Review and Measurements of Asus Xonar U7 MKII ADC/DAC/HP

[amirm]

That said both U7 and U7 MKII have a micro switch at the bottom of unit as seen below and suggest give it a try if that switch is accidently set set in 1.0 mode

I checked that before testing and it was set to 2.0.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

I would like to see more tests of the ASUS DAC / ADCs.
E.g Asus Xonar Essence...

 

[daftcombo]

Anybody can explain me the 16-bit truncation and its effect on linearity and ultimately on sound?

Additional question: is it always better to select 24-bit in Windows when available?

 

[audio_tony]

Could be. Microsoft seems to be messing with the sound subsystem lately given the new control panel and such.


There is only one .exe download link unfortunately. So no way to just get the driver. I think the driver is the problem anyway as Windows also thinks post installation that it only supports 16 bit at 44.1/48kHz.

@amirm I downloaded the zip file, and then when opened there is a driver folder. Go into device manager, find the device without a driver, click "Update driver" and 'point' it to this folder. Driver installs - no crapware. (see attached screenshot)

 

[amirm]

I will have to check when I get to my computer but my memory was that all I got was a single file...

 

[zermak]

The same chip as the Topping D30 with a SINAD of 107 according to the Master chart?

Well to be fair the D30 is almost double the price and you don't get inputs for recording (ADC) and you don't have the other outputs to set up a multichannel system: apples and bananas.

 

[daftcombo]

Well to be fair the D30 is almost double the price and you don't get inputs for recording (ADC) and you don't have the other outputs to set up a multichannel system: apples and bananas.

What's the relation? He just stated that the chip was not the problem here.

 

[audio_tony]

@amirm

It is a single .zip that I got from here. https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/HelpDesk_Download/

Direct link: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_U7/Xonar_U7_4_16_win10.zip

 

[amirm]

@amirm

It is a single .zip that I got from here. https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/HelpDesk_Download/

Direct link: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_U7/Xonar_U7_4_16_win10.zip

That is for the older version (no MK II). Here is the new one for MK II: https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar-U7-MKII/HelpDesk_Download/

 

[zermak]

What's the relation? He just stated that the chip was not the problem here.

I know but we are talking about different products here and with this Asus you get more stuff (if you need them of course, or well this is not the product for you obviously) for less price sacrificing some performance considering its price which is all about it at the end (I mean R&D and so on).

 

[Tks]

I just had a ASUS motherboard blowing up this week. They also let us down with the asus 3s 10" tablet by not updating the OS, no security update, nothing. They use to be good but are getting too big and quality suffer. My Essence STX is very good but the Topping DX3 pro is as good if not better. My new motherboard is a Gigabyte and the build quality is much better than Asus. For Sound hardware you can get better quality for the same money with another brand. Asus : the "was good" company.

A motherboard blow up? Got any image? Seems facinating, I've never personally heard of such a thing during normal computer operation.

 

[August]

These companies are dragging huge amounts of product lines, and they usually only care about owning these products, rather than maintaining a good user experience. You should usually only buy products that they are good at, such as the core components of a PC.

 

[IVX]

Here is loopback of my U7 MkII(only ADC + frontend were modified). As you can see, 24/44.1 -60dbfs 1kHz has THD+N = .17% or-55.4dbA i.e. DR AES17 =115.4dbA, that perfectly matched with SNR=115.4dbA.
BTW, Asus soft is buggy, quite often I see msg like this:

 

[JohnYang1997]

Here is loopback of my U7 MkII(only ADC + frontend were modified). As you can see, 24/44.1 -60dbfs 1kHz has THD+N = .17% or-55.4dbA i.e. DR AES17 =115.4dbA, that perfectly matched with SNR=115.4dbA.View attachment 29944
BTW, Asus soft is buggy, quite often I see msg like this:
View attachment 29945

It's modified. Normal u7 would be this horrible. I'll post my u7 measurements later today.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Did you see any setting in the audio control panel(the driver)? Set in there instead of settting in windows audio or else. And iirc there is dynamic control or something else that needs to be turned off as well.

 

[IVX]

It's modified. Normal u7 would be this horrible. I'll post my u7 measurements later today.

We talking about Line output quality right? I have modified ONLY ADC area, RCA outputs are not modified.

 

[JohnYang1997]

We talking about Line output quality right? I have modified ONLY ADC area, RCA outputs are not modified.

Both. I was talking about. Wait why do you measure at -60db?
for reference
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/asus-u7-line.php#rw19

 

[amirm]

Thanks for the review @amirm but may I ask you to please measure any of the other output channels (surrounds or center/sub)?

I can't. In addition to 16 bit thing, it is also limiting playback to stereo. There is no multi-channel in their app drop down config.

Without their driver, they expose two interfaces. I tried them both but I could not get output from the other ports.

 

[audio_tony]

That is for the older version (no MK II). Here is the new one for MK II: https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar-U7-MKII/HelpDesk_Download/

Sorry, I did search for the MK II version as well!

I downloaded the package you linked to, and although there are some command line options, it's not possible to extract only the drivers. That truly sucks!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Sorry, I did search for the MK II version as well!

I downloaded the package you linked to, and although there are some command line options, it's not possible to extract only the drivers. That truly sucks!

Why? It should work perfectly fine just setup the panel correctly it should be all good. I have friedns with asus u7 mkii without any issue. I used to recommend these u7 u7mkii a lot. Never heard of driver issues.