[Jd007]

   
no rca out?
 

the two on either side of the rca aux in, between the xlrs? look like rca out to me

 

[techboy]

It has rca out.

 

[daigo]

I do like how understated the final version looks in the front.  

 

[matthewpl]

Essence III appeared in one shop in Poland, but without price or any date when it will be available. I send e-mail to the stuff and got reply. They don't have final price but it should be around 7000 zł (PLN, with taxes), which is ~1700 euro or ~2200 $. They also wrote that DAC should be available with end of the year or at the begin of 2014.

 

[techboy]

How big an improvement is it over the muses?

I know muses has a much better dac than the conductor but much much worse amp section. Same goes for senn hdvd 800. There is only point if it can beat a $1500 amp with a $1000 dac or something like that. If they have to be competitive.

 

[oxoxbbsky]

yeah,we could have something very special here. As such a big corporation, if they price this correctly due to their economies of scale it could shake up the market.thanks

 

[DMax99]

 
Yeah, over 2000 dollars is definitely way too expensive!!

 

[Mach3]

   
Yeah, over 2000 dollars is definitely way too expensive!!
 

We know that the DAC section of the E1 is phenomenal value for the asking price. It is often compared to DAC costing up to $2k and shown that ASUS R&D team did their homework. However, the only let down of the E1 (beside the volume imbalance issue) is the AMP section doesn't quiet match with the DAC section. 
 
Not sure how much more of an improvement on the DAC section of the E3 over the E1. One thing is certain though, ASUS is going all out on the AMP section this time. But to warrant a minor improvement over the DAC and an all out balance headphone section is a bit steep for an extra $1k.

 

[techboy]

Knowing Asus, this should be well worth the price going by their past records. Should be much more than a minor improvement, let us see,

 

[ztsen]

I have tried this unit yesterday. Look much bigger than essence one. But they only demo with Yamaha headphone and I only first time listen to that headphone. 

 

[eliwankenobi]

Still, did it sound good to you? Or a little disappointing?

 

[matthewpl]

  I have tried this unit yesterday. Look much bigger than essence one. But they only demo with Yamaha headphone and I only first time listen to that headphone. 

Is there still problem with volume balance?
 
EDIT:
 
I found another price information. This time from some french website (http://www.on-mag.fr/index.php/topaudio/actualites-news/12343-convertisseur-asus-essence-iii-un-stu-sur-vitamine). E3 is listed as 1600 euro. And they got some inside picture:
 

 

[TheManko]

 
Is there still problem with volume balance?
 

Since it's using stepped attenuators it shouldn't have any imbalance in the volume knobs at all.

 

[matthewpl]

  Since it's using stepped attenuators it shouldn't have any imbalance in the volume knobs at all.

 
But aren't stepped attenuators only on line out and headphone volume control is made in old way?

 

[TheManko]

   
But aren't stepped attenuators only on line out and headphone volume control is made in old way?

On the Asus website they imply it's stepped attenuators for both "Essence III includes a set of stepped attenuators that works for headphones and line outputs."