Asus Xonar Essence One, next month.

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Soldato
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Just had an email from ASUSTek UK Regarding the Asus Xonar Essence "One" :) thought i'd let the community know.

Dear Ross

It is expected to be available the start of September, and is estimated at 269.99 Inc VAT

It will immediately be available from www.*someone that isn't overclockers*.co.uk

Kindest Regards,

ASUSTeK UK
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Expensive, but to be expected of such a product.

If you've missed it so far, here it is.
http://www.guru3d.com/news/asus-launches-xonar-essence-one-with-headphone-amplifier/

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Hi-Fi audio achieved with the world’s first 8x symmetrical upsampling technology
While common upsampling USB DACs indistinguishably transfer various audio sources to 192kHz, the Xonar Essence One upsamples 44.1/88.2/176.4kHz input to 352.8kHz and 48/96/192kHz input to 384kHz symmetrically (Note: 44.1*8=352.8kHz; 48*8=384kHz). As a result, data volume is also increased by upsampling the bit-rate to 32bit, corresponding to the original content and faithfully preserving the details of the user’s music collection.

Extreme audio clarity with 120dB SNR and a dedicated power supply
The average SNR, of other USB DACs is about 110dB, but with an extremely high 120dB SNR, the Xonar Essence One provides audiophiles with clearer sounds, enabling minute sound details to be heard while significantly reducing noise levels. A dedicated power supply ensures that clean power is delivered so the sharpest sound is heard, with excellent immunity to noise from the AC line.
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Thanks for sharing that mate,

Will this allow multi-channel analog-out like the Essence ST + H6 daughter-board?
Is it just an EssenceST in an external form, or are there some big architectural improvements?
 
Looking at the picture, it is plain to see, there are no multi channel analogue outputs.

I think we will have to wait for reviews, to see if there are any sound improvements. The only improvement might that being external, there is no risk of EMI interfernce, and the Essence having it's own PSU. If the audio hardware is the same, any sound improvement may be very hard for the average joe to discern.
 
jalyst said:
Thanks for sharing that mate,

Will this allow multi-channel analog-out like the Essence ST + H6 daughter-board?
Is it just an EssenceST in an external form, or are there some big architectural improvements?
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No problem :)

Nope, there is no multichannel out at all. This is basically Asus's answer to the high quality external stereo DAC & Headphone amplifier. If you want more channels then i suggest you stick with the STX for multiple channels over digital connection or the ST + H6 daughter card for multiple channels through analogue connection.
 
Marsman said:
Looking at the picture, it is plain to see, there are no multi channel analogue outputs.

I think we will have to wait for reviews, to see if there are any sound improvements. The only improvement might that being external, there is no risk of EMI interfernce, and the Essence having it's own PSU. If the audio hardware is the same, any sound improvement may be very hard for the average joe to discern.
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EMI isn't much of a problem for the STX but this really makes sure.
It's external, easier to use. Select sampling rates with a knob, including 32bit upsample.

Who can find out whether Overclockers will get this in and when? I have a basket over £1000 and this will go on top of that too, i had planned to buy in the next 2 weeks but wil wait if they get this in.
 
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Will they? It's a specialist product to a point. The Essence One is a product for music enthusiasts really. Yes there are people who shop at OcUK who will buy this, but do we expect them to stock the Essence ONE, because it is made by Asus? If they are going to stock this, why not higher budget end monitor speakers? Why not £100+ headphones? Plasma/LCD TV's?

Plenty of people who have bought their PC's from OCUK, have monitor speakers, £100+ headphones, big Plasma/LCD TV's connected to their PC. They sell the Edifier's because of the great price. Would they stock them if they were £150-£200?

I think the Essence One is too costly for the majority, and offers little to nothing extra over an Essence ST/STX that will benefit people for gaming. Those who want such a product as the Essence One, will likely be looking at audio specialists sites/stores.
 
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Rossi~ said:
No problem :)

Nope, there is no multichannel out at all. This is basically Asus's answer to the high quality external stereo DAC & Headphone amplifier. If you want more channels then i suggest you stick with the STX for multiple channels over digital connection or the ST + H6 daughter card for multiple channels through analogue connection.
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ST also does digital. And by all accounts is actually slightly better performing than STX.

IIRC it's something to do with the PCIe to PCI bridge chip it uses = less jitter.
I can't recall exactly off-the-top-of-my-head...

It was compared closely to the STX, & there was on observable real-world diff, albeit very minimal.
Think it was done over at head-fi IIRC...

But that wasn't the reason I got it....
I had a spare PCI slot I wanted to use (limited slots), plus I wanted the option of 7.1 analogue-out.
 
Looks like a balanced DAC for about £150 less than the competition, nice!

