EVGA NU Audio Pro Review (Internal Sound Card)

[JohnYang1997]

Audio Note tested Op-amp https://forums.evga.com/EVGA-NU-Audio-Pro-Certified-Opamp-Rolling-List-m3027421.aspx

OPA1612 SINAD=111!!! link to measurements at the end of 1 post

Just looked at all measurements. Cheap and good LM4562 does the job.

 

[bennetng]

Audio Note tested Op-amp https://forums.evga.com/EVGA-NU-Audio-Pro-Certified-Opamp-Rolling-List-m3027421.aspx

OPA1612 SINAD=111!!! link to measurements at the end of 1 post

AE-5 with ES9016k2m shows this result so I think 111dB SINAD is quite possible with this EVGA card, should it be related to op amp or not.

 

[somebodyelse]

Just looked at all measurements. Cheap and good LM4562 does the job.

And the humble 5532 isn't far behind.

 

[JohnYang1997]

And the humble 5532 isn't far behind.

The LM833 is surprising good too.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I think the list of parts not to use would be shorter. The AD8056 it ships with is one of the poorer choices, though AD826 and LM6172 would be even worse (I think all of these are high-speed / video opamps not specifically optimized for audio use), Burson V6 Classic is off the charts bad, and LT1364 is so-so if still better than TLE2072 (which is a bit noisy and I suspect showing some common-mode distortion as expected for a JFET input part). OPA1652 does surprisingly poorly if still at a high level (the spray of high-order harmonics is a bit disconcerting, 1662 does this better), while OPA1642 does well along with OPA1612, as does the trusty OPA2134 interestingly (if a bit hampered by its noise floor). LM4562/LME49720 doing well is not a surprise.

That said, even the old NJM4565 does quite decently still (a bit more noise and distortion than NE5532, about as much noise as the stock AD8056). You could probably drop in a '4580 and be 99% there. Unsurprisingly, a very common part on semi-pro soundcards once upon a time (since it's also one of the cheapest). Makes you wonder why they didn't ship one of those instead of the AD8056. Since even the LM833 isn't struggling, the circuit has to be of only moderately low impedance (maybe 2-3 kOhms, +/-).

I suspect the old 1 kHz test isn't showing the complete picture though. Some HF IMD testing would have shown the slew rate, crossover distortion and other limits of some parts. Closer to 20 kHz, the AD8056 may well be looking better than the NJM4565 with its rather modest slew rate, and OPA2134 may be dropping out of the top league as common-mode distortion and output driving worsen with frequency.

 

[chris719]

Why on earth would anyone design a sound card with AD8056? Did they find reels of them in a basement somewhere? It’s not completely awful but I don’t see how it makes any sense for a new product.

 

[Tks]

Why on earth would anyone design a sound card with AD8056? Did they find reels of them in a basement somewhere? It’s not completely awful but I don’t see how it makes any sense for a new product.

Because EVGA's CEO is a massive audiophile, and the only reason EVGA makes soundcards at all. I doubt they're contracting people that have years of audio design experience.

 

[BenSali]

Like AlexScan, I too have been using a Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, (for 15+ years) I even have 2 of them. They have been solid. I run them analog through older 7.1 AVRs with a couple powered subs each. I know that I will not find a new MB with PCI slots, so… time to move forward.

First, I must say that it is sad that with modern AVRs, that only the super high end support 8 channel analog input….but for another forum.

Question 1: The now super old Creative software I use has a setting called “bass redirection”. I have to turn this on to allow my powered subs to work through the AVR. Does the NU 8 channel have something similar to the bass re-direct so that my powered subs work through the AVR?

Question2: The now super old Creative software I use has a setting called “Stereo Surround” (via the CMSS-3D setting). This is basically a fader and can be set at any percentage front to back. I use it at ~50/50. It is essentially a “7 channel stereo” mode for analog. Does the NU 8 channel support something similar? I would rather not have to revert to 2 channel stereo only for music. My AVR does have 7 channel stereo, but only with digital.

As for AlexScan’s concerns, if I am to understand the issue correctly, I am not concerned with the delay/angle… as the AVR can address that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BenSali]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the EVGA NU Audio Pro 7.1 Surround DAC, headphone amplifier and ADC. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $300 on Amazon including free shipping.

