restart windows you must manually open their application to manually reset Xonar from the unused Front Panel to the plugged in (but ignored) back panel. Other than looking at the free toy they gave you, did you even try it? It’s been over a year and people still have not gotten an explanation or a work around for this issue… Asus should go back to making half decent motherboards
I used the card for about 3.5 weeks. I never experienced the problem you’ve described, which is why it isn’t in the review.