Asus Xonar Essence "One" USB DAC

Interesting, they talking price yet? This is a pretty crowded field, more so than internal sound cards, should be interesting to see what ASUS brings...
 
The Essence one is in the mail. I will post some pictures and thoughts when I get it.
 
I wonder if the volume knob alters the digital signal before it hits the actual DAC or if it simply limits the analog out. $550 is steep for what is basically just a ST(X) over USB. I wonder if it has the same headphone amp as their ST(X) sound cards.
 
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I remember seeing several pictures of the internals.

It is most definitely not the ST/X in a different enclosure. In fact, I would not consider them related at all.

This does not mean that it is worth its price tag, however, but it does appear to have a lot of kit under the hood, including an internal power supply, which the ST/X does not have.
 
TESLA said:
I remember seeing several pictures of the internals.

It is most definitely not the ST/X in a different enclosure. In fact, I would not consider them related at all.

This does not mean that it is worth its price tag, however, but it does appear to have a lot of kit under the hood, including an internal power supply, which the ST/X does not have.
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Well the ST/X get power from the PCI-E slot so...
 
I've been looking at it some more. It really doesn't seem related whatsoever. The ST/X only need the extra power for the headphone amp. If you just output with the line-outs or use some low-impedance headphones, I doubt you even need to connect the card to extra power.
 
SithSolo1 said:
Well the ST/X get power from the PCI-E slot so...
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This still increases the price significantly, and the power supply makes a good bit of difference in audio gear.

The insides even show a toroidal transformer, which is great to see, and certainly not a cheap part. This is a good first sign that some serious thought was put into the unit. (E.g. the power supply is not a simple power brick, it has some engineering behind it.)
 
Power supplies and the costs surrounding them for audio are WAY over-hyped. It's really not hard, expensive, or complicated to make a good DC power supply. All you need is a transformer, a rectifier, a filter (capacitor) and a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator is probably the part that needs the most focus applied to it.

When people get into AC power cords that cost anything more than the common type that comes with a computer, when they get these whacky line voltage regulators, and other snake oil crap, I laugh.

The parts that matter the most in an audio system are the one that is converting the mechanical sound into an electrical signal, and the one that is converting the electrical signal into a mechanical sound. These are areas where we still are fighting. Everything in between is basically perfect. I'd even go so far to say the device turning a signal into sound is flawed more than what is turning the sound into a signal. Microphones were mastered in the 60s. Speakers and headphones have always been evolving and still have tons of problems.
 
Who said anything about power cords, etc., haha.

We are talking about what goes into the enclosure itself, and it most certainly does make a difference (mostly talking about creating a pitch black noise floor here).

Toroidal transformers are often preferred as they tend to leak less interference than cheaper alternatives, and keeping capacitors away from the signal path and the quality of capacitors in the power supply is going to help protect the signal and give the unit more headroom.

I am not talking about $100 capacitors here. Even if the power supply costs $10-20 to make, that is going to add a good $15-30 minimum to end user costs. Also, I agree that you do not need hundreds of components on a PCB to make a good power supply, in fact, most of the time this is detrimental as keeping it simple tends to be the best way to go.

That said, component selection and not cutting corners is important; a good quality Japanese cap is going to beat out a cheap Chinese variant (for example and as a generalization). The PCB layout of the power supply, where you route the ground traces etc., is important in keeping noise out of the signal path as well.

For the unit to be competitive in the $500+ segment, it is going to need to bring some relatively small but necessary refinements over the ST/X, and diminishing returns do start to ramp up at this price level.

Plus, the power supply was just an example of what would increase the cost. Dual DACs, a USB chip, many different distinct signal paths, balanced operation, and all of the many, many opamps required to make this happen all add to the cost.

You also have an aluminium enclosure with knobs, pots, and the whole back panel to worry about. (XLR jacks, a fuse, IEC chassis, etc.).
 
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I would put a $300 price tag on it. Most DACs are expensive solely because of very low production numbers and just the general audiophile point of view that the more something costs the better it automatically it sounds. ASUS also has more resources to make something like this than most other DAC makers. I wish I wouldn't have just bought my STX. But I wanted a Little Dot MKV anyway for the weak headphone amp in the STX, so it would probably be pointless to invest anymore in a source.
 
The STX is a great audio card. The best I've ever owned and is a bargain at $200. But to think the Essence One that brings so much to the table for only $100 more is a bit silly.

An STX card weighs what, half a pound made up from a PCB, capacitors and chips? An Essence One weighs like 11 pounds, from the chassis to the high quality power supply, 11 opamps, to the aluminum plates and knobs etc.

