Read All Asus XONAR_XENSE Product reviews
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Category: Personal Computers
Brand: Asus
Model: XONAR_XENSE
Availability: Online/In-Store
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Asus XONAR_XENSE Customer reviews
Asus XONAR_XENSE Review by William Culver
I had previously owned an Asus Xonar DG. When my headset/mic combo died, I decided it was time to try out the Xonar Xense.
The Xense comes with a Senneheiser PC-350 headset. The headset, simply put, is amazing. It's a closed, circumaural, headset and it sounds incredible. The mic swings out of the way, so it's not in the way when you're not using it. And the closed headphones give a wonderful and isolated experience, that won't bother those around you despite the volume your crank them up to. But you really don't get the most out of these headphones, unless your device has the power to push them. Don't get me wrong, they sound great no matter what you connect to them. However, you really only get the best out of these headphones when you hook them up to a nice receiver or a headphone amp, which is where the Xense comes in.
The Xense includes an onboard powered headphone amp. The nice thing about the amp is that that opamps are also replaceable. So, you've got the option to tweak your sound a little too. Together, the Xense and the PC-350 headset deliver some really impressive sound. Listening to some lossless music, FLAC or WMA 9.2 lossless, is simply amazing. I heard things (instruments, tones, etc) in my music that I'd never heard before. It is just simply amazing the difference a headphone amp can make when it comes to audio fidelity. The sound in gaming and in movies in incredible too.
All in all, if you've got the cash to spend, this set is a must have. For those of you that want to take the experience a little further, I recommend replacing the opamps that come installed on the soundcard with a pair of LME49720 opamps. The sound gets a little closer to the warmth and range you get from a tube amp. Or if you really want to take it over the top, and you've got more money than you really know what to do with, pick up an Asus Xonar Essence STX and set of PC-360's. Your wallet may hate you, but your ears will love you.
Asus XONAR_XENSE Review by Jpongin
Just thought I'd throw this out there about the Xonar Xense.
I just finished my build about 3 weeks ago, and the Xonar Xense is the component that I'm the most happy with - [...].
Unlike my other components, the card worked well beyond my expectations. I just wanted a decent gaming sound card, but then I ran into a review about a Sennheiser PC350 / Asus sound card combo, and really I purchased it because I thought it was a tremendous value - good headset with a sound card that probably sounds and works like any other gaming sound card right? WRONG!
As soon as I installed the software. I played Battlefield 3 for a good week to break in my rig, and the sound was crisp but not *amazing*. Once I completed tuning other parts of my rig, I fired up the Xonar Xense Audio Center to poke around. I selected GX DSP mode, FPS preset, and then selected the Sennheiser PC350 Headphone impedance "Xense" Edition, and WOW. Just wow. I'd go as far as saying that it took me to a whole other level of immersion with BF3. Everything, and I do mean *everything* immediately sounded magnitudes better. There was so much more depth and richness to every single aspect of the game.
And now I use the Xonar Xense (instead of my Bose and Macbook Pro) to listen to music while I work. It sounds that good. Some tracks I tried it on were:
Tron: Legacy Soundtrack
The Dark Knight - Aggressive Expansion
Inception - Time
The Might of Rome - Gladiator
Ashes To Ashes - Blackhawk Down
Hot Right Now - Bassnectar Remix
I'm Not Your Toy - Jack Beats Remix
The list goes on, but I'm extremely happy with the Asus Xonar Xense. In the end, I'd have to attribute this level of sound quality to the fact that Asus paired up software with hardware (soundcard + headset) to create and overall great product for an amazing price.
Asus XONAR_XENSE Review by Eric (Portland, OR, USA)
This card is made to do one thing very well: Audio. And this card sounds great!
I bought this card because I wanted something better than the onboard sound on my motherboard (for sound quality and overall system performance), and this card performs very well. It sounds absolutely great, especially when paired with speakers or headphones that can showcase the sound quality, such as the Sennheiser headset included with this card.
Pros:
The Windows drivers are stable and work well (I'm using Windows 7 64-bit). Also, the included utility for choosing speaker settings works well, letting you configure your speaker setup & sample rate on the fly.
Although not about the card itself, the included Sennheiser headset deserves a mention. The headset sounds much better than I ever expected from a pair of headphones, producing very rich, deep, and clear sound. While listening to music with this headset, there were some sounds that I hadn't noticed with other headphones. Also, when the Dolby feature is enabled in the Asus audio application, the sound seems to truly surround me, like I'm in a sound stage perfectly designed for acoustics. The combination of this headset with this sound card makes for some great audio. The microphone on the headset works well with this card too - I often voice chat with friends online, and the microphone on this headset sounds great. The microphone might be a bit sensitive though, as it picks up my breathing too, which I could see being somewhat annoying to people listening to me.
Cons:
For a sound card, I feel like the price is a bit high. This is the most expensive audio card product I've seen on the market. Perhaps that's due to the included headset though - After doing an online search, similar Sennheiser headsets often sell in the range of $100-$200 by themselves, which I think actually makes this Asus product a fairly good value. However, I think it would be nice if Asus also sold this card without the headset so that the cost could be reduced.
Other Thoughts:
Unlike some other sound cards, this card doesn't have any MIDI support - It doesn't have a built-in hardware MIDI synthesizer built in, nor does it include any midi I/O ports. As someone who likes to create & record music, I was a bit disappointed by this at first. One reason I wanted to buy a sound card was to have hardware-based functionality so that my CPU isn't taxed. However, computers these days are plenty powerful enough to handle MIDI, and many MIDI production programs these days use their own software MIDI synthesizers and use ASIO drivers, which seems to work well.
When changing the speaker output (i.e., from main speaker output to headphones), there is an audible click from the sound card, as if a physical switch is being changed. I'm not sure what this is, but I thought it was interesting..
More Reviews...
Asus Xonar Xense Premium Gaming Audio Set (Acoustics Powered by Sennheiser):: Technical Details
- Audio Chipset: ASUS AV100; Channels: 7.1; Sample Rate: 192 KHz; Digital Audio: 24-bit; SNR: 118dB
- Ports: SPDIF Out: Yes
- Interface: PCI ExpressX1
- Item Dimensions: 13 x 10 x 4 inches; 3 pounds
- Brand: Asus
- Model: XONAR_XENSE
- Product Type: Personal Computers
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