ASUS Xonar SE 5.1 PCIe gaming sound card with 192kHz/24-bit hi-res audio and 116dB SNR

I have used this sound card for at least 15 years now, I have owned several in that time period through upgrading PC's etc. It outputs good quality sound.Easy to use, good value for money.Highly recommended.

I recently bought a new soundbar as we use our PC's for internet radio, TV, movies and gaming. Silly me I didn't check if analogue connections for an input were provided. I tried it out on bluetooth but there was a slight lag on the sound, nothing much but still there. A soundcard with TV optical out was needed.This arrived a day after I ordered it. Plugged this into a Windows 11 PC, no drivers were needed.From settings/sound changed the output to SPDIF Interface and this instantly worked. Good sound quality coupled with a good sound bar and so easy to set up.Cheers.

Great sound with optical output.

I bought this to replace my Xonar DX as it's 10 years old now. Hopefully this will serve my audio needs for just as long. I can't really discern any noticeable difference in quality from the previous card, maybe slightly more low end and definition. I only gave it 4 stars as there are much better cards out there, but for me it's a definite 5 star card for my needs.I'm pleased to find that ASIO mode 16/24 bits is available for this card - something that isn't mentioned on the product details here and is a must for software synthesizer to achieve low latency when using a MIDI keyboard.The Audio Center software is a bit more complicated than my previous model with lots more options, and a modern GUI. The default volume level is a bit too low for me, even at 100% but can be boosted via the Speakers/Volume Control sub menu by enabling "Xear Audio Brilliant" I was glad to find that. To record "what you hear", Stereo Mix is the only option here, previously on the Xonar DX software version there was also the option to record using Wave, probably doesn't make any difference in quality.Had a quick test in my DAW and audio processing applications, all is fine after a bit of tinkering with input/out devices and drivers. Please bear in mind, I'm using audio software that is more than 10 years old, in some cases older than 20 years. Works fine in Linux, amplification settings are slightly different.Overall, very happy with this product.

Ok, I have a dac, an E50 from Topping and it is good but also quite expensive. This is my first proper sound card, the Asus Zonar SE. My PC is an HP Prodesk 400 G6 small form factor running Windows 11 23H2. The card arrived on time with the excellent service from Amazon. I swapped the full height bracket for the half height and popped it into the PCIE16 slot in the PC. Plugged in the Optical cable which is why I bought this card and connected it to my Marantz PM6007 amplifier. Reconnected everything else and downloaded the software from Asus, installed the driver. Everything was up and running in seconds with no compatibility issues whatsoever! From there I went into Spotify and started playing some tracks. Sound quality...very acceptable indeed, nice and clean signal from the optical connection. Any comparison to the Topping E50 DAC is pointless as I would still have to run the optical through the E50 to get to the amp so any comparison would be between the amps built in dac which is a lower grade chip compared to the E50. That said, the sound direct from the sound card to the amp via the PM6007 built in dac is very good, good enough to set and forget and not even bother with the E50 except for maybe very special listening sessions. Personally speaking I would rather just skip the external dac and go down this route with the sound card with direct connectivity to the amp. I know this is a gaming card but I will be using this mostly for music which makes me think that there really is a bit of a space in the market here for dedicated music soundcards that with a few tweaks to the caps, resistors and chips and maybe a full digital interface option too would negate the need for further outlay for a external dac also more half height choices would be beneficial as at the moment there really are not many at all. While RealTek may have squashed the Soundcard for a time I think there is a market for more dedicated soundcards than ever before especially where music is concerned. In conclusion its a great soundcard from Asus and pairing this with a decent modern amp with digital connections will having you bopping quicker than might expect. Definitely keeping mine!

Driver issues too.

Easy to use and install. Good quality, in my case additional bracket (swappable) for small computer case was a must.Really thoughtful to include it.

Well it was "okay" while it lasted.Didn't notice much of an upgrade from my standard audio driver. With a better pair of headphones, maybe.The only good thing this card did for me is completely isolate any interference in the audio.The actual UI of the control panel for the sound card looks like it was designed in the mid 2000's. It just didnt feel like something you paid money for. Slow and clunky.The card itself died after only 7 days of use. It constantly kept disconnecting. In its last hours of life it started freezing up the whole system while the sound kept cutting off and coming back on.