titleIn the PC audio world, there is a major divide as far as people who find onboard audio more than enough and users who absolutely must run a sound card. In recent years, onboard sound has improved considerably. But no matter how much they improve it, it main flaw is being on the motherboard itself and not a separate circuit. When it comes to sound cards, there are just a few top manufactures with Asus being one. Asus recently introduced a new sound card focused on the gaming market under their ROG (Republic of Gaming) line called the ROG Xonar Phoebus. I’ve had it running in my gaming system, today we will talk about my experience thus far.

Product Name: Asus ROG Xonar Phoebus

Review Sample Provided by: Asus

Written by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes


Specifications

Audio Performance

Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out) :
118 dB
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Headphone-out) : 
110 dB
Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) :
118 dB
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out) :
0.00039 %(-108 dB)
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Headphone-out) :
0.001 %(300 dB)
Input THD+N at 1kHz :
0.0003 %(-110 dB)
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/96KHz input) :
10 Hz to 48 KHz
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage :
Unbalanced Output : 2.2 Vrms (3 Vp-p)
Headphone : 7 Vrms (9.9 Vp-p)

Bus Compatibility

PCI Express

Chipset

Audio Processor :C-Media CMI8888DHT High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz/24bit)

Sample Rate and Resolution

Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Output :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Input :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
ASIO 2.2 Driver Support :
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit with very low latency

I/O Ports

Analog Output Jack : 
5 x 3.5mm RCA jack
Analog Input Jack : 
2 x 3.5mm RCA jack
1 x Digital S/PDIF Output : 1 x Toslink
1 x Box link
Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner) : 4-pin header on the card

Special Features

Dolby® Technologies : Dolby® Home Theater v4

Smart Volume Normalizer™

Xear Surround™

Magic Voice™

FlexBass™

GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine

Accessories

Control box x 1

Driver CD x 1

Quick Start Guide x 1

S/PDIF adaptor x 1

ATX 4P-to-6P power cable x 1

Note

*Dolby Home Theater v4 supports Windows® 7 only.


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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #28047 20 Sep 2012 13:33
The Asus Xonar Phoebus gaming sound card
Wooderson's Avatar
Wooderson replied the topic: #28058 20 Sep 2012 17:29
The difference between most on board sound and a dedicated sound card is night and day difference, at least for me. I have owned an older Creative Sound Blaster Fatal1ty Professional, and a HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card. I'm sure the Asus ROG Xonar Phoebus is a step up higher in quality than both of these, its pretty pricey though.

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