ASUS Xonar D2 Sound Card Review

“ASUS makes sound cards?” That would probably be the first thing on many people’s minds if they were to see the Xonar on store shelves. But think again – ASUS is an I.T. company specialising in computer hardware, so why not sound cards?

Although the forte of Singaporean firm Creative Labs for nearly 20 years since the Sound Blaster 1.0 came out in 1989, many other companies have tried to challenge its dominance but failed. However, the greatest challenge isn’t from another sound card maker, but from Intel’s integrated audio solution.

The Xonar comes with impressive specifications: input/output SnR (signal to noise) ratio of 118db, frequency response of <10hz>

Software-wise, the Xonar D2 Audio Centre allows users full control of their audio hardware, be it a 2.1 or 7.1 setup. The interface is well laid-out and anyone who has tinkered with Intel’s, Creative’s or even Realtek’s audio configuration software should feel right at home.

The Xonar D2 performed extremely well when paired with the speakers we had in our test labs this month. However, as one would expect, a sound card will only sound as good as the speakers. But we daresay that this card will definitely not disappoint any audiophile out there. Whether gaming (the Xonar supports EAX 2.0), movies (with Dolby/DTS decoding) or listening to music (classical, jazz, pop, you name it), this card will give Creative’s top-of-the-range Xi-Fi cards a run for its money.