Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 Slim Review

Neat, but quite expensive for what it is. Particularly with a PCI interface.. Fail :(

Linux support is likely to be non-existent too.

is the Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe better than all of creatives sound cards ?

Originally Posted by OWNED66
is the Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe better than all of creatives sound cards ?

Lol Creative. The only thing they're good for is artificial "gaming" effects.

I don't understand the point of wasting two HDMI ports to carry separate sound and video signals - HDMI was meant to carry both together, and many AV amps don't have HDMI ports to waste like that.

Also, how do you get an optical signal out of a coax SPDIF connector?

£100 seems a lot of money for something that is effectively an SPDIF passthrough - something which ATI's HD cards do fine already - so what's the benefit of this card?

Different Drivers and it's not ALC..

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
I don't understand the point of wasting two HDMI ports to carry separate sound and video signals - HDMI was meant to carry both together, and many AV amps don't have HDMI ports to waste like that.

Also, how do you get an optical signal out of a coax SPDIF connector?

£100 seems a lot of money for something that is effectively an SPDIF passthrough - something which ATI's HD cards do fine already - so what's the benefit of this card?

It's one HDMI from your craphics card to your sound card, and one from your sound card to your AV amp. Not two separate cables. That'd be retarded.

You use a converter, or some kind of multi cable.

SPDIF can't carry full HD sound unless it's 2.0, so it's not just an SPDIF passthrough. I think you might want to re-read the review...

They probably couldn't fit the PCI to PCI-e converter chip on something so small. ;)

In case you're scratching your head in response to my comment, all other ASUS sound cards do use a PCI - PCIe converter onchip to enable the card to use a PCI-e X1 slot instead of a PCI slot.

Originally Posted by Edvuld
It's one HDMI from your craphics card to your sound card, and one from your sound card to your AV amp. Not two separate cables. That'd be retarded.

Ah, that makes much more sense. I wondered why it had two HDMI ports

Originally Posted by Edvuld
SPDIF can't carry full HD sound unless it's 2.0, so it's not just an SPDIF passthrough. I think you might want to re-read the review...

I misread. I though the review said that the card was HDMI 1.3 compliant, which would have meant that the card was just passing the DTS-HD/TrueHD signal for the amp to process. Because it's only 1.2 compliant, that means the card is doing the processing instead, which does make sense now.

I'd have liked to seen some kind of test to determine the actual saving in CPU load when using this card compared to having the CPU doing the decoding.

Reason I ask is that I'm building a cheap, low-power movie server, but it doesn't have enough grunt to play an HD movie unless it's re-encoded to a more CPU-friendly format like DIVX - so if I could offload the video processing to a GPU and the audio processing to this card, it might be enough to allow it to play HD movies in their original format.

Wtf is HD audio?

Originally Posted by wafflesomd
Wtf is HD audio?

essentially its lossless surround sound, in the form of dolby trueHD and dts-HD...

Obviously, you won’t get the full benefit of HD audio if you just connect the card’s HDMI output to a TV and use its built-in stereo speakers. At the very least, you’ll need a decent set of surround-sound speakers with an S/PDIF input, such as Logitech’s Z-5500 Digital. The HDAV Slim’s performance will be even better if you connect it to a high-quality AV receiver with a set of home cinema 5.1 or 7.1 speakers.

The above is pretty misleading... The only point to having this soundcard is if you want to bitstream dolby or dts... (and have the ability to decode that stram on your receiver)

edit: well, ok it would be a fairly ok buy for someone with an amp with hdmi in but without the ability to decode true hd or dts master onboard

Originally Posted by fathazza

Quote:

Originally Posted by wafflesomd
Wtf is HD audio?

essentially its lossless surround sound, in the form of dolby trueHD and dts-HD...


[

I refuse to call it HD audio because that term doesn't make any sense.

okay so I didnt read the whole thing but the whole point of HDMI is Audio and Video in one easy cable SO that HDMI in plug would thta be to take video coming off of your video card and send it to the audio card to be mixed with the audio and then the video and audio is sent to the HDMI out to go to the reciever/tv?

