Asus has shown three new sound cards in the Strix series on Computex. The three sound cards are intended for gamers, with the most expensive two versions equipped with an external ‘control box’ with ‘raid mode’.
The three sound cards are equipped with a pcie connection and surprisingly also have a peg-6 power connection, which is normally used for video cards. The peg6 connection provides ‘cleaner’ power, which, according to an Asus employee, can also be heard in the sound quality. Speakers can be connected to four jack connections and there is also a jack connection for headphones, a jack input and an optical spdif output.
The entry-level model of the three is the Strix Soar, which is equipped with an ESS Saber 9006A dac. The other two versions are given the curious name ‘Strix Raid’, which appear to have nothing to do with disk arrays. The Strix Raid cards do come with an external ‘control box’, with which users can adjust the sound levels of the different outputs. The ‘raid mode’ button can be assigned to a third function in consultation with the supplied Sonic Studio software, so that you can, for example, amplify the virtual surround effect, without having to resort to the software.
| DAC | ESS Saber 9016A | ESS Saber 9006A | |
| Signal-to-noise ratio (line out) |
124dB | 116dB | |
|
Signal-to-noise ratio |
124dB | 110dB | |
| External control | Yes | Yes | new |
It is not yet known how much the sound cards will cost and when they will be available.