I like the slick coloring and logo:
View attachment 108041

But I hate, hate, hate dealing with internal sound cards! This one even made me dig up a SATA cable for extra power! It took me half hour to get it into my gaming PC which had nice and neat cabling before I cut off all the tie-wraps to wire this thing. And this was just the main card. To get the surround channels, you need to insert yet another PCIE card in there:
View attachment 108042

And then you need to put in a jumper display port cable to make the two talk to each other. By the time I was done, I was in bad mood but thankfully it all worked once installed their driver package. Unlike the bloatware that Creative ships, this one only had one piece of crapware which was its control panel. As these things go, it was not so crappy although I am unhappy that after I pulled the card out of my PC, the stupid thing auto-started on the next boot. Have to uninstall it now.

Once there, I was pleased to see a solid and working ASIO interface for both input and output which I used exclusively for my testing.

EVGA NU Audio Pro DAC Measurements
We have three different subsystems here so let's start with the DAC portion:

View attachment 108044

A bit disappointed with output being shy of nominal 2 volts we like to see. And rather high distortion which sets the SINAD exclusively to 100:
View attachment 108045

As you can see though, performance has improved over the Nu Audio (non-pro) version. Well-designed budget DACs are a good bit ahead of this interface but they cost $99 for two channels and here you are getting 7.1. Dynamic range is likewise good but a step behind:

View attachment 108046

I was pleased with the clean output of the jitter test:
View attachment 108047

Intermodulation distortion test showed the higher residual noise level than desktop products:
View attachment 108048

Linearity is almost perfect:
View attachment 108049

Filter is the default one we find in DAC chips:

View attachment 108050

Multitone distortion is pretty good:
View attachment 108051

Noise+distortion using a wideband test is not as good as it could be:
View attachment 108053

I ran a spectrum test (not shown) which indicated some noise around 50 kHz so not an audible concern.

Nu Audio Pro Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Just about every PC sound card has what I call a "checklist" headphone amp so imagine my surprise when I saw plenty of power and good noise and distortion:

View attachment 108054

View attachment 108055

As you see, where you set the volume control determines how much noise you get. So at lower volumes you should be able to get even lower noise floor.

There is ample power to drive just about any headphone here. Sweeping the load from very low 12 to 600 ohm demonstrates this again:
View attachment 108057

Nu Audio Pro ADC Measurements
Reversing the tables and feeding the card 1.9 volts (near clipping) gives us very respectable interface:

View attachment 108058

We are talking pro level performance here with distortion at threshold of hearing:
View attachment 108059


Dynamic range shows good performance as well:
View attachment 108060

Frequency response is good enough:

View attachment 108061

IMD distortion performance was surprisingly good:
View attachment 108062

Linearity showed more error than I like to see but still better than typical PC sound cards:
View attachment 108063

THD+N versus frequency once again showed above class performance:
View attachment 108064

Note that the microphone input is exposed as an extra pair of devices so you have 4 channels of input, not just two!

Conclusions
I went into review of EVGA Nu Audio Pro grumpy but came out happy! No, it doesn't break any records in any one category. But for the first time, it shows competent performance across the three subsystems rivaling purpose built external devices but at much lower cost than the cost of those combined. It is the first time we are seeing this. Engineering had far more power than marketing department it seems!

A lot of you want to have 8 channel output to build surround systems out of PC. Here is your solution at bargain price.

I am happy to recommend the EVGA Nu Audio Pro.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Like AlexScan, I too have been using a Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, (for 15+ years) I even have 2 of them. They have been solid. I run them analog through older 7.1 AVRs with a couple powered subs each. I know that I will not find a new MB with PCI slots, so… time to move forward.

First, I must say that it is sad that with modern AVRs, that only the super high end support 8 channel analog input….but for another forum.

Question 1: The now super old Creative software I use has a setting called “bass redirection”. I have to turn this on to allow my powered subs to work through the AVR. Does the NU 8 channel have something similar to the bass re-direct so that my powered subs work through the AVR?

Question2: The now super old Creative software I use has a setting called “Stereo Surround” (via the CMSS-3D setting). This is basically a fader and can be set at any percentage front to back. I use it at ~50/50. It is essentially a “7 channel stereo” mode for analog. Does the NU 8 channel support something similar? I would rather not have to revert to 2 channel stereo only for music. My AVR does have 7 channel stereo, but only with digital.

As for AlexScan’s concerns, if I am to understand the issue correctly, I am not concerned with the delay/angle… as the AVR can address that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[somebodyelse]

I know that I will not find a new MB with PCI slots, so… time to move forward.

