Asus Xonar D2

In stark contrast to the colorful box of the Prelude 7.1, the Asus Xonar D2 is supplied in very minimalistic looking packaging. The front only has some minimal text, but it makes up for this with a long list of logos at the bottom, marking out all of the supported technologies. The back gives more information, but it is the inside of the (removable) front that has the most. You can also get a glimpse of the soundcard this way, noticing the EMI shield. While the package design might be minimalistic the contents are anything but. Just looking at all the provided cables will make audiophiles pass out from pleasure – 4 3.5mm-to-RCA cables, one optical toslink cable, 2 toslink adapters (for the SPDIF connectors), and a MIDI bracket and adapter (requires a separate installation slot) are all provided. The software side is not shabby either, with the driver CD (including a Portable Music processor utility which allows you to legally backup music).

First things first, we should discuss the EMI (electronic magnetic interference) shield installed on the device. This sci-fi looking shield prevents outside factors like static discharges from other components as well as magnetic interference from tampering with the audio signals the card is processing and sending out. It also makes the sound card look a lot better than Auzen’s offering, especially since ASUS used a black PCB (a favourite around these parts). Also worth noting are the Dolby Digital and DTS golden logos printed on the PCB, giving the card a highly stylish look.

The components on the PCB are all high quality, namely the Asus AV200 codec chip, the Burr-Brown PCM1796 123dB SNR digital to analog converter and a Cirrius Logic CS5381 analog to digital converter. Unlike the Prelude 7.1 this card doesn’t support front side audio connectors, so you’ll have to either use the motherboard integrated chipset for that or give up on the feature altogether.

Just like the Prelude 7.1 the Asus Xonar D2 has 8 connectors located on the side. The 6 3.5mm jacks are used for microphone and line-in as well as front, side, back and center/woofer output. The two SPDIF jacks can also be used for digital input/output thanks to the two supplied toslink converters. It is worth noting that the cards six 3.5mm jacks light up when the card is installed, each with its own specific colour (as a result the inside bottom of the case gets a nice rainbow colouring as well). This isn’t exactly a selling point of the card, but it does make inserting jacks a lot easier in badly lit conditions.

Feature wise the Xonar D2 puts the biggest emphasis on Dolby digital support. Regardless of how many speakers you intend to use the card offers some kind of surround sound. Dolby Digital "live" helps bring stereo and multichannel signals to Dolby Digital format, making them sound great on all ranges of systems. Dolby Pro Logic IIx “upscales” stereo or 5.1 signal to full 7.1 while the Dolby Virtual speaker technology does just the opposite. For people who use headphones there is the Dolby Headphone technology, which focuses on headphone surround effects. DTS technologies do much the same thing. Last but not least, the card supports EAX 2.0 environmental effects.