It seems like an utter load of bollocks, though I'm sure a number of purists are willing to pay the premium to get the "HD" audion through a discrete sound card. Off to the bar, brb ->

Originally Posted by wafflesomd
Wtf is HD audio?

"HD" is classed as anything over 48KHz/16bit (DVD quality).

After that, it could be anything, but the usual suspects are 96KHz/24-bit or 192KHz/24-bit for PCs.

I feel that HiDefinition (AKA HD) is overabused.

Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
okay so I didnt read the whole thing but the whole point of HDMI is Audio and Video in one easy cable SO that HDMI in plug would thta be to take video coming off of your video card and send it to the audio card to be mixed with the audio and then the video and audio is sent to the HDMI out to go to the reciever/tv?

This is explained in the article, please read it. :)

Originally Posted by Claave
This is explained in the article, please read it.

I rather not but thanks anyways not all that interested in the card enough to read that review, that was my only curiosity question I had about it.

HourBeforeDawn: You would have wasted less precious time of your life if you had just read the article, instead of waiting for replies on a forum. Each to his own I guess....

Also I don't care if I waster time writing this post. I like it. It's fulfilling for me.

Also Asus need to quit making crap. This card belongs nowhere.

Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
I rather not but thanks anyways not all that interested in the card enough to read that review, that was my only curiosity question I had about it.

Well, with all due respect, what's the point in us writing articles explaining answers to questions we anticipate?

:|

Originally Posted by Saivert

Also Asus need to quit making crap. This card belongs nowhere.

Wow that's harsh without any sort of constructive point to back it up ;)

Originally Posted by Saivert
HourBeforeDawn: You would have wasted less precious time of your life if you had just read the article, instead of waiting for replies on a forum. Each to his own I guess....

Also I don't care if I waster time writing this post. I like it. It's fulfilling for me.

Also Asus need to quit making crap. This card belongs nowhere.

lol I dont know how sad your life is but I dont wait in front of my computer for someone to reply to a post, I go out side, socialize, do other things and then when I get home and check my email if there is a post reply and see the preview email if it has anything Im interested in like a reply to my post I check it out. So no I would have wasted more time reading that article then I would have asking the question.

As for ASUS and crap products well to each their own, I have been happy with their Mobo and Graphics cards so far.

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
Well, with all due respect, what's the point in us writing articles explaining answers to questions we anticipate?

:|

Okay I will just say it, I didnt want to say it because I didnt want to be rude thus why I asked the question but anyhow every time I have actually read a review completely it was either full of mistakes like the last AMD CPU review and/or it was bloated with drawn out filler. This is why its hard for me to come around to reading a review, especially on a product that Im not even completely interested in to begin with. Again sorry I was not trying to be rude but since a few continued to pursue it I guess I was forced into explaining why I didnt want to read the review.

Anyhow came across a good review on this card that was a lot more detailed over at AVSForums which makes sense when it comes to this kinda of stuff in particular might as well go straight over to the experts for answers. So no worries got my question answered and then some, so thanks anyways. :)

Yeah and ofcourse it's always nicer to just ask if you're interested, so others can do the googling! Awesome. Motivates them poor writers...

Originally Posted by rickysio
In case you're scratching your head in response to my comment, all other ASUS sound cards do use a PCI - PCIe converter onchip to enable the card to use a PCI-e X1 slot instead of a PCI slot.

Could easily grow in length over height...

I don't get the point of this card either... I men obviously I get what they have done from a technical point but the market must be such a small share they can't expect to actually sell many of these. Blu-Ray is still a minor share within the entertainment market and most of those will be PS3 consoles. Secondly, what is HD audio actually recorded at? Digital audio on CDs is recorded at around 41KHz... any raise of this would not increase quality from original source.

There is also the point that most people who listen to music through their PCs are listening to MP3s anyway and usually at 128bps....

P.S. Anyone know why there isn't a dedicated Audio/Soundcard section within Hardware???