I was looking for an upgrade for my system from my onboard audio on my motherboard. Of course, anything is better than “onboard audio” most say and they are quite right unless you have really high-end motherboards with really good sound in them. No luck there for me, however I made a checklist of what I want from a new sound card.
- Good clean sound, not audiophile grade
- Good mic boost for gaming
- An analogue volume knob, I love those
- Portable so that I can attach to my laptop when needed, therefore internal cards are out
Surprisingly Asus Xonar U7 ticks all the above points and does a good job at it too.
Performance:
Asus Xonar U7 sports 192kHz/24-bit high-definition sound with a 114dB signal-to-analog ratio (SNR). This means that what you get is a clean sound, no distortions and not prone to line noise caused due to other powered components like CPU, GPU, rotating HDD’s etc especially since the card isn’t in the computer. Interestingly Asus is using two DAC’s (Digital to Analogue Converter), one from Cirrus Logic CS4398 for the headphones and Cirrus Logic CS4362 for the speaker out.
What I liked particularly in the Xonar U7 is that it didn’t colour the sound at all. All the instruments sounded right and the muffled sound from onboard audio instantly cleared up. You’ll hear subtleties in music which you might have missed. This was tested with a good pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50s. Xonar U7’s can easily drive your cans between 32 or 64 ohm, those with 150 or 300 ohms headphones ought to look elsewhere, after all impressing audiophiles isn't aim of this soundcard.
One thing to note, those who’d like to hear crystal clear sound, audio cards that bring about that specific ‘snap’ to the sound, will be disappointed by the Xonar U7. If you are that class of audience, higher end audiophile DAC’s is the way to go for you.
Software:
Surprisingly, the volume didn’t sound as loud as I would’ve expected in spite of the high impedance setting. This brings me to software which is excellent and at the same time plain sucky in its implementation. More on both these points later.
Asus has released brand new overhauled drivers which are much better than the previous design. You can find everything you want in one quick panel. There are very useful pre-set profiles to the left which can easily help with EQ as well as clear up voice if aren’t too eager to play around with the sliders and knobs.
Asus has also included DTH V4 suite (Dobly Digital Home Theatre) which is much better at enhancing the sound than the included Asus drivers. This does colour the sound depending on the setting, however the most important function I felt was the “Volume Leveler” which greatly enhanced the volume level, now I needed go to only till 50% max to comfortably listen to music while giving me enough room to handle movies with lower level volume.
While everything did improve no doubt from the base onboard audio, the one essential thing that really sucked was that Asus Xonar U7 mic doesn't work with steam. WHAT!!?? Steam is the best thing to happen to PC gaming and it doesn't work. The older drivers worked just fine with Steam, but the software interface sucked. After wasting many man hours on this, I realised if I reverted only to the older mic driver, I could use it with Steam while retaining the newer software. Yay! But then none of the mic enhancements worked….AARRGHHH! This honestly has to be the suckiest implementation by Asus and isn't something that anybody ought to be dealing with when buying a sound card of this grade, quality and price.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, definitely would. Overall you’ll love it, if not, you need an audiophile grade sound card, Xonar U7 isn’t aimed at you, or if you are a frustrated gamer that can’t team talk on Steam just because Asus hasn’t implemented it well. I’m seriously hoping Asus will fix this issue in its next software/driver upgrade.
Asus Xonar U7
Official site: https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/
Price – Rs. 6,300 (street price)
What You’ll Love:
- Good sound
- New vastly improved interface
- Small and compact
- Analog rotating volume knob
What You’ll Hate:
- Mic driver implementation has issues in Steam
By: Nikhil Rastogi
- Good clean sound, not audiophile grade
- Good mic boost for gaming
- An analogue volume knob, I love those
- Portable so that I can attach to my laptop when needed, therefore internal cards are out
Surprisingly Asus Xonar U7 ticks all the above points and does a good job at it too.
Performance:
Asus Xonar U7 sports 192kHz/24-bit high-definition sound with a 114dB signal-to-analog ratio (SNR). This means that what you get is a clean sound, no distortions and not prone to line noise caused due to other powered components like CPU, GPU, rotating HDD’s etc especially since the card isn’t in the computer. Interestingly Asus is using two DAC’s (Digital to Analogue Converter), one from Cirrus Logic CS4398 for the headphones and Cirrus Logic CS4362 for the speaker out.
 |
| It's handsome little unit |
One thing to note, those who’d like to hear crystal clear sound, audio cards that bring about that specific ‘snap’ to the sound, will be disappointed by the Xonar U7. If you are that class of audience, higher end audiophile DAC’s is the way to go for you.
Software:
Surprisingly, the volume didn’t sound as loud as I would’ve expected in spite of the high impedance setting. This brings me to software which is excellent and at the same time plain sucky in its implementation. More on both these points later.
 |
| Oh god, Asus Xonar U7’s old interface is down-right amateurish |
 |
| Hell yeah, the new interface breathes new life |
 |
| Asus Xonar U7’s DTH suite Rocks! |
Asus has also included DTH V4 suite (Dobly Digital Home Theatre) which is much better at enhancing the sound than the included Asus drivers. This does colour the sound depending on the setting, however the most important function I felt was the “Volume Leveler” which greatly enhanced the volume level, now I needed go to only till 50% max to comfortably listen to music while giving me enough room to handle movies with lower level volume.
While everything did improve no doubt from the base onboard audio, the one essential thing that really sucked was that Asus Xonar U7 mic doesn't work with steam. WHAT!!?? Steam is the best thing to happen to PC gaming and it doesn't work. The older drivers worked just fine with Steam, but the software interface sucked. After wasting many man hours on this, I realised if I reverted only to the older mic driver, I could use it with Steam while retaining the newer software. Yay! But then none of the mic enhancements worked….AARRGHHH! This honestly has to be the suckiest implementation by Asus and isn't something that anybody ought to be dealing with when buying a sound card of this grade, quality and price.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, definitely would. Overall you’ll love it, if not, you need an audiophile grade sound card, Xonar U7 isn’t aimed at you, or if you are a frustrated gamer that can’t team talk on Steam just because Asus hasn’t implemented it well. I’m seriously hoping Asus will fix this issue in its next software/driver upgrade.
Asus Xonar U7
Official site: https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/
Price – Rs. 6,300 (street price)
What You’ll Love:
- Good sound
- New vastly improved interface
- Small and compact
- Analog rotating volume knob
What You’ll Hate:
- Mic driver implementation has issues in Steam
By: Nikhil Rastogi
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