ASUS XONAR SE 5.1 Channel 🔊 Hi-Res Sound Card with Windows 10 Compatibility Review

I took a chance on this card (Xonar SE) as there were no reviews at the time of purchase. I had to find a simple, inexpensive sound card with an optical output as my new micro-ATX motherboard didn't have one. The card entered without any problems and the latest Windows 10 drivers from ASUS installed without any problems. I first disabled onboard audio in BIOS. I can't say anything about the analog sound quality either in the speakers or in the headphones, but the optical SPDIF works excellently

192kHz/24bit Hi-Res 116dB SNR for $39. Such properties used to cost around $200. The sound quality is top notch. The only "high-end" feature it doesn't have is the RCA output found on high-end sound cards. However, since it has an optical output, adding a $20 DAC will add to the high-end specs. On Windows 10, the card works without installing any software. The operating system recognizes the device automatically. However, it is important to install the Asus driver and software anyway. Asus'…

God I am blown away by the crisp, clear and rich sound this card produces. Unbelievable! It's like listening to music and playing games for the first time! I hear things in the games I play every day that I didn't even know existed. The Xonar headphone driver is adjustable to 300 ohms and believe me it's loud. I've been using FxSound for sound amplification for a number of years, but to be honest the sound coming out of the Xonar's headphone jack is way too loud. I do not need it anymore. I…

ASUS tech support can generally be pretty good, but there's a bug in the chat software that redirects the sound card question to laptop agents. You can only reach the sound card agent if you ask the supervisor. When I finally got to the agent, I saw a two-minute clock ticking over their heads. They kept telling me to check something on the computer (e.g. reinstall the map) and find that the agent had been gone for a long time. I tried three different tasks. The last agent said to mail it back…

This card performs exceptionally well, especially when compared to all the other sound cards people have tested. In my case in particular, the card itself installed with no boot problems, and the drivers I downloaded didn't even require installing the sound card's "Control Panel" to use it properly, it's optional. Of course, you can always have Windows install the necessary driver directly from the Internet or from the system library itself. However, you should always check whether the…

The DAC on this card appears to be of high quality and is indistinguishable from my expensive $100 card when using studio headphones for comparison. This card is great for playing and listening to FLAC files. with my THX speaker setup or studio headphones. What I like most about this card is the price, it competes with my expensive DAC with 2 main disadvantages: 1. The output volume of this card is very low even when set to 100% compared to onboard audio and others sound cards. When Xonar SE is

Huge disappointment given the significant improvement in sound quality over the ALC1150 chipset. While the card works well most of the time, I cannot in good faith recommend this device as it occasionally tends to cause audio glitches and freezes apps trying to output audio. There are no warnings or errors in the system event log, it just stops working until you reboot the system. I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit with the latest driver 10.0.01.10 (also 64-bit). Sometimes the Xonar Audio…

I lost my Realtek Sound Manager when updating my PC motherboard. Win7 does not offer any balance controls or sound shaping tools. Without them, a simple set of audio drivers is a coherent statement at best. I created my PC sound from scratch. WebSearch found a free utility called Viper4Windows that offers a range of high quality audio processing tools. Viper's interface is simple but works well. Later, when I watched the film, I discovered that his lip and voice movements were out of sync. I…

Most motherboards have built-in audio. That onboard audio is generally pretty good. If you just want to watch YouTube videos, play DVDs, and stream Netflix movies, the built-in audio will suffice. However, if you use your computer for more demanding listening, a good sound card is worth considering. My favorite sound card has been the Asus Xonar DG for years. Sounds great and meets my needs perfectly. Since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7, I had to upgrade to Win 10. Unfortunately my…