ASUS Xonar Xense Audio Bundle reviewed, deemed very good (and very pricey)
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted June 2nd 2010 3:14PM
posted June 2nd 2010 3:14PM
ASUS has made quite a few admirers with its Xonar high-end sound card line over the years, and it looks like the new Xonar Xense Audio Bundle is another feather in its cap. Essentially a Xonar Xense card with a pair of Sennheiser PC 350 headphones thrown in for good measure, this bad boy features two 1/4-inch jacks (one for headphones, one for a mic), coax S/PDIF output, and 3.1 surround sound. TweakTown is in love with the thing, calling it "a best of both worlds realization that has been the culmination of many months and over a thousand different combinations of equipment" with "real world performance rivaling a thousand dollar hi-fi system." But not so fast! Bit-tech, was a little more reserved, saying that even if the specs and sound quality are "enough to satisfy the keenest hi-fi enthusiast," the headphones aren't particularly impressive -- and certainly not enough to justify spending £275 (that's like $400!) while the Essence STX can be found for half that. But that's not the whole story, not by a long-shot: check out the source links for all the essential details.
Asus still has not licensed EAX...
But I love my Xonar Essence...
@kapanak Who cares? EAX is dead.
@j3ff
Most games still use EAX through OpenAL, and it makes a massive difference.
What's the best soundcard for recording?
I've got a mixer I just need to know if anyone knows the best setup for recording guitar using micing not computer effects.
@Tiptup300
That's a very difficult question to answer.
If you want PCI you can buy these ones from M-Audio, they are cheap and good:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces
If you want USB you can try these ones:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=USBinterfaces
But you can buy a something like this, but it is very expensive:
http://www.avid.com/US/products/family/Pro-Tools/Pro-Tools-LE/fc/Pro-Tools-LE-Systems/003-Family
@Tiptup300
Huge choice... depends whether you want an internal card, or an external (USB or firewire) interface. There are also a lot of other less easy-to-explain combinations, such as having standalone preamps and AD converters feeding into a soundcard via ADAT, MADI, etc. Then of course you've got the proprietary systems like Pro Tools HD.
I have a Motu 896 which is towards the top end of the firewire interfaces, beaten only by the likes of the RME FF800, etc.
If you already have a mixer with direct outputs, a system without mic-preamps might be a more economical solution. On the cheaper end, take a look at the old-but-still-a-good-option M-audio 1010 (the one with the breakout box, not the cheaper LT version) which has 8 channels of input and output on 1/4" jacks if I remember correctly. If you want to spend a bit more and then maybe something like a Motu 24i/o (with the PCI-424 card), which would also give you way more inputs.
Really depends on what you currently have in terms of mixer and mics, what you are aiming for, and how much you have to spend.
And as with everything like this, gear only gets you so far... a lot of the results come down to recording and mixing technique.
What's up with the Flash ads preventing me from reading the article?
@hansl
not using ABP?
@elduderino I think I'm going to un-whitelist engadget :( I always try to help sites that help me (reddit, joystiq, ...). I guess they had it coming.
Eewww @ Sennheiser.
@FaceOfGenius Ewwww at namebrand? Really?
Even if you weren't poo-pooing it because it was name brand, it's not like Grado, Klipsch, or Koss make a good headset for gaming. Who else are you going to go with? AT, Shure, and Ety, which are all on par with Sehn.
Sehn != Sony
I love my Xonar DX. If they bundled HD 555's with this card, it would have been worth it. Besides, USB microphones are the way to go for things like in-game audio, TS3, Vent, Skype, etc.
I know the haters (hipsters) will tear me apart for mentioning name brands, but I needed a good sound card for my Razer Mako speakers. Those things sound incredible, for their price. The very clear bass is particularly worth mentioning, but the sound is distorted if I turn application sounds and the sound card's volume to 100% and leave the speakers at 30%. To get the most clear output, I leave application volume at 100%, the sound card's volume at 80% and the speakers at about 50%. Not much of an issue, but it deserves to be mentioned.
@Smurf
I have the same speakers, and they are amazing. Space constrains and price doesn't allow me to get a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, and the Mako is simply the best 2.1 system, perhaps on par with a lot of 3.1 and 5.1 systems out there. I use Xonar Essence, and there is no longer any distortion at all at max volume. Even with on-board sound, you still get much less distortion than regular speakers...
@Smurf
Sorry buddy but you just lost all legitimacy by saying a cheap ass usb mic is better than the infinitely more rich line-in found on your Xonar.
Wow...$400.... its as much as a nice sound card and headphones or speaker system.
@razor02097 Nah don't worry, for the you guys in America you get it for the discount price of $275!
Love my Xonar D2X, hate the lack of driver updates and inability to play games in emulated EAX without frequent crashes and instability.
In this case, I'd rather buy an Essence and my own choice of headphones for less/the same amount of $.
I remember a trade show in the U.K. several years ago, whereby the high-and-mighty review team from a top-flight Hi-Fi magazine were bundled into a soundbooth and subjected to 3 pieces of music played back from several sources CD, DAT, DCC (yep) Minidisc and reel-to-reel.
These were played back in a blindfold test on a $100 sound system, a $500 sound system, a £3000 amp and speaker set and a $100,000 pre-amp, amp and speaker set.
Could the discerning ears tell the difference ?
No, not a chance in hell.
As for the Xonar Xense, I'd like to see the "thousand different combinations of equipment" that resulted in the gushing synopsis above !!
@Threlly For PCs its a little different, there is a hell of a lot of interference from the other components. If you have onboard sound you can test it out for yourself, plug in some headphones and start-up an application or game, turn all sound down but the headphones up and wiggle the mouse. You should be able to hear your mouse movement through the headphones. A good soundcard aims to increase sound quality by removing the inherent imperfections of onboard audio. It just so happens that now we are pushing the envelope with higher quality enthusiast components.
@RampantNinja the difference between a cheap onboard solution and even the cheaper dedicated cards are night and day; the difference between the cheaper cards and something like this, much less so.
Hmmm might have caught my interest if there was HDMI output with DTS HDMA/D True HD
so is this the same as the essence st/x, but with headphones?
If so no thanks....
I really like that companies are still making sound cards even though 99% of people are using built-in onboard sound. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way either. So that's the hottest bang for your buck soundcard right now? Is it the Essence?
http://homestarrunner.com/aprilfool10.html
Just saying.