[our martin]

i am getting a new gaming pc from cyber power the black mamba 3 with twin gtx 590 graphic chips i thought about getting the asus one dac headphone amp but i am going for the audio lab  m-dac instead because of the sabre 32 chips i know burr brown are good because i have got an hifiman hm 801 and that's got good sound and naim use them aswell but believe me they are not as good as sabre 32 chips krell use these chips and krell is the best possible sound you can get if you ever get the chance to hear the krell evolution ones with the krell cypher sacd player you will be blown away how good they sound together especially with the westlake audio tower sm1s but still it's good to see you are enjoying listening to good sound my friend...i am also putting every thing through a pioneer susano av receiver and pioneer s81 7.1 surround sound speaker system and the biggest samsung d8000 plasma i can get...

 

[our martin]

if my pc has got 7.1 sound and i feed it through a audio lab m-dac will i be able to use grado ps500 headphones and still get 7.1 surround sound? i am using a yeti 24 bit mic to do the voice.. i want my headphone and mic setup to sound as good as my av and speaker set up for late night gaming i know that turtle beach do a dss2 7.1 dolby surround  box and that might have to be the route i will have to take  p.s i am getting a samsung 75 inch es8000 instead of going the 3 screen route this is mainly for battlefield 3 my favourite game..

 

[audionewbieyao]

Asus Xonar Essence One Review (w/ Raysonic CD228 & Audeze LCD2)
1. Introduction2. Asus Xonar Essence One3. Setting up the System4. Asus Xonar Essence One (Super High Res Gallery)5. Asus Xonar Essence One Testing6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

 
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REVIEW SCORE:


February 1st, 2012 at 9:56 am - AuthorZardon  

Today we are looking at the latest ‘audiophile’ grade Asus Xonar Essence One external soundcard and digital to analogue converter. The Essence series of products have targeted the enthusiast and audiophile user now for some time, using high grade components such as BurrBrown DAC chips. Today we analyse the latest Xonar Essence One from ASUS in a very challenging environment, paired up with a flagship, limited edition Valve/Tube CD player and award winning Audeze LCD2 headphones.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Xonar Essence One can be purchased directly from ARIA for £342.84 inc vat.
 
Pros:

1. Very competitive price point considering the versatility and audio quality.
2. Built to the highest standards.
3. Bass response is immense.
4. op-amps can be upgraded.
5. mid range is impressive.
6. expansive soundstage.

 
Cons:

1. USB sound quality isn’t going to showcase this product to the full.
2. High end frequencies need controlled by a quality source.
3. We would love a luxury model with true balanced headphone output.

 
Kitguru says: The Essence One offers a lot for the modest asking price. If you take audio seriously then this should be at the top of your list.

 

[VCRHIFI]

Thanks for sharing the link to the latest review!

 

[kn19h7]

How's the build quality of this? (especially those plastic buttons on the front..)
And I've heard that it will auto switch to usb input on each startup, is it true even when usb is not connected?

 

[qqexpress]

after having own the asus xonar essence one for quite some time, i find that im quite pleased with the sound and totally agree with some other reviewers that its pretty bass heavy. the cheap plastic that asus decided to use for the E1 is a complete turn off, but the overall build quality - is pretty solid and it built like a tank. and yeah, it would auto start in the usb option even when the usb is not plugged in. i really dont think u get alot for the price point, id much rather put my money on the yulong d100.

 

[kn19h7]

thanks for reply~
hmm... those points are somewhat annoying ==

 

[Replicant666]

Mine starts up with the last input selected, have you updated to the latest firmware? I agree re the bass comments I wish it wasn't quite as bass heavy but other than that I'm very pleased with the quality of the unit

 

[Wage]

Would the Essence One be a horrible match with a Denon AH-D7000?
 
I plan on getting a Denon AH-D7000 this year. In anticipation of this, I bought my girlfriend an Asus Xonar Essence ST with modded opamps so that I could test how well it worked for the pair of Grado SR225i's I got her (which are low impedance like the D7000s but still yielded a very noticeable difference in sound quality versus onboard audio). I'm reading throughout this thread that the Essence One is "bass heavy" to some owners, which is fine by me; I need an ample amount of bass accuracy to go along with my movie watching. But will the combo of the D7000's great bass and the Essence One's great bass be too much, even with opamp rolling?
 
I am not like most users on this forum: I have bills to pay, an old car to replace, and dreams and aspirations which extend beyond owning the "perfect" audio system. But I do like to buy quality things and am willing to go crazy on D7000s (which I have wanted since 2008) with an expensive sound card to match. Just wanted to make that clear, because this will probably be my last headphone-related purchase for the next 5+ years so I don't want to **** it up.

 

[anetode]

The Essence One is a decent value and would work great with a huge range of headphones, including the D7000.
 
Build quality wise you'd have to top 1k for any noticeable improvement.

 

[Wage]

Wow, wasn't expecting anyone to respond so soon. Thank you, anetode.

Also, I noticed many people (including the most recent review) mentioning that the Essence One's USB input does not yield the best sound quality from it. How am I supposed to hook up the Essence One to a computer without sacrificing audio quality? Or is this an impossibility?

 

[midnightfox]

@kn19h7
"How's the build quality of this? (especially those plastic buttons on the front..)"
 
The buttons aren't that bad in my opinion. They might not be made of solid metal materials like the other DAC's in the $1000+ range but they don't feel that cheap and flimsy as some users have pointed out.
Overall the build quality is exceptional and has plenty of good features for the price point.

 

[trazom]

Quote:

Wow, wasn't expecting anyone to respond so soon. Thank you, anetode.

Also, I noticed many people (including the most recent review) mentioning that the Essence One's USB input does not yield the best sound quality from it. How am I supposed to hook up the Essence One to a computer without sacrificing audio quality? Or is this an impossibility?

 
I use my  Essence One with USB and I found the sound quality very good. 
I wanted to connect my Essence One with my Essence STX but we advised against it. So if you lose in sound quality with USB and lose also with other audio outputs present I do not understand how to operate optimally.

 
 

 

[Wage]

Uh yeah, exactly. Maybe it's just because I'm an IT and not a sound engineer, but I'd like to know what else I will need to buy alongside the Essence One to get it to sound 100% of its potential.

I use my PC as my main source, btw, similar to trazom, so an A/V Receiver is kinda out of the question unless that will benefit my PC in some way I'm not aware of. (Like I said, I'm new to high end audio.)

 

[muz640]

Quote:

Uh yeah, exactly. Maybe it's just because I'm an IT and not a sound engineer, but I'd like to know what else I will need to buy alongside the Essence One to get it to sound 100% of its potential.

I use my PC as my main source, btw, similar to trazom, so an A/V Receiver is kinda out of the question unless that will benefit my PC in some way I'm not aware of. (Like I said, I'm new to high end audio.)

I have the latest driver installed that seem to be fine via USB. Apart from one or two little niggles (lack of digital inputs, high gain) this is good Dac, for the price the quality is superb, it's got it own character but its very enjoyable via the monitors and excellent with headphones (HD650s).
 
Waiting for Leeperry's thoughts on the opamp swap!