ASUS XONAR ONE MUSES

[Seafire]

Hi I'm new to this wonderful forum. Some amazing information here.
I have various DAC'S and in my system ( large floorstanding speakers and Monoblock amps, the Asus is still one of my favourite Dacs.
Are there any tests or reviews here for any of the Asus Xonar One dacs.
The one thing I can say is after a certain review I started using the XLR output and the Asus started singing like a Canary. This DAC was designed to sound it's best through the Balanced outputs then using all 4 I/v's and full pairs of the BB dac chips
Thank you in advance

 

[JohnYang1997]

https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac

 

[Julf]

The one thing I can say is after a certain review I started using the XLR output and the Asus started singing like a Canary.

Almost like it was 6 dB louder?

 

[JohnYang1997]

One thing I can say for sure is the muses 02 opamp has the worst performance out of all the available ones came with the dac.

 

[wadec22]

Hi I'm new to this wonderful forum. Some amazing information here.
I have various DAC'S and in my system ( large floorstanding speakers and Monoblock amps, the Asus is still one of my favourite Dacs.
Are there any tests or reviews here for any of the Asus Xonar One dacs.
The one thing I can say is after a certain review I started using the XLR output and the Asus started singing like a Canary. This DAC was designed to sound it's best through the Balanced outputs then using all 4 I/v's and full pairs of the BB dac chips
Thank you in advance

google archimiago's blog. he's put the thing through the ringer on a number of different occasions - including the original and muses opamps. it's a capable but not special DAC. Keep in mind a lot has moved forward since it's release. At the time that came out, the benchmark dac 1 was considered the pinnacle of clean measurements for affordable consumer class. that unit is pretty easily bested today and for not a lot of money.

 

[Julf]

google archimiago's blog.

MEASUREMENTS: ASUS Xonar Essence One DSD Upgrade (Part II: NJR MUSES 02 "Audio Opamp Rolling")

 

[Seafire]

Almost like it was 6 dB louder?

Nope not the issue. Even output level matched the balanced sounds way better. If you examine this Dac's design layout carefully, the two pairs of Dac chips play in dual mono when used in XLR circuit ,as well as IV / low pass and the opamps that drive the XLRS. This is not the case on single ended (rca) and headphone amp.
So only by using the XLR outs is this Dac using it's full potential and sounds completely different (as in much much better).
Then pop in x 4 muses 01 or my favourite TI 2604 and swap the 2 opamps from headphone out onto the XLR. Sounds much better than Benchmark one and Schiit Uber 2.
Now the problem is all the tests I seen, have been on the RCA out. So that does not even remotely test how good this DAC actually is That is why I'm asking for someone to test it as above

 

[JohnYang1997]

Nope not the issue. Even output level matched the balanced sounds way better. If you examine this Dac's design layout carefully, the two pairs of Dac chips play in dual mono when used in XLR circuit ,as well as IV / low pass and the opamps that drive the XLRS. This is not the case on single ended (rca) and headphone amp.
So only by using the XLR outs is this Dac using it's full potential and sounds completely different (as in much much better).
Then pop in x 4 muses 01 or my favourite TI 2604 the 2 opamps from headphone out on the XLR. Sounds much better than Benchmark one and Schiit Uber 2.
No the problem is all tests I see have been on the RCA out. That is why I'm asking for someone to test it as above

No matter what you have or what settings you use. "way better" just doesn't exist.

 

[Seafire]

No matter what you have or what settings you use. "way better" just doesn't exist.

Geewiz JohnYang ! That is a bit of a blanket statement. Go do the A/B of the 2 different setups and hear for yourself

 

[Seafire]

 

[Seafire]

Would really like to hear why you say what you say ??

 

[JohnYang1997]

Geewiz JohnYang ! That is a bit of a blanket statement. Go do the A/B of the 2 different setups and hear for yourself

Ask other members on this forum. And see how they react. This is audio science review forum. Not some subjective bs forum. Again, there is no such thing in this setup as "way better".

 

[BillG]

Would really like to hear why you say what you say ??

Because of this, which someone already provided for you: https://archimago.blogspot.com/2016/01/measurements-asus-xonar-essence-one-dsd.html

If your A/B test was sighted, we're not going to take it seriously...