You could always try a PCIe to PCI bridge to use the old card with the new mobo. For low profile cards there are single slot adapters, but for full height cards you need something like:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PCI-Expr...-x1-to-Tow-2-PCI-slot-Riser-Card/402632576720

 

[BenSali]

Thanks for the suggestion with the bridge, I have thought about that before. I don't feel that is an adequate solution to moving on from such an old card, as eventually it would have to be replaced anyway. I was hoping for an answer to my 2 questions, but if I don't get that, it's ok. I'm still reluctant to buying the EVGA Nu 7.1 because of my concerns, not because of money, but of hassle to hook up, test and possibly have to send back. But, I may do that.

I did buy a Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Pro (pci-e) a few years ago on E-bay, and have yet to try it out. It has lesser specs than my X-Fi Elite, but uses the same software... so, maybe I'll give that a try.

Or...go with a modern Creative 6 channel card... it's too bad that Creative went away from 8 channel, for whatever the reason...

 

[wayne_handzus]

thanks to Amir for the review, registered myself to thank you, being not as blessed as you career wise, read your articvle on working life, who you are, not quite as blessed as yourself, in some ways, assume much more poverty on my end, writing from a welfare hotel room where i live in san francisco, was about to purchase one of these ny audio cards, for records as i have been looking at 32 bit converters since they have come out and cant afford that on my budget, i did save up enuf to buy a universal audio twin interface that isn't hooked up yet, not far off tho, replacing or adding to a creative professional emu 1212m(and 1616m+1820m_using1212m) that i have been using for 15 years now microsoft breaks the drivers one day not too long ago with an update and creative no longer supports the card, and i have seen writen somewhere the emu crew is at universal audio now , same part of town, not far from here in a car, half a day by bus, so using the first version of windows 10 now on a dell precision that i found on ebay with no drives and lots of memory for cheap, finsihed installing the audio software, sonar platinum and other SONAR versions going back 15 years in 32 bit and 64 bit versions, have been using SONAR abd creative professional/E-MU for 15 years now, i do records on guitar and mix here in the hotel and no one knows what i do behind the door all day and thats ok if they are local too many poor folk here strung out on addictive chemicals and other, had one come thru the windows whilst napping one day, so, i use headphones all of the time keeping a low profile, and have a good UA tube Pre,
(amp) looking at 32 bit converters!! i say wow!!! but, the last version of nu audio looks like they split up the 32 bit spread in to 2 channels, 16 bits for one channel and 16 for the other,. you said 17 bits in your review, this one i think you said it is up to 18 bits now as far as your review goes,. i noticed from the graphs they could be padding the signal with 12 db becuse it is so low, not sure exactly on the range of 32 bit, should read up on that before i go on, i know 24 bit has about 144.5 Db or room there,. the converters on the emu model are akm too, but much older, beautilfy leaid on the circuit board i may add, emu said the same converters are pro tools top of the line and the card i first picked up at guitar center in the pro audio department,. 120db of range they say and it has it too. i i never use anything but 192k 32 bit float for records and figured this nu audio card would be good even tho it isnt balanced input and i wasn't sure exactly if it was going to work out too well , looks like the nu audio is great for playback,. better then what I'm using, maybe not. i have a carvin headphone amp driving 1 stereo channel capable of 8 mono channels and usually have to set the db level down 45 db or so so my head stays on, ear drums don't lose all of the little hairs on them, so, you saved me some money,
elected to not but the nu audio for records, and i dont feel too bad about my universal audio costing as much as it did, it is mainly so good for the lack of any great latency which is very important for aligning tracks without having to do anything but record with natual timing with the picking hand, guitars use picks,., bass does not, i have a few bass guitars, and recently used 4 or them at the same time in the mix and it tuned out pretty well,)after pads on the low end near 38Hz, and, plus, thanks to the akm converters,. one for 2 channels, would be nice to see a converter using two 32bit converters at 384k, one converter per channel, that would be really niice, i have seen affordable units on e bay, but usb interface, nothing for adc only dac, don't know what the hold up is,. 32 bit converters have been on the market for a good long time and i looked for a 32 bit adc cards, the nu audio is the only thing that came back, and creative, 16 bit on the input side, thats about it for anywhere near what i can afford, specially now after i purchased a used universal audio left me not able to buy much else and i needed to buy a pcie interface called a thunderbolt 3, intel, intel no longer with apple that is., then need an apple converter for cable type, thunderbolt 2 and 3 are not the same, need to send data both directions, as the ua has old school thunderbolt2, interface for pc is thunderbolt3, the thing about thunderbolt is lowest latency hardly any delay there,.,
2 milliseconds, they say, haven't tried it yet, thunderbolt interface is being shipped,.
tons of reading on if it would work on a precision computer from Dell, an older T7600, it is really something, happy to have it , shopping, the next model up uses ddr4 for memory cards and the price doubles per giga byte, not for me,. machine i have has 128Giga bytes,. 16 slots for memory, every slot has a 8 giga byte card running at 12.8 giga bytes per second, per channel, with 8 channels total, 4 per cpu, xeons and 8 cores without hyperthreading per cpu ,found on ebay for less then the memory would have cost used.
Thinking of what the hold up is, maybe a trouble with bootlegging,.
it cost so much time to produce a good record,
never would have believed it
and never suspected it when listening to the records of my youth, beatles and rolling stones,
which is sort of gone, youth.
so i think the nu audio is good for listening to records.
i have mixed some 24 bit tracks done at 192k 32 float into 32 bit 384 k tracks and i get nearly the same bandwidth as on the original records of the individual tracks ,.the 384k 32 bit tracks sound very good listening to them with the emu 1212m that is 24 it 192, going thru a headphone amp and good pair of top end headphones, sony's the ear pads are falling off and apart from daily use. the project with the individual tracks sounds a tiny bit clearer tho not very great, the difference in sound, i would like to get one of the nu audio cards just to hear a real 32 bit converter running at 384k, i didn't see any results from 384k on your review,. i should look again, i skipped some of the review on the later nu audio with red bklack colored shields, tho i read it fully 2 months back, after the first nu audio review you did, i read the whole of the article and i says , man i should donate, excellent graphs and your review is excellent , most excellent,. , mainly thats all i wanted to say is thanks and went off the deep end. im over, musicians union local 6 member, out Wayne

