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

[Robbo99999]

Hello, quick question. I already have this card (had to swap back to it) and I am wondering if it will drive the DT 770 Pro (80 ohm) model.

I think so, they worked fine for my AKG K702's, but that was before I EQ'd them (and I don't use the U7 anymore), so if you have a digital negative preamp as part of your EQ (which you would) then it might struggle some more. I do remember that in the settings of the U7 it talks about High Gain being useful for headphones up to 150 ohm and you're at 80 ohm so it's ok from that point of view.

EDIT 5/10: K702 has a sensitivity of 104dB/V and there was plenty of volume (without EQ) using the U7, I used to run it below 60% volume level at the loudest, so I think that goes against what is being said in the post following this one, given that K702 is harder to drive than DT 770 Pro 80ohm when I plugged the specs into an online calculator for sound power.

 

[trl]

Even if DT770 has 106dB/V you won't be able to get a decent SPL with the U7. Well, maybe if the music you're listening to is 0dB recorded you might enjoy the sound in a quiet bedroom, but I strongly recommend you a dedicated headamp.

 

[IVX]

I don't remember if I showed the FFT of modified ADC U7 MkII with AP analyzer input gen(-145db harmonics). I used a USB isolator to get minimal common-mode noise. The ADC has 7th harmonic at -125db, and -130db others.

 

[trl]

Very different than the ADC test made by Amir.
Great job for sure, what isolator have you used?

 

[IVX]

HiFime, however, I can't recommend that because they have a crazy huge capacitance between grounds, 5000pF! I did reduce that for 100pF but now it works not really stable, anyway ok for short measurement.

 

[julianlopez_85]

HI i have the original mk i and was wondering how do you find out if the sofware drops 24bits to 16 bits? the control panel for mine let's me select 24 bit audio. I was thinking of adding the topping a50s as an amp to accomodate the dac on this since it's still working fine to power sundaras, is this something worth doing? or should i just get a new combo/dac?

 

[trivium]

So did they fix this software issue? wanting to get this for proper bass management within their software or windows.

 

[trivium]

Looks like they fixed the software issue guys, i bought an MKII used on ebay and it sounds awesome. Their software sucks anyways though so not sure why anyone would need it aside from gaming as it just offers a bunch of useless DSP options. Instead I used the Equalizer APO Config.txt file to isolate the LFE/Subwoofer channel, mixed it with the L/R channels which allowed me to apply a high pass filter to L/R and send a full signal to the subwoofer where the built in active low pass crossover on the sub is applied. This is clearly a step up from Minidsp with its mediocre DAC. I accidentally bought two actually, i have an MKI coming from china that i tried cancelling, however i can test it in windows 10.

 

[trl]

Looks like they fixed the software issue guys

What problem are you referring to, the 16-bits truncation? If so, then do some testing and post here the results and driver version too.

 

[trivium]

What problem are you referring to, the 16-bits truncation? If so, then do some testing and post here the results and driver version too.

I don’t know how to do any formal testing, i can confirm 24/192 works though with windows 10. The 1.1 volt output is a little annoying because I have the volume cranked on my integrated amp but other than that it’s a pretty good little device. Are there any downsides to having a lower input voltage on an integrated amp other than having to turn up the volume control a bit more?

 

[monsieur_cedric]

Just wondering which internal sound card with RCA line out would be good around that price in 2021... I'm checking the reviews, but can't find anything great. I'm just planning to play 16/44.1 FLAC files. Thanks in advance.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Just wondering which internal sound card with RCA line out would be good around that price in 2021... I'm checking the reviews, but can't find anything great.

Actually I can't find anything that matches your criteria at all. The few cards that are out there (two from Creative and two from EVGA) cost like 3 or 4 times as much as the U7 and most are not widely available. Does it have to be RCAs on the card itself?

These are not the best times for internal soundcards to begin with. The fact that any new constructions since the mid-2010s have been using USB controllers internally should be telling you something.

 

[monsieur_cedric]

Actually I can't find anything that matches your criteria at all. The few cards that are out there (two from Creative and two from EVGA) cost like 3 or 4 times as much as the U7 and most are not widely available. Does it have to be RCAs on the card itself?

These are not the best times for internal soundcards to begin with. The fact that any new constructions since the mid-2010s have been using USB controllers internally should be telling you something.