Just the build cost of this thing I think is approaching $300, especially for the first run. I do think $550 is just a tad steep, but new products are always released for a premium. I do think $499 is well worth it though. I will soon find out.

Oh and a superb power supply does matter. Even with the STX's fancy grounding and shielding, I still hear noise and feedback in my speaker system. A sound card in a computer case is a very harsh environment, no matter how good you make a sound card.
 
Vega said:
Even with the STX's fancy grounding and shielding, I still hear noise and feedback in my speaker system. A sound card in a computer case is a very harsh environment, no matter how good you make a sound card.
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Then something is wrong with your computer or audio system...plain and simple. The inside of a computer case is only a harsh electrical environment when faulty components are inside of it. Could be a grounding issue between your computer and your speaker system. To generalize that a sound card is a bad design concept is such an illogical complaint.

Who cares how much something weighs? It has its own case, knobs, and a transformer made with iron. Weight isn't indicative of electrical quality over a totally different animal. Saying an external sound card/DAC is superior to an internal one, based on weight, is illogical.

There are plenty of people who take sound seriously who don't have these problems that a few people here and there have with noise. You need to troubleshoot the real problem instead of blaming something unrelated and saying it is an intrinsic property and just the nature of the "harsh environment" inside of a computer case.

There is no way it costs Asus anywhere near $300 to build one of these DACs. No DAC is truly worth its price. Most everything that is hype like this is overpriced just to get people to buy it for bragging rights, and they automatically think it is superior just as a psychological game to defend the ridiculous amount they just spent. Diminishing returns.
 
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imo, lots of stray square wave energy in a case no matter what...lots of misplaced hype in audiophile crap...both true
 
If there is rampant electromagnetic radiation, enough to be audible, in your computer case, there is a faulty component transmitting that.
 
Whatever, I have been able to image the noise from every computer I have ever had in the shack from across the room, ten years of computers, even built a custom case to help shield it but it radiates from every cable you plug into it...how hard are you listening?
 
Whoa tex, I never claimed the external DAC would or would not be affected.

I also never said I was listening at audio frequencies.

All I said is that computers are electrically noisy by their nature, a position I stand by.

To be fair, I can also hear my refrigerator motor, the transformer on the power pole outside, and many other noise sources in my receivers.
 
You don't hear a transformer or motor because of any electromagnetic radiation emitting from it, you hear it because the atoms of iron are forced to change direction, causing an audible vibration (magnetostriction). A motor you hear more so because of literal moving parts. It sounds like your receiver possibly has a crappy power supply and isn't filtering out noise from the grid properly, or it is simply picking it up from ground. What kind of age is the wiring in your house? If you've ever screwed around with vinyl, and used a pre-amp that was its own unit, you have to run a ground from the turntable to the pre-amp to the main speaker amplifier. Break one of those grounds and you have an open loop. A computer is not an intrinsic noisy device. There really should NOT be rampant RF flying around inside of it (not enough to be audible, anyway.) Just think of how a cell phone can interfere with audio, and just think of how much power that is transmitting, and is meant to through a tuned-length antenna, and how quiet the sound ends up being. What does noise matter if it is outside of the audible spectrum? It literally doesn't, because you won't hear it.
 
What noise does a transformer on a pole generate? You realize it would have to be pointing directly at your receiver to do even remotely do anything? I find this highly unlikely. You're just blowing smoke out of your ass.
 
loved my stx, as much as the "one" intrigues me, I don't think I will be changing out my current FiiO setup

would like to hear more from Vega as he always has great product reviews
 
Thread crapping like this is very unlikely to get your point across grim, I'm not saying I agree on all counts but yeah... I do think this is probably overpriced, but I'm still interested in it (and on Vega's opinion), take the general discussion on external USB DACs vs internal cards elsewhere imo.
 
Well, I got the "One" in today. Some initial thoughts:

Beautiful Asus packaging as always. This is one solid piece of equipment. Nice brushed aluminum. One disappointment though is that while the knobs are nice aluminum, the buttons are silver plastic. The power button seems to operate normally when it is in the "off" position, but when in the "on" position it seems to wiggle around and not be secure. Not sure if that is a design error, manufacturing error or assembly error. But it is definitely an error! The power button still functions though so it is more of a quality control issue.

I also noticed the power supply input on the back was on the 230v setting. In the box came two different power plugs. One each of the main type used in Europe and no North American plug. Not really a problem for me as I have a million power cords, but it shows that these North American units where likely diverted from Europe without that consideration.

Some more tests this weekend.
 
Good stuff! There was an unboxing on YouTube, and the kid mentioned the 115/230 volt switch, and how he was going to leave the sticker on there to remind him to switch it when he actually went to use it.
 
I really want one but I just can't part with the $600 right now.

Perhaps in the future.
 
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