 

[Seafire]

Ask other members on this forum. And see how they react. This is audio science review forum. Not some subjective bs forum. Again, there is no such thing in this setup as "way better".

So get the ball rolling and test it like I suggested and lets see the result. Surely someone on this forum can help us with that.
I am not one who listens to my music through test rigs . I first listen with my ears, then confirm the scientific part if it sounds better.
I will state this. Who can help me with this test will find the following:
Improved dynamic range, SNR , crosstalk , because DAC is now running balanced dual mono from input to output . The only one I'm not so sure about is THD , because it may to be small

 

[JohnYang1997]

So get the ball rolling and test it like I suggested and lets see the result. Surely someone on this forum can help us with that.
I am not one who listens to my music through test rigs . I first listen with my ears, then confirm the scientific part if it sounds better.
I will state this. Who can help me with this test will find the following:
Improved dynamic range, SNR , crosstalk , because DAC is now running balanced dual mono from input to output . The only one I'm not so sure about is THD , because it may to be small

Ok. Then do a properly controlled double blind test. After that we can discuss why that happens.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm not like most of the members here. I am not against hearing small difference between dacs, amps or even cables. But nothing is remotely great. Only subtle to minimal to inaudible. All the difference you hear sighted will very much vanish when going blind testing.

 

[Julf]

Nope not the issue. Even output level matched the balanced sounds way better.

How did you match the levels? Was the listening blind or sighted? A/B or serial (relying on auditory memory)?

 

[Seafire]

How did you match the levels? Was the listening blind or sighted? A/B or serial (relying on auditory memory)?

Ok Guys. This is quickly becoming off track. I discovered this site because I was looking for honest scientific testing of audio equipment (in my case dacs). That is why I am here !
So to answer your question , the test was blind with my wife doing A/B switching with x 2 Asus dacs ,one std rca out ,other with XLR out and me and 3 friends listening.
@ JohnYang. The difference may not be so great , but it sounds like a different Dac. ie you can hear the difference and it is an improvement. After all there is very little difference between some dacs costing twice the price.
So to sum up, the difference was audible enough (improvement) that I came hear hoping that someone could scientifically confirm that it's not all in the mind.
Thank you in advance

 

[Julf]

I discovered this site because I was looking for honest scientific testing of audio equipment (in my case dacs). That is why I am here !

Then you should welcome attempts at a semblance of scientific rigor.

So to answer your question , the test was blind with my wife doing A/B switching with x 2 Asus dacs ,one std rca out ,other with XLR out and me and 3 friends listening.

So blind but not double-blind? Ever heard of Clever Hans?

How did you match levels? Was the switching instantaneous (using a switch), or did the switchover take time?

So to sum up, the difference was audible enough (improvement) that I came hear hoping that someone could scientifically confirm that it's not all in the mind.

That is exactly what we are trying to do.

 

[Seafire]

Then you should welcome attempts at a semblance of scientific rigor.



So blind but not double-blind? Ever heard of Clever Hans?

How did you match levels? Was the switching instantaneous (using a switch), or did the switchover take time?



That is exactly what we are trying to do.

Ok levels were matched as follows:
1khz sine generator input to both dacs from win 7 pc using J RIVER running Bit Perfect Asio. On Dac's Rca out was measured with dimm @ 1.85 v , on the second unit (xlr) I had to turn the dac main volume down from about 3 volt to 1.85 v. I was not happy as I think that actually counts against the XLR that we found better.
Switching was done through Denon pre amp using CD and AUX. Output. Both mono block amplifiers were also confirmed line level matched at speakers using Dimm.
A/B switching is done immediately with blanket over both Dac's and preamp.
After about 15 minutes of testing I felt "Hans had become to clever" as a pattern emerged where xlr always wins. Did a coffee break for an hour and resumed asking my wife to switch randomly before we entered the room to resume listening.
All above was done 1 week later again with friends music choices .
The Asus Dac with XLR ( now with TI 2604 OPAMPS and swapping the headphone opamps to XLR (have to look them up on my notes to see what they were) .The difference between single ended Asus muses and XLR asus became even more defined
Sorry I nearly forgot, we also changed Dac inputs around between Aux and Cd to confirm the results.
I would really love for someone to test this Dac in full XLR mode