You are right, I guess I should go for a USB DAC, then. Thanks

 

[henris]

I've been testing Xonar U7 MKII to be used in CamillaDSP based active crossover/eq solution. The testing has been taken place on Windows 10 due to the other software (REW, RePhase). My main problem has been very low output level from the analog connectors (RCA and 3.5mm jacks). The difference to digital output was about -10dB. Reading through this thread I realised that the whole problem might be related to the Sonar Studio crapware installed on top of the driver. My suspicion was the EQ part of the Sonar Studio. It has a range of -12dB to +12dB while 0dB being the default. I could not detect any change in output level when I disabled and enabled the EQ feature. So how could they boost +12dB without clipping? Perhaps by first bringing down the level by 12dB...

So I uninstalled the Asus default driver+app software and also uninstalled the device driver. This resulted in Windows default driver being used. There were only single channel listed in the Speakers device so I decided to install just the driver using the extraction method described previously in this thread. After that I had to run the speaker configurator to make all channels full bandwidth.

And then I had gained ~+12dB in output level I also at least imagined hearing somewhat clearer, dynamic sound. I don't really care if this true or not, I'm just happy having the output levels where they should have been from the start and Sonar Studio away from my audio pipeline.

 

[superdeath1978]

Hi, i quickly read the reviews i was surprised that the mkii version does not work different properly ... i have the normal version for years it works great with wasapi and foobar 2000

 

[DWPress]

Posting this here as well as it may be relevant for some: - Now working on Mac!

My Okto dac8 Pro that I was using as an active XO was destroyed by a power surge in my home just over a week ago. In a scramble to try to get music going in my studio again I remembered I had one of these cards laying around for my old Windows machine so I plugged it into my M1 Mac Mini on a whim. There were never any drivers for Mac in the past so I was surprised when this thing showed up in my System Profile as well as Audio Midi Setup natively with up to 8 channels of 24bit and up to 192kHz sample rate!

It never showed up as a recognized device on my old intel Mac Mini so maybe Apple Silicon has something to do with it or perhaps Big Sur OS enabled it. I've no idea but this might be useful information for others.

I'm still screwed because all my amps are balanced now but perhaps one step closer to working sound.

 

[superdeath1978]

Postare questo qui così come potrebbe essere rilevante per alcuni: - Ora lavoro su Mac!

Il mio Okto dac8 Pro che stavo usando come XO attivo è stato distrutto da un aumento di corrente nella mia casa poco più di una settimana fa. In una corsa per cercare di far andare di nuovo la musica nel mio studio, mi sono ricordato di avere una di queste schede in giro per la mia vecchia macchina Windows, quindi l'ho collegata al mio M1 Mac Mini per un capriccio. Non c'erano mai driver per Mac in passato, quindi sono rimasto sorpreso quando questa cosa è apparsa nel mio profilo di sistema e in Audio Midi Setup in modo nativo con un massimo di 8 canali a 24 bit e una frequenza di campionamento fino a 192kHz!

Non è mai apparso come un dispositivo riconosciuto sul mio vecchio Mac Mini Intel, quindi forse Apple Silicon ha qualcosa a che fare con esso o forse Big Sur OS lo ha abilitato. Non ne ho idea, ma questa potrebbe essere un'informazione utile per altri.

Sono ancora fregato perché tutti i miei amplificatori sono bilanciati ora, ma forse un passo più vicino al suono funzionante.

l'hai collegato al Mac e funziona senza driver? then i try to connect it to my iMac late 2009

 

[DWPress]

did you connect it to the Mac and it worked without a driver?

It did. I didn't actually get so far as hooking up amps to it (all my amps have balanced connections now) but I could see signal going through to each channel via meters on my DAW.

 

[superdeath1978]

Lo ha fatto. In realtà non sono arrivato al punto di collegare gli amplificatori ad esso (tutti i miei amplificatori hanno connessioni bilanciate ora) ma potevo vedere il segnale passare a ciascun canale tramite i misuratori della mia DAW.

Thanks, I'll try again then, I haven't changed this dac because it sounds good in my system despite being cheap

 

[Sydofne]

Hi all, I have a DAC without USB. I just remembered I have a U7 that is just unused and it can work as a USB transport to SPDIF. My question is, is there any benefits in getting something like a smsl po100 or even a topping d10s for the job, or is using the Xonar U7 just the same? Many thanks