ASUS Decided to start making sound cards since the soundcard market was being dominated by creative and their X-FI line. With the new ASUS line of PCI-E soundcards, it makes it a good market for ASUS to start to dominate in, since there is little competition. With the ASUS D2X is being marketed as a Home Theater sound card along with its gaming flavor. In this review of the ASUS D2X we will put it to the test with gaming to Home Theater use.
Special thanks to ASUS for providing us with the Xonar DX2 Sound Card to review.
Specifications
| Audio Performance | Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): Up to 118 dB Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): Output Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted): Input Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted) : Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ): Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage Sample Rate Conversion Quality |
| Main Chipset | Audio Processor ASUS AV200 High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192KHz/24bit) 24-bit D-A Converter of Digital Sources: 24-bit A-D Converter for Analog Inputs: |
| Sample Rate and Resolution | Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution 44.1K/48K/96K/192KHz @ 16/24bit Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution S/PDIF Digital Output S/PDIF Digital Input ASIO 2.0 Driver Support: |
| I/O Ports | Analog Output Jack: 3.50mm mini jack *4 (Front/Side/Center-Subwoofer/Back) Analog Input Jack: Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner): Digital S/PDIF Output Digital S/PDIF Input MIDI Ports |
| Driver Features | Operation System Windows Vista/XP(32/64bit)/MCE2005 Dolby® Digital Live Dolby® Headphone Dolby® Virtual Speaker Dolby® Pro-Logic IIx DTS® Connect Technologies DirectSound3D Game EXtensions 1.0 (DS3D GX) Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) Smart Volume NormalizerTM Magic VoiceTM Karaoke Functions FlexBass™ Xear 3D™ Virtual Speaker Shifter Other Effects 3D Gaming Sound Engines/APIs |
| Bundled Software Utility | Portable Music Processor utility Converts digital music content or CD audio into regular MP3/WMA files with Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker (w/ Pro-Logic II), and Smart Volume Normalization processing (Windows Media Player 10 or above is required) Professional Audio Creation and Editing Utility PowerDVD 7.0 MCE Software Kit RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.0.5 |
| Accessories | Additional MIDI bracket and adaptor cable *1 S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adaptors *2 S/PDIF TOSLINK optical cable *1 Four 3.5mm-to-RCA cables for 8 channel output *4 Dolby Demo CD *1 |
Packaging
While taking a look at the ASUS Xonar D2X box, the front of the box has listed all the features that are included with the card. On the back of the box they have the basic info about the soundcard listed in thirteen different languages.
When you open the box you see the soundcard itself. The inside of the box also includes a detailed description of the features that are listed on the front. On the right hand side of the box when opened has a detailed list and description of the software that is included.
The Xonar D2X is enclosed in your standard plastic boxing, which also includes the other parts for the sound card. Included with the soundcard inside the packaging are SPDIF Cable, and four headphone to RCA cables with a dual MIDI cable, along with two Optical adapters for the SPDIF Cable. The software that is included is, Albeton Live 6 lite, Cakewalk Prodduction Plus Along with PowerDvD 7, driver DvD and a Dolby Digital Demo CD.