Would be extremely interested to hear it compared to the Riga DAC for example.
 
jalyst said:
ST also does digital. And by all accounts is actually slightly better performing than STX.

IIRC it's something to do with the PCIe to PCI bridge chip it uses = less jitter.
I can't recall exactly off-the-top-of-my-head...

It was compared closely to the STX, & there was on observable real-world diff, albeit very minimal.
Think it was done over at head-fi IIRC...

But that wasn't the reason I got it....
I had a spare PCI slot I wanted to use (limited slots), plus I wanted the option of 7.1 analogue-out.
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Ah yes of course the ST does digital as well :)
As for the "Jitter" and performance, absolute crap. There is nothing of the sort, i went from the ST to STX and there is literally no difference. All the talk on "jitter" was made up because people think the bridge being an additional chip to the equation would cause this, it doesn't. Unless of course you use equipment to show you visually then maybe yes, but such a difference that could change from one environment to the next.
I sold the ST and H because i couldn't use the PCI slot properly with the graphics card in the way, PCI-E made more sense.
 
Rossi~ said:
As for the "Jitter" and performance, absolute crap. There is nothing of the sort, i went from the ST to STX and there is literally no difference. All the talk on "jitter" was made up because people think the bridge being an additional chip to the equation would cause this, it doesn't.
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It was done well, try digging it up. It def. wasn't "crap" AIR.
Think it was tucked-away somewhere in the massive STX thread.
But it was quite inconsequential for most sources. Def. wasn't "made up".

You seem to think the bridge chip's on the STX? It's actually on the ST.
And the bridge doesn't cause jitter. It's what was postulated as limiting it AIR.
Which all such devices suffer to some extent...

This is why it was argued as slightly better AIR, but it may've been for totally diff. reason.
All so long ago....
Any this is all way OT for this thread, sorry for bringing it up! :)

I sold the ST and H because i couldn't use the PCI slot properly with the graphics card in the way, PCI-E made more sense.
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Yeah that's the big downer when wanting to use the H6.
I'm in the midst of modding the back plate of my silverstone CW02B.
I'll be mounting it well out of the way of all other cards etc.
 
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Yes that's right, the ST used a PCI to PCIe bridge chip.
It's native circuitry is actually PCIe, hence the need for a bridge chip.
It was odd at the time...
No one could quite understand why convert it to PCI, & not just keep it PCIe.
 
The STX has the chip though, not the ST. The ST doesn't have any bridge chip at all, you can see by the pictures.
You're confusing me.
 
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Looks like a very neat looking DAC with a strong set of features. The headphone amp is also a welcome addition on an external DAC at this price. I have an Essence STX and absolutely love the sound it delivers, so i'd imagine this provides an equally high quality. I even prefer my Xonar Essence STX to my now unused Cambridge Audio DacMagic, and its at least on par, sound quality wise, with my hi-fi's Arcam rDac. The price suggested above for the Xonar Essence One fits it firmly inbetween the DacMagic and rDAC, so maybe these two will finally have a bit of solid competition.
 
Asus idiots thats all i will say... I waited ages on this for a ETA and then i notice this post stating September :( I just bought the Xonar ST like 3 days ago :mad: Where is the proper publicity?!!

Im going to have to pack this up and send it back i guess as i was dreaming of being able to for once use quality headphones with blu-rays on my PS3.



The only way i can see this being possible is to set the PS3 to LPCM or 2 channel DTS-MA Dolby HD then attach toslink/SPDIF from ps3 to the Essence one and then simply plug my headphones in and enjoy.

Im guessing i can handle 2 channel lossless via SPDIF ok? I know the max stream is only 1.5MB via SPDIF so can you use USB via the ps3 or something for more bandwidth? If anyone else has any idea about how to get the full lossless experience into headphones that require an AMP please do let us know as i would imagine i would need a LOT more than 1.5mbs to hear proper lossless audio via headphones.I would imagine more like 15mb/s if it takes around 35mb for a 5.1 stream in DTS-MA.



Another question also if i DID buy it for the above reasons how would it stack up for gaming sessions when i need it as well? it has no software so how is it going to handle games and such? it is just going to simply pass bit perfect 48khz to the headphones and be done with it? I dont even use the D3X thingy on the xonar now anyways i find the sound splendid with hi-fi mode for un altered sound.
 
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I just realised if they would have added a HDMI slot i could have banished the worries i had in the above post and got the full 40mb audio tracks coming down from the PS3 via HDMI into the Xonar essence one then into my headphones!

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Rofflay said:
I just realised if they would have added a HDMI slot i could have banished the worries i had in the above post and got the full 40mb audio tracks coming down from the PS3 via HDMI into the Xonar essence one then into my headphones!

><
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it would be a pretty strange decision to add DTS:MA / TrueHD decoding to a 2 channel headphone amp, no?
 
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