 

[mansr]

TL;DR

 

[Veri]

TL;DR

man i should donate, excellent graphs and your review is excellent , most excellent,. , mainly thats all i wanted to say is thanks

 

[Walter]

thanks to Amir for the review, registered myself to thank you, being not as blessed as you career wise, read your articvle on working life, who you are, not quite as blessed as yourself, in some ways, assume much more poverty on my end, writing from a welfare hotel room where i live in san francisco, was about to purchase one of these ny audio cards...

I thought the TL;DR comment was really rude until I scrolled up to the post! This would be MUCH MUCH more readable if it was edited to use proper capitalization and formatting. As it is, I doubt most people will bother.

 

[yuyu]

I would like to add my 2 cents about this card. 1. What speaker system can take advantage of analog 7.1 (Not those cheap 7.1 computer speakers)?. 2. Wouldn't it be better to use a AV receiver to do 7.1? I mean you can decode DTS MA and DD TrueHD with those. I've had a bad experience with my NU Card. The Driver would crash when you switch from ASIO to DS. Speaking of drivers, EVGA didn't even bother to update the drivers for nearly 2 years. The card still has bugs and glitches. I only use the card for its amazing ADC these days, as it doesn't crash.

Active loudsperker 有源音箱！

 

[Halfwit]

Would it be a good idea to use the EVGA NU Audio Pro solely as a DAC? I can get it very cheap.

The idea is to connect it to the Topping A90 Discrete via RCA, connect my speakers (Adam A7X) and various headphones to the Topping, and use the Topping for speaker volume control, as well as headphone amplification.

 

[Veri]

Would it be a good idea to use the EVGA NU Audio Pro solely as a DAC? I can get it very cheap.

The idea is to connect it to the Topping A90 Discrete via RCA, connect my speakers (Adam A7X) and various headphones to the Topping, and use the Topping for speaker volume control, as well as headphone amplification.

Don't see why that wouldn't work. Especially if you can get the NU for cheap.

 

[Halfwit]

Don't see why that wouldn't work. Especially if you can get the NU for cheap.

Oh it will definitely work, my question was more along the lines of if the NU Audio Pro's DAC would hinder the sound quality in any way, or is it "good enough" to make a sensible pairing with the A90 Discrete

 

[dridel]

I've had the NuAudioPro for a while now and have been pretty happy with it. But I did not A/B it with other DACs until now that I purchased a SMSL SU-1. I initially hooked it up via USB to motherboard. There's definitely less interference noise at higher volumes, and perhaps it's psychoacoustics but I think the sound is also better? Now I'm trying NuAudioPro --> SPDIF optical --> SU-1 and it sounds great (again, placebo?). In any case, all this A/B'ing made me wonder if there would be any sound quality difference between the SPDIF (optical) of the motherboard vs the NuAudioPro? Thank you to anyone that can answer!